| Previous :: Next Topic |
| Author |
Message |
hiker1
Member
Joined: 29 Aug 2009
Posts: 1624 | TRs | Pics
Location: West Coast |
|
hiker1
Member
|
 Sat May 03, 2014 4:12 pm |
|
|
Our Lonely Home in Nature
| Quote: | | THE tornadoes that have been devastating parts of the South and Midwest, just weeks after a deadly mudslide in Washington, demonstrate once again the unimaginable power of nature.
After each disaster, we grieve over the human lives lost, the innocent people drowned or crushed without warning as they slept in their beds, worked in their fields or sat at their office desks. We feel angry at the scientists and policy makers who didn’t foresee the impending calamity or, if forewarned, failed to protect us. Beyond the grieving and anger is a more subtle emotion. We feel betrayed. We feel betrayed by nature.
Aren’t we a part of nature, born in nature, sustained by the food brought forth by nature, warmed by the natural sun? Don’t we have a deep spiritual connection with the wind and the water and the land that Emerson and Wordsworth so lovingly described, that Turner and Constable painted in scenes of serenity and grandeur? How could Mother Nature do this to us, her children?
Yet despite our strongly felt kinship and oneness with nature, all the evidence suggests that nature doesn’t care one whit about us. Tornadoes, hurricanes, floods, earthquakes and volcanic eruptions happen without the slightest consideration for human inhabitants. |
falling leaves / hide the path / so quietly
~John Bailey, "Autumn," a haiku year, 2001, as posted on oldgreypoet.com
falling leaves / hide the path / so quietly
~John Bailey, "Autumn," a haiku year, 2001, as posted on oldgreypoet.com
|
| Back to top |
  
|
|
Klapton
Member
Joined: 21 Dec 2006
Posts: 940 | TRs | Pics
|
|
Klapton
Member
|
Sat May 03, 2014 5:14 pm |
|
|
Nature loves ME. Sucks to be everyone else though.
|
| Back to top |
|
|
RodF
Member
Joined: 01 Sep 2007
Posts: 2593 | TRs | Pics
Location: Sequim WA |
|
RodF
Member
|
Sat May 03, 2014 9:46 pm |
|
|
| Quote: | | Nature is purposeless. Nature simply is. We may find nature beautiful or terrible, but those feelings are human constructions. Such utter and complete mindlessness is hard for us to accept. We feel such a strong connection to nature. But the relationship between nature and us is one-sided. There is no reciprocity. There is no mind on the other side of the wall. |
Is the author shocked to realize his is a false religion, or is he channelling Zeno, Hume or Spinoza?
"of all the paths you take in life, make sure a few of them are dirt" - John Muir
"the wild is not the opposite of cultivated. It is the opposite of the captivated” - Vandana Shiva
"of all the paths you take in life, make sure a few of them are dirt" - John Muir
"the wild is not the opposite of cultivated. It is the opposite of the captivated” - Vandana Shiva
|
| Back to top |
|
|
Malachai Constant
Member
Joined: 13 Jan 2002
Posts: 16100 | TRs | Pics
Location: Back Again Like A Bad Penny |
Read Moby Dick 
"You do not laugh when you look at the mountains, or when you look at the sea." Lafcadio Hearn
"You do not laugh when you look at the mountains, or when you look at the sea." Lafcadio Hearn
|
| Back to top |
|
|
MadCapLaughs
Member
Joined: 05 Jul 2007
Posts: 954 | TRs | Pics
|
The author operates under many of the assumptions that have plagued the Western mind for millennia: humans and nature are two separate things, nature red in tooth and claw, mindless and scary, blah blah blah.
| Quote: | | We feel such a strong connection to nature. But the relationship between nature and us is one-sided. There is no reciprocity. |
There is no reciprocity? Nonsense. Anyone who has spent a blissful day in the mountains and then enjoyed good food and a good fire knows differently.
|
| Back to top |
|
|
treeswarper
Alleged Sockpuppet!
Joined: 25 Dec 2006
Posts: 11279 | TRs | Pics
Location: Don't move here |
|
treeswarper
Alleged Sockpuppet!
|
Sun May 04, 2014 8:04 am |
|
|
I think Ramtha likes Nature!
What's especially fun about sock puppets is that you can make each one unique and individual, so that they each have special characters. And they don't have to be human––animals and aliens are great possibilities
What's especially fun about sock puppets is that you can make each one unique and individual, so that they each have special characters. And they don't have to be human––animals and aliens are great possibilities
|
| Back to top |
|
|
|
|
You cannot post new topics in this forum
You cannot reply to topics in this forum
You cannot edit your posts in this forum
You cannot delete your posts in this forum
You cannot vote in polls in this forum
|
Disclosure: As an Amazon Associate NWHikers.net earns from qualifying purchases when you use our link(s). |
