We have a similar birth date and the same hometown, but otherwise I have nothing in common with Charles III, except a passion for nature that grew out of childhood and has never faded. I am no apologist for monarchy, but I applaud the King for his love and care for the beauty and bounty outdoors.
I admired his grit when it was unfashionable to be called an environmentalist, to advocate for organic farming, or to criticize grotesque objects of modernist architecture. I am glad he has lived long enough for his prescience to be acclaimed.
Finding Harmony is his 2026 documentary on Amazon Prime, declaring a belief in the need to reconnect with nature for the sake of our bodies, our souls, our land, and the survival of humanity. Far more than musing on the throne, he has inspired practical solutions that pitifully few people in like positions of wealth and influence can match. The documentary will delight the fawning flatterers of royalty, but that should not discourage viewing the history and philosophy of this man.
The title resonates with thinkers, poets, and scientists who have believed that harmony with nature is not a retreat from civilization but a reorientation of consciousness desperately needed in these times and materialistic civilization.
From Lao Tzu in ancient China to Mary Oliver in modern America, there is a common thread of thought that human flourishing depends on remembering we are not separate from nature.
Nature is not mere scenery nor scripture for Henry David Thoreau and Ralph Waldo Emerson; it is an open book through which moral and spiritual truths are revealed. To walk outdoors is to step through pages of instruction, which William Wordsworth reverently echoed, seeing nature as a teacher, healer, and moral guide.
The ecologists John Muir, Aldo Leopold, and Rachel Carson had insights into this connectedness from the experience of immersion in nature. Harmony is not sentiment, but meant survival to Chief Seattle.
Albert Einstein and Thomas Henry Huxley, to name just two scientists, believed we gain wisdom by observing natures patterns rather than imposing our own interests and arrogance on them.
These are the common threads:
- Belonging We are participants in nature, not outside observers.
- Attention Wisdom comes from patient observation and wonder.
- Reciprocity To live well is to live gently. When we cause harm to the earth, we hurt ourselves.
