The math of nature

Growing up, I always loved math class — especially geometry and algebra. That love has come in extremely handy as we’ve become off-grid builders and architects for Arctic Hive!




So humor me. Here’s a philosophical math problem I’ve been grappling with:




If all things — you, me, the trees, the rivers — are made of the same five elements (Space, Air, Fire, Water, Earth)… doesn’t that mean, on some level, we are “one” with all things?




Spending time outdoors reminds me of this again and again — whether I’m hiking with guests, romping through the woods with the pups, or standing on the roof of a build at Arctic Hive.






I felt it listening to the waves of Lake Superior when I visited in May. I saw it in the shifting fall leaves along highways and trails a few years ago in Wisconsin. I hear it every day in birdsong, owl calls, and wind through the Brooks Range.






“Nature” is everywhere. We are nature.




Below: Love on the trail from our good ole’ boy, Poss.

Lately, it feels challenging to hold onto that sense of harmony. Maybe you’ve felt it too — the tension between wildness and a world that seems determined to pave over it. Roads cutting through untouched lands. Ecosystems under threat. Traditional ways of living slowly being erased.




Somehow, those aspects of the world are also nature — but under the banner of “progress” and “change.” It feels like the math ain’t mathin’ on that one.






At the same time, I realize that my view isn’t a fixed number in a universal math problem. Solving for “X” in this case is personal. Each of us — humans and beyond — has a different “X” to solve for. What works for me may not work for someone in Washington D.C., or a salmon in the Yukon River, or a caribou migrating to the Arctic coast.




Scientists have a perspective. Residents have a perspective. Politicians have a perspective. Native Alaskan communities have their perspective. Moose, grouse, and mosquitoes have a perspective.




Finding “harmony” between all these viewpoints seems impossible because, well… it is. There isn’t just one solution for how to live in harmony with nature.




There are infinite possibilities.



I have control over what I do in life. I can educate myself, listen deeply, and try to understand other perspectives. But at the end of the day, the only action I have control over is my own.


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Below: Hiking with guests late July — under a natural Black Spruce archway.

So then, when I consider myself as just one person on a planet of 7 billion people, I feel small and insignificant. What does it matter what I do?



But maybe there’s an answer hidden in a simple proportion:


If the world holds infinite possibilities… and I am made of the same five elements as the world… then I, too, hold infinite possibilities — even as just one person.

Here, I’m on familiar footing. I teach this concept in every yoga class, lecture, and course I offer. Every action we take is as important as the infinite number of actions taken by others throughout the world.




Money? Temporary.
People? Temporary.
Material things? Temporary.




But the way we move through the world? How we treat one another?
How we respond to nature?




Those are the things we have to live with... forever.




Simple math tells me that all we need to do is listen deeply, live intentionally, and protect what we’re made of. I hope you come around to the same solution :-)




Below: Sean snuggles one of Willow’s pups - Lichen! He’s by far the biggest of the three. Be sure to watch our Instagram stories for videos of the three pups romping through the tundra!

We’re on the brink of fall colors here… hunting season has begun, and our massive lodge addition build project is a week (or so) from being completely dried in with windows. More on that in a future newsletter. Time flies!


In light,
Mollie