You tell yourselves that natural is good: free of additives, free of artifice, free of tampering, as nature intended.
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It is only natural
You use this comforting, exonerating statement when you have done something foolish, in haste, or less than forgiving. It is only natural to favor one’s biological children over others, to strike back, to exact revenge, to punish those who deserve it, to mistreat people who are acting like doormats, to look after your own needs first, and to want more than you have.
Everybody does it
If it is acceptable to be only natural, and no one expects more from us than fulfilling our needs, then what are we? Are we self-determining creatures? Is there any choice at all in a situation devoid of moral dilemmas, where nothing more is expected of us?
If we are to be no more than natural, why bother even to exist? If anybody at all could play my part, why should I? If there are no choices to be made, why am I here? Without choice, all beings are interchangeable machines, perfectly adapted to the environment, and perfectly without power to change any of it.
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The last thing we should wish to be is natural. Let us rather transcend our natures. Let us stop thinking we have to look out for ourselves. Let us stop favoring our own group or kind. It is only natural, but it is small. It admits that there are differences between people, that we are not all one.
An eye for an eye makes the whole world blind
Let us stop returning evil for evil. It keeps us in place forever. There is no way out, if we are satisfied to be no more than natural.
Let us stop being relentlessly focused on ourselves. Let us begin by seeing how focused we are on ourselves, and in that seeing, help us to drop it.
Let us stop tending our egos, let us stop focusing on what we may think of as our personalities and our problems. Let us realize they have no more power over us than we are giving to them.
May I be more than natural
Let me be more