Although few of us have Einstein's mathematical knowledge about the universe, we do encounter the non-human world on the level of what we call "Nature." We experience sunrise and darkness, good and bad weather, trees producing fruit as well as falling on houses, melodious birds and insect pests, beautiful flowers and poison ivy. As that list demonstrates, we encounter the ambiguous character of Nature, and so we easily ask whether the world is "friendly or not."
What gets tricky about this ambiguity is that the answer we come up with can depend so much upon our own perception. We can interpret the same natural phenomenon in different ways.
In all the volumes of literature in which the ambiguity of Nature is addressed, one usually overlooked book is Mark Twain's Adventures of Huckleberry Finn.
The young Huck (who is the book's narrator) perceives nature differently depending upon whether or not he is lonely. Early in the narrative, when he is living with the Widow Douglas, with whom he feels no camaraderie, Nature seems ominous. Alone in his room at night, Huck describes how it was "so lonesome I most wished I was dead. The stars was shining, and the leaves rustled in the woods ever so mournful;... and the wind was trying to whisper something to me and I couldn't make out what it was, and so it made the cold shivers run over me."
As one example, Huck now depicts nighttime as being beautiful: "Sometimes we'd have that whole river all to ourselves for the longest time. Yonder was the banks and the islands, across the water; and maybe a spark -- which was a candle in a cabin window.... It's lovely to live on a raft. We had the sky up there, all speckled with stars."
In this example, Huck's human relationships affect his ability to feel at home in the natural world, In contrast, in other cases, many people have discovered how Nature can become a healing balm or a source of companionship when human relationships could not comfort. In those instances, Nature became the needed friend.
The issue is a spiritual one, because, as the 20th-century philosopher Ernst Bloch put it:
"The wish at the heart of religion is still
that the human being should feel at home
in the mystery of existence."
~~~
When have you felt at home in Nature? How did the universe then feel to you?
(The Bloch quote is from his The Principle of Hope, © 1959,
as quoted in God in Creation by Jürgen Moltmann, © 1985, p. 321.)
2 comments:
I recall two different situations in which I felt at home in nature: 1)In a spiritual and educational retreat center in northern New Mexico where I stayed out of vehicles and walked wherever I needed to go. I spent much time outside surrounded by acres of countryside that included huge red-rock mesas and high-desert flora that I don't see in my urban place of residence. In this setting nature felt immense and somewhat incomprehensible, but also like a constant companion encouraging me to be present and enjoy its beauty.
2)When my dog died years ago, I walked among tall pine trees at the edge of a forest where we occasionally walked. As I walked on the soft ground again I began crying as I felt the end of our relationship. The trees and solitude of this natural setting seemed to give me permission to cry, and to comfort me.
When I was elementary-school age, it was often a relief to me to leave the house and go outdoors. It was not that I was mistreated by my family, but many times the emotions between the different members of my family were too much for me to know how to deal with at a young age. Going outside and being alone for awhile gave me emotional space. Although I could not understand it at the time, I guess going outdoors and feeling more relaxed there gave me the reassurance that life could somehow be smoother than I was able to figure out how to make it.
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