So What. It’s Just a Rock.
Whether you say that, or consider a rock a separate universe-an animated contributor to the natural world-is the difference between the idea of inner connectedness or a form of human supremacy.
Now, before you start thinking I don’t feel humans are important, let me explain that I do value life, but ALL forms of life-even the life going on in and about this rock.
If you believe God created this rock and the organisms that call it home, or that it evolved from the big bang, it is still here and it is a part of our world, planned or unplanned. It is amongst us, as are we.
David Abram does an extrasensory description of the natural world in his first book called, “Spell of the Sensuous.” When I first heard that title I was intrigued but really didn’t know what to make of it. Sensuous is that with which we experience the senses and their interaction together. And 
when we do, we are under a blissful spell. A spell that makes a simple walk in the park like a dream.
To begin to more appreciate the natural world, go on your next outdoor experience with all senses engaged. I like to call it a walking meditation. Start by engaging only your sense of sight. For example for 2-3 minutes 
notice the visual aspects of the outdoors. Such as the spectrum of colors, contrasts, shapes, etc. Next, open up your ears to hear the sound of wind moving through the branches and leaves, the sound of your steps, or the other sounds of nature. Then, move to your sense of feeling, noticing the temperature on your skin, the warmth of sun, or coolness of a breeze. Next, enjoy an olfactory experience, the scent of the earth, a flower, or your own perspiration.
Finally, bring it all together in the experience of synaesthesia, doing so helps to more connect you with the natural world. Then perhaps the next time you pass by a rock you stop and experience the wonder of it and say, “hello old friend.”