The word “natural” doesn’t mean a god damned thing.

Think about it. What does “natural” mean? It means “that which is found in nature”.

But everything is found in nature. A skyscraper is just as natural as a tree. Plastic is just as natural as sea foam. That is because nature never ends. The whole idea that there is nature, or even Nature, and then there is us is completely specious. We never left Nature. You can’t. Everything in the Universe is natural, everything that happens is natural, all that is,was, and will be is equally the product of the exact same natural forces which make bees and kittens and pretty desert sunsets.

Of course, you wouldn’t know that by looking around in our grocery stores. Natural is the hottest meaningless Madison Avenue buzzword of all time, and it shows no sign of relenting in the slightest. Everything from produce to shampoo to novelty seat covers are eager to tell you how “natural” and “organic” they are in order to convince you that they are somehow better than those nasty unnatural things which violate the laws of nature their competitors are pushing.

Everything that I have said for “natural” goes double for “organic”. If a human being can derive nutrition from it, it’s organic, whether it’s an “organically farmed” mushroom or a bag of Doritos. Just as much human intervention is involved in bringing you that mushroom as in bringing you the Doritos. There is no logical, scientific, or even sensible difference between an organically grown food item and the same thing made by more modern methods. There is no “vitamin nature” we all lack.

And I think it’s this rejection of human intervention that really bothers me about this modern fetish for “natural” and “organic” products. Somehow, in the last fifty years ago, we have all become convinced that the touch of our fellow human beings is inherently corrupting and destructive, and that the less we have done to something, the better for us it is, somehow.

It is as thought the entire scientific revolution never happened. The joke is trite now, but it’s true : our ancestors a mere two hundred years ago ate completely natural, organic foods and had active, outdoor lifestyles, and they died before reaching the age of forty. We live nearly twice that, and yet we now think the progress and technology which allows that is somehow suspect.

No doubt, in the march of science and commerce, mistakes have been made which resulted in food which was less nutritious than what came before. But that was not due to the destructive and “unnatural” evilness of science, it was due to an incomplete understanding of the human body and what it needs. It was not too much science but too little that caused these mistakes to be made.

And for every such mistake, there are dozens of ways in which modern science has made what we eat and drink and use in our daily lives far healthier than the crude and disease-ridden things of the past. From the days of Pasteur, scientific progress has made what we consume safer, cleaner, better looking, better tasting, and in all ways simply superior.

If that’s the case, then where does this modern, pervasive rejection of science and embracing of the specious notion of the superiority of the “natural” and “organic” come from?

Part of it, I think, is simple historical nostalgia. When we are discontent with modern life, we seek to place the blame, and the future is frightening and uncertain, so it is far easier and more comforting to imagine that there was a time when things which were much better Way Back When, and this involved an inherent need to think we went terribly wrong somewhere.

But I think it goes far deeper than that. I think modern life alienates us from nature, and leaves us with a deep mysterious craving for the connection with nature we once had. It is a mysterious craving because it does not map directly onto our usual sense of the needs of the body and the mind, and therefore comes from that dark and disturbing realm between consciousness and the subconscious. From an everyday point of view, a craving for nature seems entirely illogical and insane. We have everything we could possibly want in modern society, right?

But I think, deep down, every creature has a sense of what their environment is supposed to be like. Evolutionarily, this makes sense. It would keep a given species in the environment to which they are best adapted, and lead them back to it when they wander too far.

With us crazy human beings, however, not only had modern society, with the best of intentions and for the most part, the best of results, has caused us to live in environments which cut us off from the complex signals that tell us we are in the right place.

We try to compensate. We have lawns and flower boxes and gardens and parks and so on. We vacation in places of “natural beauty” in order to soothe this deep feeling of being out of place. We decorate our homes with pictures of nature. We bring animals into our homes to live with us.

But still, we crave, and it is this craving that is callously manipulated by the forces of consumerism in order to get us to buy their crap instead of someone else’s crap.

Ignore whether it’s “natural” or “organic” or “naturally sourced”. That is just bullshit magical thinking. Ask whether it is good for you, and judge without prejudice.

Because having an open mind and asking questions is a natural thing for a human being to do.