“Nature is an endless combination and repetition of a very few laws. She hums the old well-known air through innumerable variations.”
-Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803-1882)

Interesting that Emerson calls Nature “she.” Maybe because we think of Mother Nature. The idea, though, is that nature is something we can count on. As unpredictable as nature can be, we do know that the sun will rise, the seasons will change, that rivers will flow to the sea. There are these laws in effect that go beyond our powers of human manipulation. Nature is much bigger than we are, and yet, at the same time, it is an essential part of who we are. The same laws that govern nature affect us as well.
-Lissa Coffey