Connect - Reflect - Act
Beyond The View (BTV) is a movement that seeks to facilitate deeper, transcendent experiences of nature, helping people to find purpose, meaning, wholeness and delight.
The need to reconnect with nature has never been more acute, and our disconnection with nature is at the heart of the existential climate and biodiversity crises, as well as being a major contributor to mental health issues.
BTV is about seeing with fresh eyes, seeking to connect with all things at the deepest level, aware that everything is connected to everything else. There’s a sense of connection with something beyond us. These moments of connection carry a conviction that there is something else and it’s here but not here. You can sense it, but it lies beyond the physical. BTV facilitates this connection through sensory experiences and reflective resources. We also encourage external action to rebuild a broken world as a result of seeing the world differently.
To this end, we seek to work in partnership with like-minded organisations to further our mutual objectives, including the establishment of the Lake District as a sacred place for deep connection with nature. BTV is currently in the process of being established as a registered charity.
Connect
Connection is built into the very fabric of the universe. All that is – all matter – originated from a single source at the formation of the known universe. Ultimately, we are connected with everything else, yet we have never been more disconnected from nature. In 2020, national parks throughout the UK were deluged with new visitors unfamiliar with rural environments. The litter and desperation that resulted was testament to the extent of the disconnect with nature that has grown over the 21st century.
Re-connection with nature is central to the health and wholeness of all things, since the more we appreciate the wonders of the universe about us, the more we will come to cherish it and the less we will despoil it. This is not something we can do through knowledge alone – rather, we re-connect by opening ourselves to the transcendent power of nature – through feeling the roughness of ancient rock, immersing ourselves in the ocean, or sleeping under the stars. In doing so, we fall into rhythm with the land, and experience a sense of sacredness and the sublime. It’s that indefinable, intangible resonance and sense of connection with something beyond us. These moments of connection carry a conviction that there is something else and it’s here but not here. They can’t be fully captured in words or image, for they have to be experienced.
Connection Cards
Beyond The View has produced a set of 10 cards to help you connect more deeply with nature. Take a copy of all ten or else just take the summary card next time you’re out.
Pilgrimage Retreats
We work with partners to run a number of led pilgrimages and retreats focused on ‘how to see beyond the view’. Our first pilgrimage took a group of Big Issue vendors to the Lake District.
Lakeland Pilgrimage
Whereas pilgrimages typically culminate at a religious site, the Lakeland Pilgrimage considers the whole of the journey to be ‘holy’, incorporating seven ‘natural cathedrals’.
Reflect
Reflection is a key part of the outdoor experience, allowing our encounters in nature to take root, and grow in our mind and heart. It develops understanding of what is intuitively experienced, and in doing so, deepens our experience and informs how we see the world. BTV provides a range of resources to this end.
Book
Beyond The View provides reflection and insight on how to ‘see beyond the view’. It is a mystical book that combines evocative photographs of wild nature with prose, poetry and personal story.
Reflections
Our reflections use word and image to uncover some of the mystery experienced in nature, and to tell the stories that lie behind the landscape.
Poems
Poems have a power beyond prose, being able to encapsulate what is felt in a concise, vibrant way. Our self-penned poems include a selection of blessings in the Celtic tradition.
Act
Nature helps us to recognise the inter-connection and value of everything, which inevitably results in seeing the world very differently. And if we see differently, we act differently, becoming different people in the process. The impact of re-connecting with nature extends far beyond nature itself. It changes how we think and live in the everyday:
- Changed perspectives – seeing ourselves, others and the rest of nature through a lens of greater love and compassion.
- Altered lifestyle choices – adoption of a less materialistic, more sustainable lifestyle.
- Restorative actions – seeking to make the world a better place through social and environmental action.
- Spiritual seeking – nature touches us our soul, raising foundational questions of purpose and meaning.
BTV works with a range of organisations who are seeking to mend our broken world in different but complimentary ways. If you might like to become a Friend or partner, please contact us.