nature as adversary?

 the soul in nature?

there is a dark, strong current

flowing within English culture and thought

that views nature as adversary,

an evil wildness that needs to be conquered,

tamed, enslaved to the force of our will,

visit Williamsburg, or its like:

the shapes of shrubbery molded like clay

into geometric abstract perfection,

not the shapes natural to its growth,

I remember as a child walking into the woods,

disturbed by its messiness, its lack of clean order,

imagine Mount Everest,

and the challenge of achieving its summit,

how much did the climbers view the climb as subjugation?

reducing the highest mountain on Earth into a desired trophy,

like a hunter displaying the head of a killed animal on the wall,

such an adversarial take on it all

allows us to indulge our will, our ego,

our self-centeredness,

and we thus lose a possible spiritual connection

with that outside the narrowness of our self-definition,

perhaps the Nepalese, who were vital to the Everest expedition,

gave the English not only their vital logistical help

but also an even higher challenge to which to rise:

to mature enough inside to see and understand

that the world outside us has its own life,

that the inanimate might have a soul as we feel we do,

can we let ourselves grow up,

and notice,

and maybe love all of the world around us?

by Henry H. Walker

October 27, ‘26