Katie G 12/17 The Ecology of Eden

As I began to read my chapters in The Ecology of Eden I began to take notes on what I wanted to discuss throughout my class presentation, the main thing that really stood out to me was the part where Eisenberg quotes Henry David Thoreau, "Wouldn't it not be well to consult with Nature in the outset? For she is the most extensive and experienced planter of all (330 Eisenberg)." This is so right on - it's like learning to play a new instrument and not asking the world famous composer sitting next to you. This stirred up a lot of thought in my head concerning different aspects in my life where I try to solves things on my own when really I should be referring to the all knowing, all powerful God that I believe in! This can relate directly to humans on Earth and how we relate and treat the Earth. It is unfortunate that we try to please Earth by our own standards and our own ideas - we know nothing! why not go directly to the source and consult the Mother what is best - the Mother - the most experiences planter of us all.

Katie G 12/12 Manufacturing

The last section in Wagner's text I want to discuss concerns the manufacturing of plants. "Manufacturing is the use of one artifact to make others; it is a universal trait of man (135 Wagner)." Today we may not think of manufacturing as a hand done practice but it all started in the ancient times when everything was done by hand. "Woodworking tools like axes, adzes, and wedges are known from ancient sites and from very simple modern communities (135 Wagner)." "Manufacturing has perhaps always been associated with human dwelling places. The satisfaction of the so-called "primary needs" for food, clothing, and shelter is ultimately accomplished only at the place of consumption (135 Wagner)." "Most human households in the world today still grow or gather most of their own food, preserve it in various ways, store it and cook it as needed (135 Wagner).:

Katie G 12/12 island of Lau

Another text I looked at and read throughout the semester was a book titled "Studies in Human Ecology" by a collaboration of authors. I read a section titled "The Relations of Men, Animals, and Plants in an island community," by Laura Thompson. While flipping through this text, the title really caught my eye and caused me to begin reading. This title expressed the existence of the relationship between the human and the non-human. This is what I really go out of our class - the sacred relationship that exists between ourselves and the land. As I began to read I noticed a section that discussed fishing and the institution of the master fisherman functioning to increase the total catch by protecting the local fishing grounds from over-fishing. (467 Thompson). The authority that has power over this particular island of Lau had a decrease of status and power. Because of this loss of power the various islands had become more disturbed causing less successful fishing expeditions (467 Thompson). I found this section interesting because the practice of power was a benefit in this sense. Throughout most of the readings we have done and other research I feel like that hand of man has only conflicted with Mother Nature and continued to disrupt her. Here, on the island of Lau, the loss of power, or the hand of man has only hurt the waters more... because the waters had been manipulated for so many years by man it is almost as if the waters cannot function on their own - without the help of man.

Katie G 12/12 Work

What is work? Well one can look at the practice of work from two perspectives. the human perspective and the animal, non human perspective. In Wagner's text, chapter six titled "the means of production" he discusses the meaning of work and compares it to that of non human animal work. "Effort expended in the indirect satisfaction of wants is work. It is under social regulation and directly contributes to the maintenance of the artificial environment (89 Wagner)." this relates back to the chapters in Ecology of Eden that I read when Eisenberg discussed the experience Adam had with cultivating the land, it wasn't a chore for him, it was something he wanted to do, something he had to do to receive food and nourishment, something he had to do to provide from himself and eve. Work has developed into something that we as humans find as a chore, because most of us don't garden our own food we find that task tedious and  not enjoyable.

Katie G. 12/12 mans life with nature

Man's Life With Nature is a section within chapter two that discusses the effect nature has on humans. The human body is expressly fitted out with sensory structures that register specific responses to the surroundings. Nature has a direct effect through man's seeing, hearing, tasting, touching, smelling and his senses of heat and gravitation (12 Wagner)." We are so effected by our external world, every second of every day. Our senses turn our impressions into images, ideas, and memories. (12 Wagner) For example, right now I am sitting at the Einsteins bar top. I can smell the familiar odor of a aged book that has been on the shelf of the library for years, maybe not even opened for years. The light is just enough to keep me awake and focused on my work but not too strong to make me want to close my eyes or cause me to squint. There is a quiet hum of the freezer in the background a long with the sound of milk being steamed. Students are talking discussing class work and final reviews. I am aware of my body being supported by the tall bar stool and the feeling my feet have finally being rested after a long day on my feet. I can feel the soft, smooth touch of my fingers typing the individual letters on my laptop's computer and the warmth my Einsteins long sleeve collard shit wraps me in.

Katie G. 12/12 The Human Use of The Earth

The Human Use of The Earth written by Philip Wagner is a book that I picked up in the Trible Library early November when I started thinking about what i wanted to write about in my essay. I decided early on that I wanted to talk about the movie Avatar that came out a couple years ago in all the major movie theaters! It was an absolute hit, and incredibly done. I decided to do outside research on how humans use the Earth, the Ecology of Eden obviously has been a huge benefit in my research for this paper and I have enjoyed very much learning and listening to my classmates presentations on their chosen chapters of the Ecology of Eden.
Concerning Wagner's text, The Human Use of the Earth,  is a complex examination of the interaction between man and the physical environment.
Through out the discussion of Ecology of Eden and asking myself over and over again, "Is it possible to return to Eden?" After reading through Wagner's text I believe I can answer with a confident, no. In chapter five of his text, titled Artificial Environments, Wagner says "The essentially social character of work, together with man's comparatively large body size and peculiar feeding habits, make it virtually impossible for any human group, of whatever size, to subsist permanently and exclusively on the natural products of any single place (119, Wagner)."  This quote taken directly from Wagner's text, although complex, gets to the point of the question that we has a class have been asking ourselves all semester; Can we as human beings on Earth today, in her current state, ever return to Eden, or in my words, Ultimate Paradise? Wagner practically answers this question. No! Humans have become far to socially evolved in our way of work, feeding habits and other ways to return to a single place of Ultimate Paradise.

Corey Maiden Chapter 28 Ecology of Eden

Chapter 28 Ecology fo Eden

This chapter is about reclaiming “Arcadia”. Eisenberg here suggests 2 different ways of doing so, one being coupling, and the other being “the careful swain”. I would have to say coupling is probably the most proven method. The pre Columbian Americans and South Americans seemed to use this method, but it could be argued that this only works on a smaller scale than what would be possible here in the United States now. While the South Americans especially had massively populated cities surrounded by wilderness, but even these numbers, which I heard somewhere estimated up to 100,000 aren’t even close to the number of Americans that would have to be crammed together. Not only that but we are dependent on this land to produce our food. It isn’t as thought people are spread out for no reason at all. People use their land to produce the things we need.

Abby Hogge: Outside Source #5

             Job: 38 1-12

“The Lord answered Job…”where were you when I laid the foundation of the earth? Tell me, if you have understanding who determined its measurements – surely you know!  Or who stretched the line upon it? …Or who shut in the sea with doors when it burst out from the womb, when I made clods its garment and think darkness its swaddling band and prescribed limits for it and set bars and doors…Have you commanded the morning since your days began, and caused the dawn to know its place.”  

            When I read this passage from Job I cannot help but marvel and be in awe of creation and in the complex and beautiful design that the Lord made. The Lord asks Job if he laid the foundations of the earth, of course Job did not, but this only begins to show the power and the glory of the Lord. Job need not think that the Lord has forgotten him because the Lord was faithful in the smallest and largest details of the earth. We talked about the mysteries of creation in class and this only furthers the idea that there are mysteries of creation that have been explained to us in scripture and others that we cannot understand or fathom.

            This passage is such a clear indicator of the sovereign hand that the Lord has on all the earth. We don’t often stop and think about how the ocean and its waves have come just up to land and no further for the last 100s of years. We don’t think about every new morning and how the Lord has control over each of these mornings as he declares in Job

            These are the little bits and pieces of creation that we take for granted and that we don’t typically acknowledge on a day to day basis. I have enjoyed going over these details and thinking more in depth about nature and ecology through this course

Abby Hogge: My Choosing#4

       Wendell Berry “The Kingdom of God”

             Below is an excerpt of what one scholar suggests through Wendell Berry’s work, “The Kingdom of God”, a mystery that man cannot seem to understand despite all the earthly developments and progress made.  This mystery is between creation and mankinds inability to understand all that is within nature.  Berry notes that humans are limited in their understanding of nature and of creation.  We have to accept ourselves as lower than our Creator and not expect our intellect to reveal every mystery on this earth.

            "To call the unknown by its right name, `mystery,' is to suggest that we had better respect the possibility of a larger, unseen pattern that can be damaged or destroyed and, with it, smaller patterns," Berry writes. When humans rename mystery as "random," they either marginalize the importance of the unknown or they hold out hope for some future understanding. The failure to admit human ignorance, Berry warns, ultimately leads to the exploitation and destruction of creation” (Berry). 

            We want answers and quit answers to just about every mystery or problem that we face. We have so much technology and so much knowledge and intellect that we often find frustration in the things we can’t explain. Nature can be seen as one of these things. Something so beautiful and wonderful filled with many mysteries.  We will create theories, gather evidence and whatever else to try and say we have answers to these mysteries but reality is we do not.  We can only answer so much about nature and maybe this is meant so that we will enjoy what we do not know and soak up the beauty of these mysteries. As Eisenberg writes in Ecology of Eden, we have to be willing to touch nature and not just look. Touching nature gives us an intimacy for this mystery that we cannot understand any other way. 

Abby Hogge: Outside Reading#4

     Counterfeit God’s – Tim Keller ( pgs. 1-10) 


          I have been reading Counterfeit Gods by Tim Keller and have found some interesting parallels between his writing and Eisenberg’s Ecology of Eden.  Timothy Keller writes about the gods we place in front of the one true God and creator of the earth. We often settle for the little “gods” of money, sex, power, fame, etc. I think this compares somewhat to Eisenbergs idea of the tower and how much desire we have to be part in this tower that offers all of these materials and little gods. Keller defines our culture to be one filled with idols whereas Eisenberg might call these idols glut or materialism. Ultimately Keller writes that these Gods will of course by no surprise only leave us wanting more and only satisfy us for a few moments. Many of us according to Keller spend our lives trying to make our heart’s fondest dreams come true and this ultimate pursuit of happiness. When the pursuit of happiness becomes focused only on earthly possessions this is where we no longer find our satisfaction but our constant run into failure.

            We can learn a lot about glut and mans harm on nature when we look at all that is happening in our current food industry. So much effort is being made to produce bigger, better and larger amounts and types of food. While this idea seems great and that it would be harmless, it becomes harmful when unknown chemicals and pesticides are being used on the crops and foods we eat on a daily basis. Maybe small amounts of eating these foods will not cause harm, but what are the effects overtime? That is something scientists and researchers are still working on.  Unfortunately for the public, those who make the profit that comes from producing mass amounts of food are not likely to release information or admit to problems that could potentially arise.  

The Nature of Consciousness and the Selfless Experience - Christopeher Shannon

i wanted to put my paper up here so people could see it and comment on it/ give suggestions... it took FOREVER and i did alot of hard work and research on the brain and stuff.... SOOOO... check it out! i think its preaty interesting!

here it is. comment

Empty yourself of everything
Let the mind rest at peace.
The ten thousand things rise and fall while the Self watches
Their return
They grow and flourish and then return to the source.
Returning to the source is stillness, which is the way of nature.
- Laotzu 600 BCE

A man’s life is lead as a man; throughout his time on earth he is self-aware. This is the one attribute with which mankind is most intimately linked; The human animal is inseparable from himself. Without his identity, his consciousness, the world would not exist. This feature is rarely cherished or even considered. Nature is not so vain, it holds no high ideal of itself, it has no concept of ego. It is happy to exist. The cruel joke then is that the entire of a man’s life is spent trying to reach such an existence as nature, to reclaim Eden lost. Despite his mighty ego the only way man can experience an authentic relationship with nature, a true comunitas, is through loss of self; without this his subconscious conception changes the landscape through intent. The nature of consciousness, though more complex then explanation is capable, has been predicated on mans ability to conceive abstract ideas which in turn is predicated on communication, the divine spark and great gift. Only by losing ego, whether by choice or design, is man thrust back to his natural state lacking any intention towards the outside world. During these moments the universe can be experienced without understanding or deliberation.

In this essay nature is to mean that which is not self. All things are of nature and therefore natural. It is the ego of man that tries to define it. The dirt and the smoke are the same; the oil and the water too. The conscious self fools man into believing he can identify nature, a ploy of communication which incorrectly sets us above the natural world. The ego in this context, not meant as the ego of Freud (although usually interchangeable), is taken from the Latin for self and includes all parts of its meaning. Understanding the mechanism of our consciousness may ultimately free us from our egos and allow us to experience that which is not. Here the essay will first address self, what it is and how it exists. Then it will discuss examples of existence without self, in mans practical existence. The last section will deal with the loss of self and pure existence.

The Nature of Self and Tie to Communication:

Communication, meant as conceptualization much broader then language, is the simplest tool with which the psyche may construct self awareness and conception. In the wild, awareness is inherent, but only as outside stimulation. Here action is determined by instinct. This is the genetic knowledge granted man by billions of years of biomass evolution and given during insemination. This has been granted all things. The human holds its breath in the womb; the elk outruns the lion; the grass feeds from the sun; the cell divides; the genes molecules cohere; the electron revolves; even the energy spools and vibrates; because it had to. Because if it had not, the universe would not exist. The chain continues I suspect until it comes full circle to the elk again. These properties are true not because they grew to be or learned to be, but because in order to exist there was no other choice. The universe shares in this knowledge constantly evolving, adding to its own basic intelligence. Like the biomass of a wetland, this cosmic mass is the purest form of intelligence; Information without the burden of ego, knowledge as existence, more vast than the entire of human experience could hope to learn.

In Nature, the birth of communication created a unique phenomenon: conventional knowledge (which is much less intrinsic than the cosmological). The meme, as geneticist Richard Dawkins refers to it in The Selfish Gene, is a property of the ego aided by memory. Outside of the self the most a creature can hope for is primal memory, which allows for comparison of experience leading to unconscious differentiation; even this may be impossible without simple communication to allow representation and comparison. Men have made the assumption that they are the only conscious animal in existence, an assumption no doubt aided by religion and the ego’s lust for consumption. This predication allows him to separate himself from other animals, even those with which he is explicitly linked, in turn justifying lordship over the earth and its creatures. Before this essay proceeds, it is important to realize the similarities between all living creatures suggests a less divided hierarchy in the world; an ideology practiced my many peoples including the Franciscan order of monks as well as many not touched by western thought.

All those with the burden of consciousness have communication to thank. In the human world this is hard to conceptualize (an ability which we usually base on past experience) because most of mankind has never experienced a true loss of self. Even if they have, it had been described and compared to non existence. It is with this that the conscious mind may allow a glimpse. By using what Owen Barfield termed “beta-thinking” in his book Saving the Appearances (which is a term for abstract thought not based on sensory stimulation which he terms alpha thinking; dependent on the sensory information itself which he terms figuration); we can construct a model of ego to understand the link between communication and perception a process that most likely evolved with the brains ability.

The ability to communicate begins with awareness of representations and objects, by allowing the user, who we will call Jeff to attach a name, or symbol, or abstract concept to an item or characteristic. Once this association is made Jeff can use the symbol to identify something in the present or the past using memory. If Jeff can represent the color “red” he can attach it to the red bike. This is Barfield’s figuration. The next step is to use these representations to describe other objects. For example, the bike is red and shiny and cold. Once Jeff has the ability to adequately describe objects he can begin to differentiate between them - comparison. That bike is red, that bike is blue. These are examples of Barfield’s Alpha-thinking. Not only can Jeff differentiate between different objects but also he can differentiate between himself and his environment or himself and others. This is the first flicker of Jeff’s self awareness. He can also begin to compare the present to the past. The air was cold the air is hot. The final and most important component of Jeff’s consciousness is abstraction, which allows him to create models in his mind. The bike is red the bike could be green like the tree. This ability along with comparison allows him to compare the past and create a probable scenario about the future. It was cold in the dark it is hot in the light in the future it will be cold in the dark again. This abstract awareness allows Jeff to use all higher brain functions. This is Barfield’s beta-thinking which grants consciousness and abstract awareness relative to other objects and times.

Memory plays a vital role in the self, but instead of consciousness being based on memory, it is actually an effect of communications gift of conception. If man had never been able to represent a bike he would have no way to store in his memory. A bike is a bike. If he were unable to represent characteristics of that bike he would not be able to describe it. Man would have nothing to store in memory. Perhaps he could store the image but then what would that be without the ability to say it was red or it was four feet tall. The image would be lost immediately; the moment after you experienced it you would experience something else. Life would just be a flash of sensations. Man’s actions would be governed by the instincts he was born with instead of a conscious mind. Stove hot - move hand. Taste bad – spit out. Feel hungry – eat food. These instincts are so strong they still largely govern mans lives today but only as hushed shouts from the universal mind muffled by the self-important ego.

An effect of ego, man must constantly wrestle with intent. Whether conscious or subconscious it is the burden of self. When a man wakes up he is lulled into self awareness. The first decision: what to do? Or to do nothing at all? – Man’s intention. A question so constantly raised it has become automatic. An alpha level intention. Every moment of existence man must decide his intent. Assume for a moment you appeared in a beautiful jungle. What do you do? Do you swim in the waterfall? Do you search for rescue? What if you were an environmentalist? So you stand still as not to spoil your surroundings? Perhaps you are an environmentalist and you see the last is more environmentally friendly. Your intention is to stay put. Nature would not. Nature is without intent, without ego. It would exist as it always has. And you? You are standing still alone in a beautiful jungle paradise. Man’s ego is what separates us from nature but its ego’s intent that changes the landscape.


Examples of pure instinct and pure existence are almost impossible to find in the realm of human experience. To be completely alienated from communication has been extremely rare since its birth countless ages ago. In Helen Keller, man can find an uncommon instance of pure instinct. As a blind deaf child Keller was unable to experience communication until young adulthood. In her autobiography, The Story of My Life she recalls her early life of pure experience:
I became impatient at her repeated attempts and, seizing the new doll, I dashed it upon the floor. I was keenly delighted when I felt the fragments of the broken doll at my feet. Neither sorrow nor regret followed my passionate outburst. I had not loved the doll. In the still, dark world in which I lived there was no strong sentiment or tenderness. I felt my teacher sweep the fragments to one side of the hearth and I had a sense of satisfaction that the cause of my discomfort was removed. She brought me my hat, and I knew I was going out into the warm sunshine. This thought, if a wordless sensation may be called a thought, made me hop and skip with pleasure.
We walked down the path to the well-house, attracted by the fragrance of honeysuckle with which it was covered. Someone was drawing water and my teacher placed my hand under the spout. As the cool stream gushed over one hand, she spelled into the other the word water, first slowly then rapidly. I stood still, my whole attention fixed upon the motion of her fingers. Suddenly I felt a misty consciousness as of something forgotten--a thrill of returning thought; and somehow the mystery of language was revealed to me. I knew then that "w-a-t-e-r" meant the wonderful cool something that was flowing over my hand. That living word awakened my soul, gave it light, hope, joy, set it free! There were barriers still, it is true, but barriers that could in time be swept away.
I left the well-house eager to learn. Everything had a name, and each name gave birth to a new thought. As we returned to the house every object which I touched seemed to quiver with life. That was because I saw everything with the strange, new sight that had come to me. On entering the door I remembered the doll I had broken. I felt my way to the hearth and picked up the pieces. I tried vainly to put them together. Then my eyes filled with tears; for I realized what I had done, and for the first time I felt repentance and sorrow.
This excerpt may be the strongest evidence of the link between communication and consciousness. Even this though is not a completely true example, for by experiencing communication Keller radically changed her existence and her memory. She could now describe her experiences abstractly, based on what she learned and similar experiences she had since her awakening losing pure existence and gaining self.

The Functional Dissociation of Self:

Although moments of comunitas outside of self are rare they are not contingent on a lack of communication as was the case with Helen Keller. There are many reports of people transcending self during meditation or under other specialized circumstances. Functionally there are situations that can cause temporary aphasia, or inability to produce or comprehend language, by neurological disassociation between parts of the brain which would be physically similar to a pure existence experience. During these times the areas of the brain most associated with language and communication, the Broca’s and Wernicke’s areas, do not function or communicate properly with the rest of the brain. Current models of human language processing (based on research of aphasia victims) suggest the Wernicke’s area is where language is associated with meaning allowing for alpha and beta thinking (Stufflebeam). There are many causes for the type of dissociation leading to non communicative experience.

Current research suggests that during sleep the parts of the brain separate which would create such a communication-experience schism. During sleep, different areas disassociate to prevent neural cascade failures due to excessive neural imprinting. Different phases of sleep have different levels of interconnectivity between the parts of the brain. Even though all the parts of the brain are electrically active during sleep the REM phase is one of the most interconnected which could explain why some can remember their dreams (Bar-Yam). Disassociative sleep is also supported by research conducted at the University of Wisconsin in which passive electromagnetic pulses are introduced into the brain during deep sleep and wakefulness. During sleep, the pulse was localized and did not travel across the neural network while in wakefulness the pulse easily traveled across the network (Brown). Because memory, specifically long term, is not localized in one area of the brain (like other functions), it is possible to dream about people and places from your past. During REM sleep the communication centers of the brain are not active, this explains why most dream states are instinct driven and “‘sense-of-self’ [is] absent from dreams” (Bar-Yam 3). Other higher functions like reading and forethought are also regularly described as not present (Bar-Yam). Below are brain scans comparing REM sleep and random silent word generation They show clearly different parts of the brain being used for each; supporting REM sleep as a non communicative activity and suggesting existence without consciousness of self.

There is also evidence to support psychoactives can interrupt neuron transition allowing for experience and memory without communication. Salvia, which is a natural hallucinogen historically used in religious experiences, is known for producing states in which the user experiences loss of self and communion with nature. Below is a salvia experience as described by an individual who had a selfless experience.

The stinging sensation in my mouth woke me up from my slumber. I hardly recall the transition into the experience. I remember feeling it beginning to come on, and the next thing I recall is transitioning back into 'myself' after having been lifted up and 'merging with the night'. The night was this massive, incredibly ancient and benign entity that I was allowed to open myself up into and become part of. It was like an unfolding. Part of me became the ocean waves crashing on the beach that I live nearby, under a magnificent moonlit sky. Words fail to describe the peaceful and serene feeling I experienced. I had an understanding that the essence of life and consciousness can be likened to the bubbles of water moving through the crashing waves and the sea foam. Water is the physical aspect of life, which encases itself around the spirit (likened to the air bubbles), breathing life into being. The two are in a constant dance, which we call life. The night entity could be likened to the water and waves, and my consciousness likened to a bubble in undulating night entity.
(erowid.com: Erowid experience vaults)

Many drugs have similar properties which has led many, throughout history, to consider them to be a path to enlightenment. Drugs like these were especially valued during religious ceremonies and rituals. Newer drugs based on a complex understanding of neuro-chemistry are also being used. DMT, one of the world’s most powerful hallucinogens, short for dimethyltryptamine, is a neurotransmitter found in the human brain. It is released during death and deep sleep. DMT, or the “spirit molecule” as coined by Rick Strassman MD who published a book on the drug, is reported to be a mystical and religious experience.


During times of great physical or physiological stress mans primal instincts have the ability to silence the ego for short periods of time. This reaction is usually during an extreme fight–or-flight response which changes the brain chemistry to separate higher brain function in order to complete a genetically programmed response. During these times it is also common for the memory to be fragmented or cloudy. The chemical changes in the brain also inhibit complex speech and an individual’s ability to abstract. Mild dissociation of the brain allow for instinct to kick in. In relation to the genome this is a logical defense mechanism, as genes will always “strive” to reproduce. If they can override conscious thought to increase probability of survival it makes sense that genes with this trait would become dominant in the genome. (Dawkins)

The Loss of Self and Higher Experience:

All the previous examples show instances in everyday life where existence separated from self is possible. This is very different from pure existence as Helen Keller experienced it with no ability with which to compare or describe her experiences. The most powerful ego-less experience is one driven by transcendental enlightenment. Although functionally similar to communicative dissociation, the ability to consciously release self and experience the whole of existence in a direct authentic connection is the highest form of selfless experience.

By this essay’s definition of nature, pure experience can happen anywhere at any time. Although this is true; the traditionally natural landscape holds the highest likelihood of such an experience for the majority of man. The alienation of self necessary to enter a wild landscape encourages mans own alienation of his ego necessary for true comunitas. Mans biological ties to the land allow him to experience the natural world as a component of it, in contrast to the cityscape which, superficially, the ego clams as master. By pushing himself into the harsh unfamiliar landscape, man is more likely to have an experience free of ego.

Literature and religion are filled with accounts of non-communicative experiences, which inspire such pilgrimages into the wild. The Buddha spent 6 years of meditation in search of comunitas with existence while St Augustine searched for God in nature hoping to experience Him and His creations. Writer Annie Dillard’s experiences in the Appalachian Mountains inspired meditative prose like, “Experiencing the present purely is being empty and hollow; you can catch grace as a man fills his cup under a waterfall”; a beautiful yet vain attempt to communicate the impossible. During a 300-mile hike through the Scottish landscape in the summer of 2006 I experienced an intense but fleeting connection with nature. While walking the trail, surrounded by tall green grass I sat on a rock. In that moment, seconds or minutes, I slowly exhaled and my self seemed to leave my body like a puff of breath. I was there experiencing the grass in the wind the cool breeze and the color of the sky, all of it. Connected like a breath in the breeze. Without intention. Without self. Just there. The moment was gone as unexpectedly as it came as my professor’s son shouted a question from just a few feet away. It was an experience I will not forget but will never really remember. And as my self grows with new experiences and ideas to describe the experience I cannot really know what it was like; not since the moment I breathed in. These experiences are rare and brief with no way to describe or remember but their existence alone is proof of the ability of man to truly and willingly loose self and experience that which is not.

This authentic relationship with nature, a true comunitas with all outside of self is a powerful and amazing experience. By truly experiencing self, not just trying to understand it; man can find the link between himself and the whole of existence. Not as a thing to be understood but a moment to be experienced. As man delves into the conscious explanation of all things he needs to be equally as vigilant to escape the ego and experience the existence of all things. By using both approaches, man will be closer to experiencing pure being; for just as the aforementioned vibrating strings of energy come back to the feeding blades of grass, so too may the conception of self circle back to the ego-less experience of nature.

nature poems and such - christopher shannon

i was in the midts of hell/finals week and i went to trader joes and randomly bought a bunch of flowers... it was awsome... and it made all the work i was dooing not that bad and my house smell like eucalyptise... it was realy nice... it inspired a break from my writing redicks thesis paper to write some poetry (that isnt very good..haha) so here it goes...

as the sun from my window streaches across the room, reflecting off the lake.
you breath your dying breths. all to make my kitchen table a little wooden eden.
i just wanted something prety and you were it.
white
green
tall, the color, form, impecable. in the modern ikea vase
i have a tallent for asthetics.

you dont care.
you take your last breaths, a slow death.

you lived in a garden once, fresh air and bugs crawling on you bees buzzing
sunlight without a window. on a cliff next to a waterfall overlooking the ocean. in a tropical paradise

then you lived in a farm. sorounded by maby others. too many others. with chemicals and a fake sun. floride in your blood

and now you die here because you are so beautyful that i needed you
in that ikea vase on that wooden table.

i only hope you find sollas in the view. the beautyful lake the trees and the sun coming through the window.

the view was made for you.
by me.
trying to find that one cliff ive been dreaming of since i was born. your home where you lived.



umm i also wrote some other poetry that was inspire by a trip i took to south america a few years ago... i had a dream on this beautyful train ride to maccu piccu and it was the first time that a few of my heaven included nature. (that i remember). i was there with my lover... who its for then and now is different and it changes. i hope to read it to my soulmate at my wedding or something.. the actual poem changes too.

i see you standing there
naked as god made you
sunburnt skin and rosy cheaks
the rock feels cool on the small of my back
a small retreat from the sun


here i am. perfect. and you.
over the edge the river tempts us to jump.
a death wish of 400 feet.

i can feel the bugs on my skin
and i can smell the jungle behind me.
and i can here my heart beat slow
my skin hurts as i smile
we were not ment for the sun. or this place.

no one cares here as we kiss and i cant tell the difference between your saliva and the beads of sweat from my upper lip.
we steady our hands in eachothers


a runing leap....



and one more... from the first time i ever came to VA... and got lost in the woods. which was weird becasue i grew up in the desert and had never seen so many trees.

a sky of green held up by living pillers of bark
lying in a puddle of mud i realize how pointless clothes are
pugs are cralling across my face
covered in mud its evrywhere
and its not as bad as i thought it would be.
i loose my self
i cant breath because its so hot
everything is sticky.
i never understood sweat till now.
for a moment i deside to run away like a wild man
raised by the bugs and the trees and the mud
even the air.
the courage escpes me like a breath.
i leave.
and i loose myself

nature portraits - Christopher Shannon

so im not very good at journaling but i take pictures all the time and always keep them to reflect on later. thanks to this class (and others from redick) ive come to look at nature in a different way. before i never photographed nature, perfering portraits. but thanks to this class ive learned that nature has a life its own... it can be funny, serious, happy, and sad... so i decided to include some pictures from nature walks ive gone on during this class... now its one of my biggest if not the biggest inspiration i have, even my portraits are almost all in nature... its weird to think that i never even considered nature at all let alone as important before redick... but its EVERYTHING





lots of these were taken from my facebook albums "nature EVERYWHERE" and "nature EVERYWHERE - part deaux"












its kinda weird how we feel the need to change nature... even by something as simple as picking a flower to take with us...



its amazing how it all works together like the fungis on the tree







this is like my new favorite place... its all wetlands as you first get on isle of white... i found it randomly and i love it.










man made beaches are kinda amixed bag for me... i like them cause thats what a "beach" is to me, or at least has been since i was a kid.. but i relay like natural beaches... ones where the trees or rocks or something go right up to the water... its my favorite place. where the water mets the land. there is this one place on rosavelt island in DC that is the epitomy of that... its my favorite spot to escape when im up in nova. so diferent then the man-made gardens or beaches










the drive to tech was so beautyfull i couldnt believe it... but it was weird because it was the day of the shootings... it make me feel better that the world was stil beautyfull and there... ive been thinking about the world in the context of nature constantly since this class started.









i have soooooo many more... thousands...
but i figured this was more then enough.. hahaha

Adam Richards

The Ecology of Eden book was well formulated. It set up an ending that made me want to continue reading it. I could tell there was more to the book than individual chapters. I am glad that I got to present the section on managers and fetishers. I felt like that was sort of the climax of the book. It began to unveil a solution to the problems with ecology. How can we be harmonious with nature by not harming it and still benefitting from its beautiful resources? It was also interesting when the Earth Jazz chapter revealed itself. Eisenberg did a great job in writing this book. I dont think you could have chosen a better text book for the class. It really brought religion and ecology together through metaphorical analogies such as the mountain and the tower.

Adam Richards

The film that we watched in class was interesting. It was interesting to lewarn about the aboriginese culture. They are a tight knit family. They show perfect harmony with nature. It was amazing how they live off the land but do not take away from it. The theme of the film went well with that of the class. It showed the importrance of being fetshers of the land rather than managers. The guy who painted on the tree bark was awesome. It must take forever to do such a painting. It was very symbolic as far as the animals he would paint. The huge crocodile he painted was great. I am glad we got to see this film. I wish I could remember the title of the film to reccomend it to others who are intersted in nature.

Eden is a parking lot -gordon Mallonee

The title i feel is the truth of the world around us. we cover our earth in asphalt and keep it from breathing. we build parking lots that are designed to keep you in just like the society that has been formed to keep people from getting out and thinking differently. the parking lots have there rows of cars and trees. at the base of the trees are mulch. this action traps the moisture so well that the base of the tree rots with time. we put little plants in the ground to make places look nice. landscaping the area to how we think nature should be. rows of trees all line up in military formation. you do not find that nature. you find cematry, (i hate trying to spell this wodrd, you know what i am trying to say) but not in how the plants are in relation to other plants. Parking lots here and there and roads everywhere asphalt absorbing the sunlight, making things hotter in here all the while we just trash the only planet we have.

tires dont go anywhere...

#14

When I read the beginning of Ecology of Eden it was brought to my attention that it is not just humans who destroy nature. Yes, because of technology we have created ways to greater destroy the environment, but we are not the only species whose choices impact the world. We kill animals and plants in order to eat, but that is the way of life for all species. We destroy the environment in order to create our habitats (homes) and so do other animals. This isn’t a way of rationalizing and saying it is ok to destroy the environment it was just something I noticed while hiking one day and I saw where deer had formed a home and destroyed a lot of plant life in the process.

#13

Should we separate ourselves from wilderness in order to preserve it? Shepard talked a lot about ideas to separate ourselves from the wilderness because in dwelling in it we change it. But are we not apart of the wilderness ourselves? By excluding ourselves are we not altering it? Throughout this class the question that has come to my mind is what is a healthy balance or is there a healthy balance in the way we live with the wilderness, and I have not yet found that balance but I continually read passages and come to the conclusion that we can NOT separate ourselves from the wild because we would lose touch with something we are a part of.

#12

The Dead by the Side of the Road.

This poem by Gary Snyder shows the loss of sacred not only in space but in the animals that live in a space. He paints a picture of animals that have been desecrated and now are lying dead on the side of an interstate. This made me think about the fact that a landscape is just a place if without what inhabits it and therefore a place isn’t sacred of its own accord, it is also sacred because of what it contains. We could see this in a video we watched earlier where this bird began to build its home as a part of its mating ritual. This bird makes up a part of the environment and its actions created something that was found sacred to the tribe that lived in this land.

#11

In philosophy I learned that some believe that without language and communication there is no way for people to experience the same world. Do we all perceive the world completely different? Is there a physical world? I would say yes there is a physical world but we all just experience it differently (as I said in an earlier blog about Kant). The idea we discussed about “storied place” is very relevant to this argument. We all go through this physical world experiencing the same materials yet our minds create different experiences induced by nature.