Thursday, October 13, 2016
Launch Post (Tarry Tempest Williams)
Throughout Tarry Tempest Williams excerpt from Refuge: An Unnatural History of Family and Place, Tempest-Williams stresses the importance of all life. She contemplates many different species of birds and the places they inhabit specifically, and what that means. Tempest-Williams also addresses the importance of place and it's resonance with the soul and spirits. She states on page seven hundred and forty-seven, "I was raised to believe in a spirit world, that life exists before the Earth and will continue to exist afterward, that each human being, bird, and bulrush, along with all other life forms had a spirit life before it came to dwell physically on the Earth. Each occupied an assigned sphere of influence, each has a place and a purpose." Do you agree with this sentiment? Why? Do you think the places that we inhabit say something about us? If so, what? Are we, as human souls, drawn to specific places, or are specific places drawn to us as human souls? And lastly, does the way we exist have any correlation or bearing with the specific land that we come from?
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I think you chose a lovely nature quote to pose a question about. I too was raised to believe in the spirit world, yet by observing nature I have grown to have many more questions about our world rather than answers. If anything I believe that rather than being assigned to places, we are set forth on a path to explore nature and find a place to make our home. Personally I am drawn to forests and paths that lead to great heights over large expanse of water. Perhaps it is my duty on Earth to not necessarily inhabit these places but write about their important meaning and significance. That act, perhaps, would be a tool to influence people to protect our land. I believe that is something we can do as humans and especially writers and creators. Our sphere of influence can only reach so far as people who will listen but making that dent in the world has perhaps never been so vital or necessary. To prevent acts that create rage from the destruction of our land we must first express what it means to us to love it as we do. Nature at times can heal, flourish, and protect itself but our involvement, or call to places, should be more than just a feeling or spiritual connection. Through our devotion to care for it the connection can stretch so much wider.
ReplyDeleteI disagree with Williams' belief about souls and spirit worlds. I think it is possible that "souls" exist, but I don't think they are eternal. I think that humans each have unique brains, and because of this we all have different personalities, beliefs, and value systems, and the word "soul" is just a succinct way to refer to the uniqueness of individuals. It is most likely, though, that our consciouses never existed until we were born, and when we die that's probably the end of us. "Purpose" is a very abstract concept, and highly subjective. When considering the immensity of space it is difficult to imagine that anything that happens on Earth, or even Earth itself, has much of a purpose at all.
ReplyDeleteI think that as humans, each with unique personalities, beliefs, and value systems, we are drawn to certain places based on our geographic and cultural preferences, for financial or work-related reasons, or other reasons like that. I don't think there's anything metaphysical about it but yeah, I think human "souls" are drawn to certain places. I don't really know how the reverse would happen, with places being drawn to souls instead of souls to places. That doesn't really make any sense to me. When I try to picture how that would happen I just think of like, the Chronicles of Narnia, because it doesn't seem like they go to Narnia its almost like Narnia comes to them. But idk what a real-life example of that would be.
I think that the way we exist absolutely has correlation with the specific land we come from. Who we are and how we exist is about halfway determined by our biology (nature) and halfway determined by how/where we are raised (nurture). The environment that one grows up out of has a huge influence over the way one goes on to live their life.
I don't mean to be a huge douche by saying that this metaphysical spirit stuff is nonsense. I think that the real, observable, scientific qualities of nature and existence provide more than enough beauty and amazement without having to make up stories about spirit worlds and purposes. There is no purpose to any of this but that doesn't make it less beautiful. The beautiful thing about life is that it lasts such a short amount of time, and when it's gone it's gone forever. It's a narcissistic idea that our souls have always existed and always will exist, like it's so hard to imagine that the world could go on existing without us. Death probably won't be so bad, though. It'll probably just go a lot like this:
Personally, I agree that there is some spirit aspect of life. However, I don't think it's something we will ever understand. I don't know if we existed before living on earth, and I don't know if we will continue to live on after we die. I do believe that souls/spirits are drawn to one another. This applies to humans, animals, and places. It seems to be that incredible, unbelievable things happen every day in ways we would never expect. (Like, for instance, the girl who is friends with a murder of crows: https://goo.gl/lhMJUw) I'm of the opinion that there are more things happening in the world that we don't understand than all that we've discovered in our relatively short time as a species on earth. The presence and behavior of souls/spirits is just one of the unknowns.
ReplyDeleteI think the places we inhabit say a lot about us, and the places we come from define us, oftentimes without our awareness. I think ManInGreenOveralls has it mostly right when they stated that a person is determined half by nature, half by nurture. In my view, it's 1/3 nature, 1/3 nurture, 1/3 soul. The soul could be lumped in with nature, but I don't believe it would be accurate to do so, as, for me, it acts beyond DNA. The places a person grows up in has a hand in shaping their existence, but every person is shaped differently. Some find that their home setting is exactly what they need, and never move too far away. Others think something might be missing, so they explore places in an effort to find a better fit. And some know that their birthplace is not where they will thrive, and leave never to return for any long period of time, if at all. So yes, the land we come from shapes us. Ultimately, I think it, along with nature & nurture, determines for us the land that calls to our souls.