All in the name of God.

I was inspired by Evan Dreiffus' blog entitled "Only Nature can save us", which was his reflections on Coleridge's "Frost at Midnight." I agreed with and was quite impressed by his discussion on the "religious underpinnings"of this great poem. Dreiffus, using the context of the Oxford English dictionary's definition for ministry, described nature as a "house under the rule of a minister(God)". Dreiffus' statement "...just as God breathes into and is embedded throughout nature, so too does he breathe into humans, and is therefore embedded in us" is in accordance with my take on the subject. I, too believe that there is a godliness in every biotic and abiotic thing which God has created. I challenge Dreiffus to extend his argument to hypothesize that there is not only a godliness in nature, but that every creation has been made for the glory of God. Just as the "frost performs its secret ministry", I believe that God uses his creation to reveal himself to other members of his creation and to worship him.In my perspective, God shows his diversity, his benevolence, beauty, sovereignty, love, sustaining power and awesomeness in the physical landscape, presence of the million plus species, celestial bodies, roaring rivers etc. His creation is meant to reveal him and worship him; The following text from the Christian Bible has contributed to my belief that nature has been created to reveal and worship God.



"And as He was now approaching, near the descent of the Mount of Olives, the whole multitude of the disciples began to praise God joyfully with a loud voice for all the miracles which they had seen, saying,"BLESSED IS THE KING WHO COMES IN THE NAME OF THE LORD;Peace in heaven and glory in the highest!"And some of the Pharisees in the multitude said to Him, "Teacher, rebuke Your disciples."And He answered and said, "I tell you, if these become silent, the stones will cry out!"Luke 19:37-40

I strongly believe that we as humans are not the sole members of Nature who God has revealed himself through or who are capable of praising and offering worship to God. As, the preceeding text states "if those(human disciples) become silent, the stones will cry out". I belive all of God's creation is capable of praising him, as that is the sole reason for their existence

One for all and all for one

Whilst reading "From letter to Robert Southey", I was inspired for this week's blog by the line "and dancing to the moonlight Roundelay". This is an amazing way, to end my blogging experience for this class. Throughout the duration of the semester my blogs have been advocating environmental sustainability, prosperous environmental ethics, love and respect for nature etc. This blog hit home for me;Yes, as an Environmentalist, I advocate such practices, but without a unified world to actually carry out these practices, believe in these ethics and adopt a love and understanding for the environment, my efforts are null and void. Many a time, I forget the important human aspect in the equation of calculating a healthy environment, I forget that humanity is not just a part of the equation, but we are the solution. "We", not meaning a family, a town, a state, a country, a race, a hemisphere. "We" meaning every human being on this planet. To save our world, and make it a safe and abundant environment for future generations to live in, requires each and every one believing and acting out these environmentally friendly ideologies and practices. When I read the line, "dancing to the moonlight Roundelay", I illustrated in my mind, a person of every race, class or creed holding hands around the perimeter of the Earth, praising and thanking the Earth as a community for the sustaining and nurturing power of Nature. We are all in this together, the entire world is affected by America's greed, India's over population, Brazil's deforestation and Central Africa's diminishing biodiversity. Environmental problems exceed a country's soverign border. Let us hold hands, black, white, yellow or red, in the presence of nature, innovate, and work side by side to preserve our Mother, Mother Nature;

Himself in all and all things in himself

While reading "Frost at Midnight" I immeadiately thought of panenthiesm, The belief that God is one with nature; God is in nature. This belief encourages its followers to revere nature, as the God they pray to, serve, worship and love, is Nature. Prior to reading this poem, I adopted a pantheic view, which is the view that nature and God are identical, or that the nature is the only thing deserving of praise and reverence. Coleridge reminded me of the panentheitic ethic which I once adopted, the ethic which in my perspective, encourages environmental health, ecological balance, human flourishing, and equilibirum. When we see god in nature, we respect it, appreciate and hold it to a high esteem. Many people have a hard time "buying"this ethic, but I had no problem.

In various religions God is seen as the giver and sustainer of life; on planet Earth, mother nature which provides water, oxygen, nourishment is our sustainer of life. God is in nature sustaining us on a daily basis. As Coledridge states "Himself in all, and all things in himself. Great universal Teacher!" As the Christian religion teaches, that the Holy Spirit is within those who accept him, with that same breadth I believe that God is in nature and represents himself to us on a daily basis by sustaining us. "The Frost performs its secret ministry"

Often, when we do harm against nature, when we "sin" against nature we reap adverse effects on us and fellow human kind. Many religions, such as Christianity teach that when followers sin, there are consequences which have to be met. Could this be the reason for starvation? persistent and increasing carcinogenic compounds in our environment? epidemic? Just some food for thought!

Beauty is in the eye of the beholder...

In my perspective, "From observations on the River Wye" sounded like an 18th Century National Geographic article, so I decided to dub the extract as Gilpin Geographic. In Gilpin Geographic, Gilpin describes a picturesque scene in a handbook for tourists, just as the National Geographic authors describe exotic, threatning, rare and unique physical features to us. I am very grateful for the National Geogrpahic's mission of bringing awareness to its readers about the world's land features, water bodies, human populations, animal species, mineral ore and many other aspects of our world which intrigue us. However, just as television channels shape our perspective of many things, the magazine can create a bias in the way which we view the various aspects and features of our world that are presented to us. The magazine creates a paradigm for the various aspects it presents; while reading the convincing literature, one cannot help but adopt the view of the author.

I am not very fond of someone else creating your own perspective, I think Nature and Humanity are essential aspects which one should have an individual experience with and create an individual perspective of, dependent on their experience. The National Geographic categorizes some natural phenomena as scary, horrid, terrible and others as beautiful, placid, quaint; describes some people as primitive and barbaric and others as futuristic and progressive. We as readers view the world through the lens of that particular author, not through our own retinas, and I deem that as problematic. We all have various life experiences and callings which evoke specific and unique emotions from within us. Our unique experience may be very similar or quite contrary to that of the specific author.

Gilpin gives a detailed description of the environment, his love for the ruins, his experience with the beggars, the various scenic views and vantage points among many other accounts. The reader may subconciously adhere to the perspective of Gilpin whilst engaging his literature. I strongly believe that we should experience Nature and Humanity for ourselves, "Beauty is in the eye of the beholder". We cannot turn our back to Nature and humanity and experience it through oval sepia lenses, we have to experience it for ourselves, thats the only way we will truly understand, appreciate and love!

BEAUTY IS IN THE EYE OF THE BEHOLDER

The Destructive power of nature.

The majority of my blogs up to this point have been about the therapeutic, utilizing and life sustaining power of nature, however I have failed to mention the destructive power of nature. This poem brought me back to that particluar reality; whilst nature performs its various processes it sometimes leads to adverse effects on its human kin. Charlotte's Smith's sonnet 44 "Written in the churchyard at Middelton in Sussex" brought me back to this reality. In this sonnet Smith writes about how a small church in Sussex has been destroyed by tidal waves. The tidal waves have even destroyed the grave yard, and consequently,many of the remains of the bodies have been washed into the sea.

Ever so often, we experience a natural disaster, natural phenomenon, or the "warring elements" as Smith puts it which wreaks havoc on the population which has experienced it. Take for example, the January 12th earthquake in Haiti, a natural disaster which led to the death of over 250,000 persons. There are countless examples of such occurences, the 2004 Tsunami and Hurricane Katrina. It is imperative that we not view these natural phenomena as the wrath of nature but contrarily as the varivous cycles of the same Nature which sustains us. As, we improve our scientific knowledge and understanding of our environmental kin, we may be able to avoid adversity associated with these natural phenomena. For example, it may not have been a wise idea to establish a town/village very near to a sea which has violent tidal waves.

This poem reminded me of how powerful nature is in comparison to human kin and how overwhelming it has the potential to be. "With shells and sea-weed mingled, on the shore..Lo their bones whiten in the frequent wave" (9&10) I related this poem to the 1809 Friedrich painting "Abbey in Oak Forest". In the painting the remains of the abbey, the graveyard and the overwhelming sky in comparion to the miniscule human beings greatly resembles the paradigm of Smith's Sonnet 44.

Forget in thee their cup of sorrow here

Although Charlotte Smith's elegaic sonnets are composed of material involving sorrow or mourning, I surprisingly found her work very intriguing. To the moon, was the sonnet which dealt with the question that man has been wrestling with since the beginning of time; The question that no one really has a completely definite answer to; the question which most religions are formed around; the question that most persons fear; the question that views our world as an interim "holding ground" for everlasting life.

Religions such as Islam, Christianity and indigenous religions such as the Arawaki religion all contain a spiritual/transcendetal heaven aspect, which proclaims that one day followers will be rewarded for their mortal behavior and deeds aligned with their faith in exchange for eternal bliss. Many a time, the work on Earth is percieved as a trial, as Charlotte Smith phrases it "a toiling scene". In To the Moon, I notice that Charlotte Smith seems to share such a transcendalist ethic or a variation of this trascendalist ethic.

"And oft I think, fair planet of the night, that in thy orb the wretched may go" Smith speaks of the dead leaving the earthly fate to enter the celestial realm. Smith suggests that after a life of misery or toil the celestial realm is a favorable place of benevolence, a "serene" world. "The sufferers of the earth perhaps may go, released by death, to thy benignant sphere" Smith desires to reach this benevolent realm, "And, while I gaze, thy mild and placid light sheds a soft calm upon my troubled breast; and oft I think of the fair planet of the night.......Oh! that I soon may reach the world serene, Poor wearied pilgrim!"

Environmentalists and Eco-Theologians have raised concern about such a transecndalist ethic. Such an ethic views the world as a miserable interim, it presribes negativity to the imperfect Earth as it is being compared to a perfect, ideal eternal heaven. The anticipation of a perfect world which is contrary to earthly sorrow may encourage persons to mistreat and exploit Nature.

I made an interesting interpretation of this line in relation to Ecology"And the sad children of despair and woe Forget in thee, their cup of sorrow here". Every person who transcends to this beautiful idealistic heaven leaves their "cup of sorrow": their ecological footprint for generations to inherit. I see no problem with a transcendalist world view if repect for future earthly generations is encompassed in such a view.

This youtube video which you may have to copy and paste into your search engine, illustrates a beautiful heavenly abode, as I imagine heaven to be.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6D00Uv0qGoU

to nature with love

While reading this poem, I couldn't help but allude the character being written about to Mother Nature. When I think of Mother Nature, I think of her in a sensual, physical way. After all she is the abiotic force which nurtures the biotic community of the world. She is the one who is usually ignored and unthought of. Quoting the author in the early stanzas of the poem, "no cold exemption from her pain" All the pollution, toxification and habitat alteration which man's actions cause have to be absorbed and corrected by Mother Nature. "She knows the price of every sigh, the value of a tear".

While attemping to mitigate the anthropocentric damage caused by humans, I visualize Mother Nature "sighing"when she knows the damage is beyond her control. Not sighing for herself, but sighing for the demise that mankind will have to encounter due to her inability to recuperate from wrongs done to her. She probably also sighs as she knows that her human kin, or human dependents will deem her reprehensible for the human inflicted demise. In occurences of epidemics, natural disasters, drought and famine, Mother Nature is oft blamed and cursed for the downfall of man. Cursed for the downfall of man, when she is just doing what she has done for eons to preserve the balance of nature and the Earth's holistic ecosystem.

"She knows the value of a tear" as they fall onto the earth which she comprises. She knows the pain man feels when encountered with the consequences of environmetal destruction. Mother Nature always attempts "to heal the wounded heart". However, eventhough everyone may not come to terms with this, she, too has limits. She too has a carrying capacity that needs to be respected by the same human kin which she sustains every day.

We must respect the vary mother who has given us life, and blessed us with "friendship, sympathy and love, and every finer thought" as without breath, such dispositions could not be realized.