"I am against nature. I don't dig nature at all. I think nature is very unnatural. I think the truly natural things are dreams, which nature can't touch with decay"

Bob Dylan’s provocative assertion sets up a contradiction between nature and the realm of dreams, inviting a re-evaluation of what is considered “natural.” The opening rejection, “I am against nature. I don't dig nature at all.” , undermines the conventionally cherished idea of nature as harmony, beauty, or wise order. For Dylan, the idea of “nature” conjures something oppressive, perhaps even hostile to the human spirit or imagination. By calling nature “very unnatural,” Dylan implies that what is commonly described as “natural” is in fact artificial, perhaps even contrary to our deepest truths or potential.

He draws a sharp dividing line between the physical world, subject to decay and erosion, and the inner world of dreams, which reside beyond the reach of death, time, or entropy. Nature, as the cycles of the seasons show, is bound up in decay, transformation, and eventual disappearance. The trees shed their leaves, animals and people age, everything is subject to the processes of nature’s “decay.” But dreams, those fleeting, imaginative, and spiritual experiences, stand outside this mortal frame. They belong to a different order, one not subject to the relentless breakdown that defines the living world.

Dylan suggests that dreams, far from being ephemeral or inconsequential, are the “truly natural things.” This upends the traditional dichotomy, presenting inner life as more authentic, more enduring, and possibly, in Dylan’s view, more real than the tangible world. There is also a quiet rebellion in this stance, a refusal to accept decline as fate, and an assertion of the sovereignty of the human mind or soul. Dylan places imagination, desire, and spiritual quest above the biological or material world, arguing that dreams are immune to the ravages of time. Thus, his words celebrate creativity and vision as sources of meaning that outlast nature’s cycles of decay.