On the word “natural”

The word “natural” has many associations in our society, not all of which are positive. In its most basic definition, the word “natural” should just mean related to nature, the parts of the physical world untouched by humanity. It’s often tempting to think that things that are “natural” are better. In fact, this is a common enough line of thinking that it’s got its own name – the naturalistic fallacy. Things that come “from nature” without interference from humanity are not necessarily better.

Someone may find that they are a “natural” at a skill like singing or dancing or playing hockey or knitting, or any other number of activities. Some people find that they’re most spiritually grounded when out “in nature”, on the top of a mountain or in the middle of the woods. I’m a certified SCUBA diver myself, and I find my greatest sense of yirah, of overwhelming awe, when I’m underwater observing living reefs and the sea life that surround them.

Unfortunately, the word “natural” can also carry a lot of judgment, shame, and harm. People often will talk about the importance of “natural childbirth”, potentially leading others to feel shame or stigma around using pain medications or having an assisted birth or a C-section. Some people have taken the naturalistic fallacy so far as to think that scientific innovations such as vaccinations are bad because they are “unnatural”. Clearly the word “natural” is a heavy one, and it must be used responsibly.

Some may ask – by calling my project “Natural Niddah”, am I implying that traditional niddah practice is unnatural? Ehhhh…..yes? I guess I am? It may be controversial in the Jewish community to say that a particular observance of halacha is unnatural, but if a cultural observance were truly derived from the laws of nature around us, wouldn’t we see it across cultures? To eat and to breathe, those are natural. To keep a kosher kitchen or to practice separation from one’s partner for half of the month, feels less so. But does that mean it’s inherently bad or harmful? Well…no. It’s not harmful because it’s unnatural. But the arbitrary nature of a set number of days of separation, causing the existence of halachic infertility show that it CAN be harmful in nature to people.

With all this back and forth about in my mind whether “natural” is good or not, why choose the name “Natural Niddah” for my project? The main reason I’ve chosen the name is that I know that I want my new niddah ritual to center around natural hormonal cycles rather than to be determined by an arbitrary number of days defined by a small group of men that lived thousands of years ago. For me, niddah has the potential of making me more aware of how my body feels during different portions of the month. It’s about my own journey in becoming more in tune with how my physical self can inform my spiritual practice. It’s about finding a more “natural” grounding in what I still believe is a fundamentally unnatural practice. But maybe connecting this “unnatural” concept with a “natural” phenomenon is the entire point.