I'm really intrigued by the thought of living more naturally. But I think this can be taken too far, in all kinds of directions, so I thought I'd sit down and figure out where I really stand on this topic.
For example, I am really interested in this "real food" movement (I discuss my initial reactions here). The premise of eating the same foods that humans have eaten for thousands of years makes sense to me. That said, I do believe there are benefits to food being mass-produced and that even things like pesticides and antibiotics shouldn’t be completely vilified. I am a farmer’s daughter, after all. (As in, farm for a living, not farm for fun on the side.) It seems like one of the reasons that overpopulation is a myth is in fact because we have such efficient ways of producing food.
As another example, I am all about going “natural” in my mothering – unmedicated birth, breastfeeding, etc. But I truly believe it’s a good thing that we have modern medicine and techniques to keep childbirth from being the life or death situation it was and still can be in many parts of the world. And how can I completely demonize things like formula when many cultures have for centuries supplemented breastmilk with other animal’s milks, and formula is specifically formulated to be a superior supplement to animal’s milk?
That brings us to the problem of defining what is “natural.” By natural does one mean the way our bodies are designed when in perfect working order? Or does one mean the way non-Westernized cultures do things today? Should we be inspired by other mammals or just limit our models to the apes? Or nix the animals but follow the example of our specific human ancestors way back when? How far back? The stone age? The time of Christ? Should we draw the line at the dark ages or at the industrial revolution?
There is no clear delineation of what a natural lifestyle is based on or consists of. And there are certainly no regulations for using the word in advertising, unlike the word “organic." (I think “organic” has much more of a yuppie connotation than “natural.” Apparently I fall in line with lower middle income consumers.) Even though I know the word “natural” is simply a marketing ploy, I must confess that given roughly the same price, I buy the products with that label over the ones without it. So the highly paid advertisers appear to be beating the highly educated housewife.
A sample of items I have purchased because they were "natural."
Because washing my hair with avocado is so very natural.
How did a hippie-disdaining, organic-scorning, Whole Foods-hating anti-tree hugger get so crunchy? I blame NFP! Discovering how great things can be when you let them work in the way God created them has me on the hunt to find more ways we can live as God originally intended!
That’s not to say I’m going to live in a hut with no running water, but that I’m intrigued by the idea of more perfectly aligning our lifestyle with the way we were created. And I guess therein lies my main motivation. Caring for the long-term health of my family would be a close runner-up. To be honest, the fact that it’s good for the environment is about as important to me as the fact that it’s trendy. Sorry, nature lovers, I’m just trying to keep it real. Although when the whole “Save the Earth!” aspect is repackaged as a matter of stewardship, I am much more inclined to take it seriously.
Of course, it’s dangerous to equate natural with holy, and I think it’s important to avoid that. For example, Rae has an interesting and enlightening post on why natural options are not necessarily more pro-life than the pill. (I’ve never really gotten into the whole arena of herbal remedies, but I do think it’s important to remember that alternative medicines have probably not been tested as rigorously as our modern drugs. As slack as you might think the FDA is, they’re still providing an important bare minimum that pharmaceuticals must meet.) There’s a fuzzy line between “natural” and “helping nature along,” and just because something falls into those categories doesn’t necessarily make it moral. Natural does not automatically mean ethical.
I don’t actually have a tidy answer yet to the question of how naturally we should live; I’m still very much in the hypothesis-forming stage. The one thing I’m sure of is that at the end of the day, no matter how important it is to live naturally, it is not the most important thing. God is. Community (loving our neighbors) is. There’s a problem when obsession with a natural lifestyle becomes another religion for people. Real food should not become our golden calf.
Overall I think what I’m really searching for is balance. Natural is good, but it’s not my god.
I hope to do a lot of reading and research on this topic in the coming weeks and months. If you have any resources that you’ve found helpful, please share them - whether their conclusions are in favor of or opposed to “natural” choices.
Related:
Alison recently had a great post on the question of conceiving naturally.