Harrison Ford says 'My God is nature' in moving answer about life's meaning

Harrison Ford appears so gruff on the surface—that deadpan comedic delivery, that rumbling voice—that it’s easy to miss just how deep and thoughtful he is. You can glimpse that nuance in many of his acting roles, but you especially notice it when he’s asked the right interview questions. Ford, who majored in philosophy at Ripon College in Wisconsin, particularly loves to talk about his borderline-spiritual connection with the natural world.

Appearing on the NPR podcast Wild Card with Rachel Martin in August 2025, the Hollywood legend was asked an intriguing question: "Is there anything in your life that feels like praying?" His response was beautifully complex. "It seems that the cure for all of the things that beset us would be set straight by following the example of nature," he said. "Prayers are usually directed to a god, you know? When I’ve been asked to consider who my God is, as I was asked by my draft board back in the Vietnam War, I said that my God was nature. And all of the things that are ascribed to a deity, I think that nature qualifies in all of the categories that God has been given credit for. That’s my God—nature."

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The complex mystery of nature

That became a running theme in the interview, with Ford also finding a different pathway toward the same destination. Earlier on, when asked about an early life experience that made him "appreciate beauty," he talked about finding it all around him. "I see beauty in nature—not just in terms of the stuff you look at but [also] the order of nature, the mystery, the complexity," he said. "That, to me, is beautiful."

The actor has expressed a similar philosophy before, including in a 2023 chat with The Hollywood Reporter. When the interviewer asked what lessons "stayed with" Ford after studying philosophy, he responded by reflecting on his early life and upbringing. "There’s a Protestant theologian named Paul Tillich who wrote that if you have trouble with the word 'God,' take whatever is central and most meaningful to your life and call that God," he said. "My mother was Jewish, my father was Catholic, and I was raised Democrat—my moral purpose was being a Democrat with the big D. But it didn’t apply to a political point of view so much as it applied to nature."

Ford said he didn’t a particular "religious construct" growing up, "but he arrived at the conclusion that "nature and God" are the same thing." He continued, "The mysterious origin of life—science tells us how it happened, prophecy tells us another story. I found that everything in nature—the complexity, the biodiversity, the symbiotic relationships—is the same thing other people attribute to God."

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Environmental activism

His passion for the environment is evident in his activism—Ford serves as a vice chair of the nonprofit organization Conservation International, and he’s been involved in various other causes. Notably, in 2002, he received the Global Environmental Citizen Award from Harvard Medical School’s Center for Health and the Global Environment.

Back in 2012, Big Think asked Ford how his passion for nature may have informed his acting. He admitted it was a "difficult question" to answer, but his response boiled down to "empathy." He added, "Certainly one of the important judgments you can make about a person is how they fit into their environment, into the world that they live in specifically—whether they’re a positive force or a negative force. I’ve always loved the quiet and the solace of nature. I’ve been fascinated by the complication of nature, and in a way I’ve found that, although I was raised without a formal religion, I have found an ethical reality in nature and the preservation of it, and I think that informs me in every way."

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