Human history is essentially the history of the struggle between nature and mankind where the latter rarely wins. Several facets of nature such as earthquakes, landslides, floods, storms, thunderbolts, cyclones and tsunamis show mankind’s helplessness in front of nature. These forms of nature show the limitations of human efforts against the laws of nature. Our everyday life requires us to shape our actions according to what nature wants us to do. The argument that mankind can actually manipulate nature may have theological roots, and it also has the support of the scientific community in its euphoria over new discoveries. According to the Bible, God created man on the sixth day. By that time, the fish in the sea, the birds in the sky and the plants, cattle and wildlife on the terrestrial world had already been created. Man’s creation was to maintain dominion over all these creations.  Not only in the theological realm, scientists have long been preaching the triumph of science over nature particularly after the discovery of DNA in biology and sub-atomic particles in the world of physics. Rapid innovations and advancements in the field of science and technology have indeed made possible things that were not even imaginable until a few years ago. Furthermore, the way we were brought up makes us believe the notion of the supremacy of mankind.

But there are limitations to what mankind can do to nature, and our very lives are proof of it.

Humans are one of the countless things, living and non-living, which exist on earth. Human beings are just creatures subject to the same laws of nature as animals of any other species. Even the tiniest insects and inanimate things are equally necessary to contribute to the unlimited richness and beauty of nature. The interaction between material and non-material things in nature are so intense, nuanced and complex that no human brain can accurately and completely grasp it.

The utter limitation of mankind’s knowledge in front of the forces of nature has been frequently exposed in its failure to handle earthquakes and floods or the notorious epidemics that ravage the world time and again. Clearly, mankind is not able to alter the fundamental laws of nature. The only survival strategy for mankind is to accommodate itself within the vast interplay of the forces of nature. We Nepalis have been facing tough times following the devastating earthquake. We are now going to face other ugly facets of nature—landslides, floods and so forth. Despite knowing that our efforts will ultimately go in vain, we exhibit unflagging determination to guarantee our own survival. We keep trying countless times to prevail over nature, but we are ultimately limited to our survival strategy. Thus, it is better to gather courage and make strategies for survival instead of trying to defeat nature.