Analysis Of David George Haskell´s The Forest Unseen
Over the course of the semester, I have immersed myself in a wealth of information from our readings that have enhanced my personal thought of religion, spirituality, and the natural environment. I found two readings, The Forest Unseen and “The Creation,” particularly eye opening. While The Forest Unseen encouraged me to ponder the impact human behavior has on nature and religion, “The Creation” revealed intriguing insight regarding the impact the natural environment has on human understanding of religion.
David George Haskell’s The Forest Unseen offered a new perspective on the intrinsic value of the interactions among the multitude of factors at play in nature. In “April 2nd−Chainsaw,” he discussed how we attempt to justify our destruction …show more content…
of natural structures and habitats by acting as though we are taking our cues from nature. He then posed a question that I found intriguing, “Which flavor of forest life-cycle would you like: the annihilating force of an ice age; or an ancient, undisturbed mountainside; or the dancing mischief of a summer tornado?” (Haskell 64). While humans can rationalize widespread logging and other forms of mass destruction by comparing our behavior to that of a forest fire or other naturally occurring event, Haskell made me realize that this line of reasoning is misled. Nature is so variant that our actions within and towards the environment becomes a moral question. However, Haskell also posits that nature, much like spirituality and religion, does not provide us with answers to these moral questions, but rather gives us examples of varying ways of life. Some of which lead to eternal growth and life, others which result in destruction.
This concept pushed me to view religion and spirituality from a different angle.
I grew up in the church and have always understood that God’s word is the way, the truth, and the life. Haskell posited this response to the moral question posed earlier: “Our collective answer to this question grows out of the values of millions of landowners, pruned and guided by society’s two clumsy hands, the economy and government policy” (Haskell 65). These words encouraged me to dig deeper and to realize the importance of authenticity in spirituality. The two largest world religions, Christianity and Islam, share a major theme: submission to God. I believe this submission is analogous to the notion argued by Haskell. Nature has a unique way of handling itself just as a higher power has a unique way of handling humanity. Human attempts to commandeer and accelerate these processes will always result in failure and destruction. For example, Christian doctrine teaches us to surrender our worldly ways and allow God to work within us and through us to accomplish the greater good. Haskell’s observation of the forest demonstrates this principle in the context of the natural environment. Consider the following: nature destroys forests via forest fires which serve not only to nourish the soil, but also to remove thicker foliage, allowing sunlight and rain to reach new seedlings. Humans, on the other hand, “hacked the forest down with axes and chainsaws” for our own commercial needs such as paper
and wood, stripping the land of vital elements with no way to replenish itself (Haskell 65). This illustration shed new light on the Christian principles on which I was raised. I do believe God’s way is the way, the truth, and the life, and I have a new understanding of the importance of allowing Him to work and not allowing worldly, short-term desires to interfere.
In “The Creation,” Ray Fadden uses nature to illustrate the conception of good and evil in the world. The battle between good and evil has loomed over religious teachings for ages, and, at least in Christianity, goes largely unexplained. Fadden’s tale, however, offers an interesting, yet simple, elucidation of the birth of these phenomena: nature. When the Sky Woman gives birth to the twins, the Good Spirit and the Evil Spirit, she sets the eternal battle in motion. Because both spirits engage in the creation of the natural environment, the fight between good and evil is embedded in every element of nature around us.
This idea helped to inform my understanding of the conception and growth of spiritual and religious teachings. While I recognized a correlation between spiritual and environmental moral principles in Haskell’s work, Fadden’s story revealed a causal relationship between the two. For many years and for many peoples, it seems that spiritual beliefs have been rooted in man’s observations of the natural world. These individuals discovered both good and evil forces at work in nature, and used these findings to grapple with these forces working within them. Fadden’s story walks us through this internalization. He details the various ways in which evil attempts to destroy good in nature from blemishes on strong trees to snakes and poison in pure water. He then uses this understanding to reconcile the spiritual battle we all face explaining that although the Good Spirit has defeated the Evil Spirit, the Evil Spirit is part of the natural world and “constantly influencing the minds of men, thus causing men to do evil things” (Fadden). Being raised in the Christian faith, I had never really sought out or even considered this contextualization of spirituality. “The Creation” is an excellent illustration of the extent to which the natural environment has influenced the human understanding of spirituality.
David George Haskell’s The Forest Unseen offered a new perspective on the intrinsic value of the interactions among the multitude of factors at play in nature. In “April 2nd−Chainsaw,” he discussed how we attempt to justify our destruction …show more content…
of natural structures and habitats by acting as though we are taking our cues from nature. He then posed a question that I found intriguing, “Which flavor of forest life-cycle would you like: the annihilating force of an ice age; or an ancient, undisturbed mountainside; or the dancing mischief of a summer tornado?” (Haskell 64). While humans can rationalize widespread logging and other forms of mass destruction by comparing our behavior to that of a forest fire or other naturally occurring event, Haskell made me realize that this line of reasoning is misled. Nature is so variant that our actions within and towards the environment becomes a moral question. However, Haskell also posits that nature, much like spirituality and religion, does not provide us with answers to these moral questions, but rather gives us examples of varying ways of life. Some of which lead to eternal growth and life, others which result in destruction.
This concept pushed me to view religion and spirituality from a different angle.
I grew up in the church and have always understood that God’s word is the way, the truth, and the life. Haskell posited this response to the moral question posed earlier: “Our collective answer to this question grows out of the values of millions of landowners, pruned and guided by society’s two clumsy hands, the economy and government policy” (Haskell 65). These words encouraged me to dig deeper and to realize the importance of authenticity in spirituality. The two largest world religions, Christianity and Islam, share a major theme: submission to God. I believe this submission is analogous to the notion argued by Haskell. Nature has a unique way of handling itself just as a higher power has a unique way of handling humanity. Human attempts to commandeer and accelerate these processes will always result in failure and destruction. For example, Christian doctrine teaches us to surrender our worldly ways and allow God to work within us and through us to accomplish the greater good. Haskell’s observation of the forest demonstrates this principle in the context of the natural environment. Consider the following: nature destroys forests via forest fires which serve not only to nourish the soil, but also to remove thicker foliage, allowing sunlight and rain to reach new seedlings. Humans, on the other hand, “hacked the forest down with axes and chainsaws” for our own commercial needs such as paper
and wood, stripping the land of vital elements with no way to replenish itself (Haskell 65). This illustration shed new light on the Christian principles on which I was raised. I do believe God’s way is the way, the truth, and the life, and I have a new understanding of the importance of allowing Him to work and not allowing worldly, short-term desires to interfere.
In “The Creation,” Ray Fadden uses nature to illustrate the conception of good and evil in the world. The battle between good and evil has loomed over religious teachings for ages, and, at least in Christianity, goes largely unexplained. Fadden’s tale, however, offers an interesting, yet simple, elucidation of the birth of these phenomena: nature. When the Sky Woman gives birth to the twins, the Good Spirit and the Evil Spirit, she sets the eternal battle in motion. Because both spirits engage in the creation of the natural environment, the fight between good and evil is embedded in every element of nature around us.
This idea helped to inform my understanding of the conception and growth of spiritual and religious teachings. While I recognized a correlation between spiritual and environmental moral principles in Haskell’s work, Fadden’s story revealed a causal relationship between the two. For many years and for many peoples, it seems that spiritual beliefs have been rooted in man’s observations of the natural world. These individuals discovered both good and evil forces at work in nature, and used these findings to grapple with these forces working within them. Fadden’s story walks us through this internalization. He details the various ways in which evil attempts to destroy good in nature from blemishes on strong trees to snakes and poison in pure water. He then uses this understanding to reconcile the spiritual battle we all face explaining that although the Good Spirit has defeated the Evil Spirit, the Evil Spirit is part of the natural world and “constantly influencing the minds of men, thus causing men to do evil things” (Fadden). Being raised in the Christian faith, I had never really sought out or even considered this contextualization of spirituality. “The Creation” is an excellent illustration of the extent to which the natural environment has influenced the human understanding of spirituality.