How to Be Astonished By Beauty

Thomas Lowe Fleischner (naturalist, conservation biologist, retired professor of ecology, and founding director of the Natural History Institute in Prescott AZ) has authored a beautiful and profound collection of essays entitled “Astonished by Beauty: A Field Guide to the Practice of Paying Attention” (Torrey House Press, 2026). Although he largely focuses on his experiences and observations in ecological explorations within the American Southwest and northern Mexico, the profound lessons described here are universally applicable to us all and everywhere. Here is an invitation to pay attention to the natural world—to slow down, experience, and connect with nature through mindful attentiveness. This is a call to live life with care, presence, and respect for the wild beauty surrounding us.

Below, we quote liberally from Fleischner's words, but we strongly encourage you to acquire, savor, and be inspired by “Astonished by Beauty.”

​Fleischner reminds us that “Natural history is a verb, not a noun—a practice, something we do, not just an inert body of facts.”    <Continued . . . Click READ MORE >

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Natural history is “a practice of intentional focused attentiveness and receptivity to the more-than-human world, guided by honesty and accuracy,” cultivating receptivity to revelation. “Natural history, by its very nature, is place based.” Every place is biologically and ecologically and spiritually special. “Place matters. All species, like human cultures, represent a suite of responses to the ecological particulars of specific ecological settings—specific challenges and opportunities. . . . Every landscape harbors miracles and mysteries. Natural history is the practice of being there, paying attention, and being receptive to revelation.”

“A naturalist—one who tries to learn as expansively and directly as possible from nature—engages in searches every day. . . . Reading a landscape involves three interrelated activities: actively observing, asking questions, and interpreting. A naturalist rarely does just one at a time. All three activities occur simultaneously and reinforce one another.” Keep watching.

“Only through constant scrutiny, using all senses, as well as the imagination, can the naturalist begin to have a sense of a place’s story. The search for patterns never ends. . . . Observation, questioning, and interpretation become a single, unified life project—trying to learn from—and understand—this world.”

“Observation is the core proficiency that lies at the heart of natural history practice. And observation is active, not passive. The good news is that we humans are born to do exactly this. . . . The act of observation helps us to be present in the present moment. . . . When developing a natural history practice--the need is to just do it: slow down and take in what’s going on outside our own heads.”

“Our innate human curiosity naturally leads us to question ‘who is this?’ when we encounter a new being. This instinctive inclination toward identification—discovering the identity of our neighbors—is a genuine predisposition of our species.”

Fleischner outlines his “few fundamental principles . . . that can provide guidance as we engage with the practice of natural history:

• Pay attention
• Trust yourself
• Believe that what you witness matters
• Record your observations (in notes or images so that they can be shared)
• Recognize there’s a whole lot we don’t know—and that is wonderful
• Humility is a virtue
• Gratitude, above all

“With some thirty million species living on this remarkable planet, across an endless variety of landscapes, and interacting in an infinite number of ways, there is literally no limit to the ‘nature’ we can pay attention to.” In the words of Annie Dillard, that “beauty and grace are performed whether or not we will sense them, the least we can do is try to be there.” And to Fleischner that “seems to serve as a sort of hymn for practicing natural history: Get out there, be attentive and receptive, and allow yourself to be overwhelmed. . . . The practice of natural history helps us live fully awake and alert to each new moment. Seeing what is there, imagining what lies beyond our sight.”

“(F)eel gratitude for th(e) . . . connection which feeds a sense of shared residency in this broken but ever-lovely world. ‘Connection’ derives from the Latin nectare, meaning to bind, to fasten. When we connect with others our lives and our well-being are bound to theirs, in a web of reciprocity. Natural history is the oldest human pathway to connecting—becoming bound with—the wholeness of life. When we pay attention, we connect, we become more whole, we heal.”

“We humans are wired not just for destruction, but for healing, grace, and compassion. Remembering that our bodies are built of clear water, borrowed from the fluid of the earth, is a place to start. . . . Ethics, by its very nature, involves choosing to not do what we can do.” For example, an ethical relationship with water and the land “demands leaving remaining wetland ecosystems intact even though we can desiccate them without blinking. . . . (L)oving the world is as important as grieving for damage to it—for this love fuels our determination to achieve more harmonious lifeways.” 

“Gratitude and connection are part of the human currency of reciprocity--the notion of mutually beneficial exchange. Healthy relationships—between people, and between people and the natural world—are necessarily reciprocal. We don’t only receive, but we give something back. . . . Reciprocity, by its very nature, involves transcendence of the individual in recognition of larger community.”

“Our world desperately needs more people to be more in love with it. . . . Being an awake, engaged, and caring human being is rooted fundamentally in an unequivocal love of the world. . . . As we fall more deeply in love with the world, we learn to love ourselves more fully, and learn to care for our surroundings and our fellow beings more completely. Paying attention to nature—something beyond ourselves—is how we develop, nurture, and express our love of the creation. All good things emanate from this affection for the world—caring, compassion, deep engagement, and meaning.”

“Gratitude, connection, and an awareness of the reciprocity that is embedded in the act of being alive provide fertile ground for forging a worthier ecological ethic of caring and action. Natural history . . . (is) a practice that leads us toward wholeness and healing as we make our way within this world shot through with wildness, that ineffable whisp of life force, the sinew that braids us together. Healing ourselves and the world. (Achieving) Kinship with the Whole World.”
“We are built to pay attention to the world around us. A sense of kinship is a natural by-product of this evolutionary heritage. . . . Let’s just say it: We need to love this world. Natural history opens the door.”

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