(For a full list of topics and
resources, go
here).
By Anna Mussmann
Topic
Introduction
In Aldous Huxley’s dystopic novel Brave New World, government childcare
workers bring a group of eight-month-old babies into a room. There, the
children are shown large bowls of beautiful roses and copies of colorful
picture books. As soon as they begin to play with these enticing objects, they
are blasted by loud noises and given electric shocks. The goal is to condition
them to hate both reading and nature.
Huxley envisioned a world in which the
working classes ignore the natural world around them. Modern Americans avoid
nature, too. Electric shocks are not required. We are so disconnected from it
we don’t even recognize the gap between our official appreciation for the idea of nature and our day-to-day lives.
Even
though “Over three-quarters of adults rate
contact with nature as very or extremely important for their physical health
and emotional outlook,” over half
of us spend only 5 hours or fewer outdoors each week and “report being
satisfied with this amount.” Even though the average American reports
believing they could survive in the wilderness for 16 days, the same
survey respondents couldn’t identify trees or tell the difference between
poisonous and edible berries.
Nature has become like a celebrity we feel we know. Incidentally, did you know
the Oxford Junior Dictionary has dropped words like “dandelion” and “acorn” to
make room for more relevant terms? This separation from nature is a huge change
in the human experience.
Catholic writer G. K. Chesterton argued
that “The natural thing would be that man should live with the natural things,
trees and water and animals. . . . But for us who live in cities Nature is not
natural. Nature is supernatural. Just as monks watched and strove to get a
glimpse of heaven, so we watch and strive to get a glimpse of earth. This is
unreasonable; it is even comic.”
What happens to people who lack experience
with what would, historically, have been the “normal” world? In Huxley’s
dystopia, contemplation and meaningful human relationships are taboo. Is our
separation from nature leading us in the same direction?
A lot of the current conversation about
“getting back to nature” focuses on statistics and measurable results. We’re
told that time outdoors correlates with better mental health, faster healing
from illness, improved cognition, etc. Yet what about our ability to love each
other? Do we need time in the natural world for rightly-ordered, vibrant
community?
 |
| "The Picnic" by Thomas Cole (public domain image). |
Readings
“Once More
to the Lake.” E.B. White (author of Charlotte’s
Web) always seems to write at just the right, leisurely pace. He conveys
the joy of returning to a particular lake and links it with a sense of history
and identity.
In “Manual
Manhood,” C. R. Wiley makes several points that I think can be applied
far more broadly. He is talking about manual labor rather than time in nature,
per se, but I think we could see manual labor as a way of experiencing the
natural world in a very natural way.
Alternative
Reading (in case you want to add or substitute)
Discussion
Questions
1. What
do you think of the study described in “A Walk in the Woods?” It may not be the
most scientifically-rigorous study ever conducted, but do you find the results
surprising or plausible?
2. It’s
interesting that the scientists expected to see increased attention translate into better family cohesion. Do you
think a lack of attention is a significant issue in a lack of family cohesion
for most people? Do you find that time in nature improves your own ability to
pay attention?
3. What
do you think are the biggest obstacles preventing modern Americans from knowing
and spending time in the natural world? How does this change or hurt us as
individuals?
4. What
are your thoughts on the E. B. White essay? Does it make you want to return to
specific places from your childhood? If so, where would you go?
5. Does
White seemed moved more by simple nostalgia about his childhood, or by a sense
of place based on nature? Is this place meaningful just because it’s familiar,
or also because it’s something natural? When you think about places from your
childhood, are your strongest memories of manmade/indoor locations or outdoor
spaces? What do you remember about these places? Have you had a chance to go
back to them?
6. In
White’s essay, the lake and the dragonflies are the same as he remembers: it’s
the manmade things that have changed. Do humans need continuity of place over
generations? Do we need nature for that?
7. What
is your overall response to the C. R. Wiley article?
8. Wiley
says, “There is a connection between working with your hands and manhood. That
shouldn’t surprise. Plato implied as much. The further you get from handiwork,
the less significant the differences between the sexes tend to be. Our bodies
and the tasks they perform, he observed, are sexed. But according to Plato, the
minds that animate them might as well be gender-fluid.” Thoughts?
9. Later,
Wiley adds, “Our bodies are given as either male or female. And the two sexes
are full of meaning, like pages of text. But the texts must be read and their
meanings drawn out.” What can we “read” from the pages of our bodies? Does
spending time in the natural world help us understand the purposes and true
nature of our bodies? How so? Have you experienced this?
10. Wiley
is talking about physical labor, but what are other ways we experience our
bodies by living in the natural world?
11. Can
recreational activities like gardening, camping, or hiking give us some of the
benefits of the labor Wiley talks about, or does their nature as recreation
change how we experience them?
12. If
we want to spend time “in nature,” what does that mean? What is nature? The
Grand Canyon counts, but what about gardens, lawns, and parks? Is it all
equally helpful, or not?
13. Are
there ways in which you would like to make time in nature a larger part of life
for you and your family?
No comments:
Post a Comment
Please note: Comments are moderated and will appear on the blog once we've had a chance to approve them.
Thanks for joining the conversation!