Nature has many aspects depending of the viewpoint of an individual. Different people have various opinions of nature, either in a scientific view, religious view or even cultural view. From the stars in the sky, the sun, the moon the landscape, the flora and fauna all have a deep meaning to various individuals or groups. The following is an analysis of three writings of writers who portrayed their views on nature. N. Scott Momaday through her article, “The Way to Rainy Mountain” explains the nature through her viewpoint while “The Solace of Open Spaces” by Gretel Ehrlich shows the nature in her view. The writings of Wolpert Lewis show his scientific view of same nature.
The spiritual and religious view of nature by N. Scott Momaday
In the story written in 1969, “The Way to Mountain”, Momady recounts the journey of her pilgrimage to her grandmother’s grave. She recounts the life in the open ranges starting from the Smokey Hill River all through to the Red River, from the Canadian headwaters to the Arkansas fork several centuries ago when the Kiowa tribe occupied the region. Momady captures the reader’s attention by a detailed description of the Rainy Mountain in a manner that keeps the reader engaged. “Great green and yellow grasshoppers are everywhere in the tall grass, popping up like corn to sting the flesh,” wrote Momaday (p.814). He gives a vivid description of the weather, the prairies and the landscape to the animals such as tortoise and grasshoppers in the environment. In fact, his description of the environment in the whole of prologue, then goes ahead to describe the early lives Kiowa, show that he beliefs that human beings are connected with nature.
According to Momady, the human spirit becomes deteriorated when separated from the nature. Consequently, his description on landscapes is vividly detailed as he believes on that intimate connection of an individual with a “place” is very vital to understanding and awareness to a human being. To him the landscape and the environment have a special meaning in peoples’ culture. “The skyline in all directions is close at hand, the high wall of the woods and deep cleavages of shadeClusters of trees, and animals grazing far in the distance, cause the vision to reach away and wonder to build upon the mind” the sentences from the story shows Momadays’s viewed the environment as something sacred and always affected the human lives. Life is connected with the nature and a good connection with nature ensures long life, while a poor regard quickens ones demise. In addition, he has given a historical description of one of the important ceremonies, teepee’s destruction, by fire. The historical description is followed by a soothing and slow recounting of the shadow and silence at the end of the day.
The Scientific View of Nature by Lewis Wolpert
The Cultural View of Nature by Gretel Erhlich
The book, “The Solace of Open Spaces”, by Gretel Erhlich, explains the various encounters Gretel had with nature and those she had about it. The book is an autobiography of the accounts the author’s encounters in the open vistas of Wyoming. After the loss of her lover she went to spend some time in Wyoming where she worked in the sheep ranches among the sheep herders, shearing, castrating, and delousing sheep flocks in the extensive farmlands. She weaves her experiences in Wyoming as she interacted with nature and the writings reveal the deep relationship she had with the nature. She carefully describes the natural phenomena she encountered and also reveals that she found peace in the “open places”.
In the book Erhlich, has revealed how nature has deep effects on the culture among the sheep herders and thus reveals the cultural viewpoint of nature. There is a constant battle between her and the nature in the book. “A front is pulling the huge sky over me, and from the dark a hailstone has hit me on the head” (Erhlich, 1986, 1). The book begins by Erhlich recalling how she was battered by the storm, an element of nature. Later she also describes how the scorching sun prevented her from moving the sheep forward. According to Erhlich there are numerous clashes between nature and the culture of the cowboys. “During winter, while I was riding to go look for a new calf, my jeans froze to the saddle []” (Erhlich, 1986, 2). The sentence reveals her view about the nature and culture: when riding a horse in the winter season her jeans froze and stuck in the saddle explaining how winter, which is an element of nature, is incompatible with her jeans that were created by her culture. In another place in the story she points out how the mercury thermometer fails to function under the harsh extremes of winter explaining another nature and culture clash. “.when it’s fifty below, the mercury bottoms out and jiggles there as if laughing at those of us still above ground” (Erhlich, 1986, 73). There are other nature-culture clashes such as the time a pick up veered off the road due to the extreme weather and also she recounts helping [.] splice a friend’s frozen water pipe []” (Ehrlich, 1986, 72).
The cowboy culture in Wyoming seems to be in constant conflict with nature according to Erhlich’s description. There were elements of nature that was usually unfavorable to the activities that were carried out in the ranches. The elements of nature and the manmade elements (cultural elements) seemed incompatible. However, Erhlich herself was changed by the nature and admits to have found peace in solitude after the death of her lover.
Analysis
Wolpert’s scientific view of nature contrasts sharply with Momaday’s spiritual view. Wolpert sees nature as something that is independent and should not be contaminated by human behavior or spiritual viewpoint. To him science does not call for deep thinking on various issues like environment or technology but should only focus on the basic things. Wolpert argues that too much thinking is falsehood and is the cause of people thinking of primitive things like the existence of God or spirits. Wolpert’s view does also not agree with Erhlich’s cultural view o the nature since Erhlich views the nature in constant battle with the culture of the cowboys but Wolpert does not entertain such views about science and nature. He states that science is clean and devoid of such things.
Momaday sees the nature as intertwined by the human spirit. He believes that the elements of nature have an effect on the lives of the human beings. To live a longer life, with our spirits active, we must be in conflict with nature and the environment. However, this is in contrast with Erhlich’s view on nature and culture. Erhlich’s observation was a constant conflict between the elements of nature and culture of the cowboys. But, Momady observed that the people of Kiowa were kept alive by the natural life that abounds in the ranges.
However, both Momaday and Erhlich agree that nature is beneficial to human life. Erhlich reveal how she found peace in the solitude. The life away from the city, in the vast ranches steadied her after the loss of her husband to be. She had gone to “loose” herself only to find peace there. "Space has a spiritual equivalent and can heal what is divided and burdensome in us" (Ehrlich, 1986, P.14). The above quote shows the deep connection between the nature and Erhlich and the agreement her view on nature to spiritual connection with Momaday. Though, Erhlich has given several conflicts with nature there are instances she recounts the forces of nature healing her soul. The morning and the humming of birds, she recounts, made her spirit feel lost.
In conclusion, nature is very vital for human life. The coolness of natural surroundings gives a soothing effect on the lives of people. A walk in the woods has a healing effect to a wounded spirit than a walk in the busy of city life. Therefore, we are obliged to always conserve our environment and be friendly towards it.
Work cited
Ehrlich, Gretel. The solace of open spaces. Penguin Books, 1986.
Momaday, N. Scott, and Al Momaday. The way to rainy mountain. UNM Press, 1969.
Wolpert, Lewis. The unnatural nature of science. Harvard University Press, 1994.
