Nature and Science- How Far Are They?

Doctor's laboratory by Joaquin Sorolla Bastida

How many times have you gazed at something and wondered about its origin—the probability that it has been passed along millions of hands, without you even knowing it? Even a piece of clothing requires a journey via so many people before it comes to embrace your body. I speak of the journey of objects to reach their destinations and outcomes. What is natural and synthetic, really? Everything is derived from nature; maybe each item is tailored in the lab or emerges from someone’s experiment, but the chemicals are natural. Nothing can be completely created- everything simply exists, awaiting  discovery through trial and error, even after millions of permutations and combinations.

I had heard a medicine man speak about how herbal products "claim their naturality" and I wondered what he meant and why he said it. Then he explained how chemicals are extracted from the exact same sources that herbal concoctions come from; except, their specific weight and measurements render them more accurate. I don’t argue whether processed stuff is good or bad; I merely wish to make a point that there is nothing one hundred percent man-made on our planet (even men, you see)—even the most synthetic product is a concoction of natural substances. Science is not meant and can not work against nature. It works with it and helps natural substances be more powerful and accurate.

So next time you categorise substances natural and synthetic, think of where they came from, the journey it had taken—for all you know, it may very well have embarked from your back yard garden!