Paradise

I just saw a news segment about a woman who is “Lost in Paradise”.  Although this particular news clip is unfortunately about a person who went on vacation and has apparently disappeared, the term “Paradise” got me thinking. 

Paradise is defined as “an ideal or idyllic place or state”. Often, you hear people talk about a place they have visited as Paradise.  What I find interesting is that frequently, those places are very much still in their natural state – the beaches of Hawaii, the rainforests of Costa Rica, the mountains in Colorado. 

What does this tell us about human beings?  Is it as simple as we are one with nature and therefore happiest when we return to our ancestral environment?  Or does it say that we all spend way too much time in a busy environment and really would be much healthier and happier in an environment with a different rhythm?

Furthermore, assuming that we really do need to be connected to nature on a regular basis, why, as a culture, do we want to build more, build bigger, and build better every square inch of this planet?  Why don’t we try to cause as little impact to our environment as possible?

What’s Paradise to you?  And why?