Lucas Spelsberg (11/22): Gary Snyder

I enjoyed learning about the land ethics and economy of exchange ideas we discussed in class. I particularly enjoyed your lecture depicting the relationship between how some read the sacred text of their religion and are spiritually nourished while some read the text of the environment and understand how to live and survive with it. This is similar to what farmers do when they pick up, look at, smell and even taste the soil to know how they are going to best life in that specific environment. We want to learn from scientists, but we can also learn many different kinds of wisdom from art and religion. In this instance, the flora and fauna become the spirit of the place, and to know this place's spirit is to know you’re a part of a whole that is made up of many wholes. In light of this, our habitus reveals the relation we have with these fellow spirits of a particular whole, and looking at how someone lives in an environment reveals how people view that place's spirit.

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