Preview

Dwellings: a Spiritual History of the Living World

Good Essays
Open Document
Open Document
755 Words
Grammar
Grammar
Plagiarism
Plagiarism
Writing
Writing
Score
Score
Dwellings: a Spiritual History of the Living World
Linda Hogan’s Dwellings; Essay

In Dwellings: A Spiritual History of the Living World. Linda Hogan hints in her essays and stories that our modern world has lost its connection with nature and that we have lost respect for the earth, or have gone against nature in general. Linda Hogan’s writings imply that the world is “out of balance”. She even says “The broken link between us and the rest of the world grows too large…” (130). I am in total disagreement with her claims. I don’t agree with Linda Hogan’s perspective or ideas on this matter. I believe that humanity as a whole has never been so close with nature that today’s modern world. I think we continually grow closer to earth and nature. Today all of our advancements in technology incorporate earth’s raw materials and nature in general. From making products with raw and composite materials to genetic and biological engineering. We work closely with nature and ways to understand and alter it for the greater good of humanity and for Earth itself. We also go to great lengths to take care of earth from harmful threats. If we didn’t look closely at nature and Earth we would not have learned such knowledge to create such incredible breakthroughs in technology. Everything comes from earth and nature. However we also do the Earth harm either intentionally or unintentionally. Pollution and global warming have posed great threats to Earth and nature, as well as humanity. Recently we have been working more than usual to fix these problems and make it better. Linda Hogan herself tries to separate herself from the rest because of her culture and heritage, but she also is as guilty as the rest of us. Linda Hogan writes in her essays that she uses modern technology. She uses a telephone, drives an automobile, and has access to a television set. Automobiles hurt the earth by releasing harmful gases and chemicals into the atmosphere; it pollutes and contributes to global warming. Yet Hogan takes part in this.

You May Also Find These Documents Helpful

  • Good Essays

    In his critique, “The Trouble with Wilderness or Getting Back to the Wrong Nature,” William Cronon argues against the romantic conceptualization of nature that a great portion of the environmentalist movement has embraced. Subsequently, Cronon revokes the Romantic and even quasi-religious notion that wilderness spaces are separate from those inhabited by man. He argues that by eliminating the divide in perception between the human constructs of the natural world and the civilized world, man will be encouraged to take more responsibility for his actions that negatively impact the environment. In prefacing his conclusion, he writes, “Home, after all, is the place where finally we make our living. It is the place for which we take responsibility,…

    • 594 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Rachel Carson’s Man and the Stream of time possesses enlightening perspectives of nature that have been marinating in her mind for ten years. Her writing reflects upon the effects that man has on nature and the role he plays in the ever changing environment. Her sole observation is that it is man’s nature to want to conquer the world, but nature is not one to be conquered. The writer affirms that nature is an entity that must be dignified, Like English poet Francis Thompson said, “Thou canst not stir a flower without troubling of a star.” Most environmentalist would agree that nature is not stationary, we cut the trees now today, its not just the trees that disappear ten years from now. As humanity advances, we create a multitude of technologies and industries, and with these discoveries comes massive amounts of waste and destruction. Rachel Carson’s man point is, man is ignorantly trying tame the beast, but years from now it is not the first man who will reap the travesty of self destruction.…

    • 836 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Better Essays

    Throughout history, people have always been drawn to the natural world, but never truly questioned why. The connection between a person and nature is evident, and has been since the beginning of time. People are a major part of nature, being both influenced by it and the influencer. The natural world influences humans, whether it is known or not. In Kate Chopin’s The Awakening, symbols such as the ocean, Grand Isle Island, and the moon demonstrate ecocritical ideals by advancing plot and portraying Edna Pontellier’s character growth.…

    • 1314 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Better Essays
  • Good Essays

    Humans are born from and return to earth at death; human beings and nature are bound up each other. Yet, the technological modern world has shaped humans to be oblivious of nature and the ethnocentrism has positioned human beings above all other things. Nature has become resources for people and nothing more than that. David Abram, the author of the Ecology of magic, travels into the wild, traditional land in search of the relation between magic and nature; the meaning nature holds in the traditional cultures. Abram intends to communicate his realization of the magical awareness of the countless nonhuman entities and the necessity of the balance between the human communities and the nature to the readers, hoping the Western technologized people to regard nature with respect and wonder. The perceptional differences Westerners and the traditional people hold in regard of nature should be transcended to achieve equilibrium and consequently bring about a healthier society.…

    • 1261 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Better Essays

    Continually throughout history humanity’s connection to the natural world has been probed, celebrated, mocked and forgotten in a haphazard cycle that has been classified as human nature. Through a comparison of Mary Shelley’s 19th Century didactic novel, ‘Frankenstein’ (the Modern Prometheus) and the director’s cut of Ridley Scott’s ‘Blade Runner’, a common conception of man’s place amongst nature is posed as being submissive to her dominance. Though each text shares the same values each represents its core concepts in a manner inimitable to its context, ultimately critiquing the respective society’s, bringing to light the fears that the majority of society refused to acknowledge at the time. These fears centre mainly around three broad concepts; scientific discovery, industrial development and religion, which collectively invite consideration of humanity’s unabridged connection with the natural world and how it has been altered over time.…

    • 1072 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Better Essays
  • Good Essays

    We put human wants before thinking how it will badly affect the environment. We cut down forests to build houses to live in, buildings to work in, malls to shop in and many other things. By cutting down those forests, we are cutting down the homes of other species because we need the space to build something we, humans, want. We build factories that let out smog in the air to create product we, humans, want or to earn money off of. We seem to think that human life is entirely separate from nature because we don’t see the effects of what we do that harms…

    • 585 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Powerful Essays

    According to the theory of land ethic, humans are part of an ethical community that includes not only…

    • 7124 Words
    • 47 Pages
    Powerful Essays
  • Good Essays

    Never has a man left the embrace of nature once he found himself enamored by it; this infatuation is found in both John Muir’s and Aldo Leopold’s writing, a sense of wanting to protect this deity they call Mother Nature, a moral and ethical responsibility which every human being has to this Mother. Both John Muir and Aldo Leopold recount their almost romantic encounter with Mother Nature in their books Our National Parks and A Sand County Almanac, respectively. However, in both books it is notable that each man carries instilled in the very fiber of their being a sense of dissatisfaction toward the process of mechanization and industrialization; processes which unfortunately…

    • 1225 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Technology has given humans numerous advantages. One advantage, in particular, is the improvement in the way we think that results in a change in the way we learn. Although this advantage is very helpful in today’s world, there is a downside in its effect on the environment and our future. When militaries started occupying land, they began to enforce their own culture upon that land. This included using the military’s technology to advance civilization. Even though technology has made significant advancements and improvements in life, one must also consider how technology has hurt the environment. In the article “Which Species Will Live?” Michelle Nijhuis explains how technology has led to the important moral issue of whether or not to focus on saving one species at the cost of ignoring another and let it fall victim to extinction. David Foster Wallace’s article “Consider the Lobster” deals with the Maine Lobster Festival and shows how technology has led…

    • 1361 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Satisfactory Essays

    William Wordsworth’s “The World Is Too Much With Us” bring attention to man’s alienation from nature. Wordsworth grew up in an environmentally focused community, so he has appreciation for nature, whereas others do not. In the poem, he brings up a problem within our society: people worry too much about materialistic things. Because nature is non-materialistic, we apparently overlook it.…

    • 246 Words
    • 1 Page
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Better Essays

    Severson, and Jolina H. Ruckert discuss the impact on humans of how technological nature is coming to replace actual nature in the essay. In the essay, they come to the conclusion that this replacement causes changes in the physical and psychological well-being of the human species. Kahn, Severson, and Ruckert state that nature is imperative to have in human lives. The authors did a study in which they found that simply looking outside of a window reduces heart rate which in turn reduces stress. Near the end of the essay, the authors discuss the issue of Environmental Generational Amnesia. This is a condition that humans may face in which, because of "adapting gradually to the loss of actual nature and to the increase of technological nature, humans will lower the baseline across generations for what counts as a full measure of the human experience and of human flourishing"(Kahn, Severson, and Ruckert, 37). In a study, they figured out that technological nature is better than no nature at all. And they also know that humans have an evolutionary need to affiliate with nature, so we either have to adapt to technological nature, or go extinct. The authors know that talking to people about these environmental issues is becoming harder as most people aren 't aware of or simply don 't believe that they are a problem. I think that this was a very important study to do and shows people the importance and necessity of going out into…

    • 1062 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Better Essays
  • Good Essays

    Yosemite Summary

    • 250 Words
    • 1 Page

    Once upon a time two men were looking outside through the prison bars, one of the men saw mud while the other saw stars. The stories and experiences of our lives shape and channel the way we view our surrounding world. ideology, social and individual differences all reflect the differences in people’s conceptualisations. Bell emphasises this by telling the story of a grandmother and his grandson whom were viewing the glacier point in Yosemite. The elderly women saw wasted land that should be used for human need such as housing while his grandson saw the beauty of nature. Just as Barry attested, the environment can mean different things depending on how you define and understand it, or who defines it (Barry, 2007).…

    • 250 Words
    • 1 Page
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    summary - End of Nature

    • 529 Words
    • 2 Pages

    Although a lot of effects have manifested in today’s time, there’s only a little effort exerted to lessen these harms. First, critics pointed out that the nature is an ever-evolving entity. As it is ever-evolving, whatever we do to it – may it be good or bad – actually doesn’t have any bearing because it is destined to change the nature that we once knew. Another thing that critics pointed out was that humans are part and parcel of nature itself. Critics say we are one with nature. If this is the case, it is possible for ourselves to be blamed for whatever experiences nature we have and we can be held liable because we are nature.…

    • 529 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Powerful Essays

    Many would preferably read a novel such as Walden by Henry David Thoreau in the safety of their living room to feel as if they are one with nature, rather than step into the wilderness and experience the sensorial awareness of the untamed earth itself. The once natural connection humans had with their surroundings, has withered away in many people’s consciousnesses. A disconnect from nature is the biggest concern for people such as Abram, who are striving to reach out and grab what is left of their instinctual being. As Abram discusses the many sources of where human’s neglect towards the natural world may have begun, he states that “a style of awareness that disparages sensorial reality, denigrating the visible and tangible order of things on behalf of some absolute source assumed to exist entirely beyond” is what can be observed today in the Western World. What he is attempting to explain is that no longer do we use the physical world as a guide to life, instead we are solely aware of ourselves and our kind.…

    • 2347 Words
    • 10 Pages
    Powerful Essays
  • Good Essays

    “The Work That Reconnects” both the book, and workshop are vital for this time in the world. Part of what makes Joanna Macy’s work so compelling and effective is the incorporation and blending of deep ecology, Buddhism, and systems theory to weave insightful and healing teachings. As was mentioned during the workshop by its facilitators, The Work That Reconnects validates many of the feelings that we all experience around planetary despair. This work, helps people to realize that they have a choice to respond to this despair and creates a sense of agency in individuals such as myself. It helps us realize the socio-economic forces which are destructive to life on Earth and helps us to shed some of the harmful bad habits that we are complicit…

    • 968 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays