return to nature
Abandon modern life
Return to nature describes abandoning modern civilization's comforts and complexities for a simpler, more primitive existence.
The phrase invokes Romantic ideals about humanity's original state: After burning out in finance, he sold everything and returned to nature in rural Vermont.
It can describe literal wilderness living or a general rejection of technology and urban life in favor of organic, unmediated experience.
Sometimes used skeptically about those who romanticize premodern hardship.
- wildernessUncultivated, uninhabited natural region
- rewildingRestoring natural ecosystems
- simplicityLack of complexity
- escapeFlight from captivity
- countrysideRural area beyond towns
pastoral · homestead · off-grid · off the grid · simple living · back to basics · primitive · noble savage · unplugged · rustic · earthbound · foraging · barefoot · commune · Thoreau · Walden · retreat · getting away from it all
- Rousseausocial contract, Emile, Confessions, noble savage, Julie
- TaoismTao, Taoism, Daoism, Laozi, Lao Tzu
return to natureurbanization
Population shift toward cities
industrialization · civilization · city life · urban development · modernization
return to naturemodernization
Adoption of current methods
mechanization · technological progress · technological advancement · digitalization · automation
return to natureforward progress
Advancement toward an objective
futurism · advancement · development · modernism · progressivism
return, returns, returned, returning, returnable, nature, natures, natural, naturally