The American Nature Religion (ritual, punishment, Earth, mystic, tradition)

[Sunstone]

I have long suspected that Americans began evolving a nature religion almost from the days when the first colonists landed in North America and discovered to their incomprehension a natural world far more primeval and imposing than anything they had experienced in Europe.

Being Good Europeans Of the Time, they tried to tame it, but in the process of trying to tame it, Nature somehow became for many of them synonymous with holy scripture. That is, nature, as the handiwork of deity, was eventually seen by many Americans to reveal deity just as much as the bible or any other holy book.

That, in a nutshell, is how the Great American Nature Religion evolved.

Do you think this is broadly correct?

Do you think that nature reveals deity at least as much as any holy book or other sacred scripture?

IF so, do you go a step further and assert that nature reveals deity better than any holy book or other sacred scripture?

Does nature inform and guide your values? Is it a source of values for you?

If you had to go some place for rejuvenation, would your first choice be a temple, mosque or church -- or the Great Outdoors?

Do you think that the Pagan Movement is perhaps a case of the Great American Nature Religion meets British Wicca and the two decide to get married?

Last, is it true Mike182 has slept on more strange couches than any other RFer after his nights out clubbing?

[Green Gaia]

If you had to go some place for rejuvenation, would your first choice be a temple, mosque or church -- or the Great Outdoors?

The Great Outdoors.

Last, is it true Mike182 has slept on more strange couches than any other RFer after his nights out clubbing?

That would not surprise me.

[eudaimonia]

Originally Posted by Sunstone

I have long suspected that Americans began evolving a nature religion almost from the days when the first colonists landed in North America and discovered to their incomprehension a natural world far more primeval and imposing than anything they had experienced in Europe.

Being Good Europeans Of the Time, they tried to tame it, but in the process of trying to tame it, Nature somehow became for many of them synonymous with holy scripture. That is, nature, as the handiwork of deity, was eventually seen by many Americans to reveal deity just as much as the bible or any other holy book.

That, in a nutshell, is how the Great American Nature Religion evolved.

Do you think this is broadly correct?

I don't know. Who are these nature religionists today?

Does nature inform and guide your values? Is it a source of values for you?

Not really, if by "nature" you mean flora and fauna, and if by "values" you are referring to profound spiritual values. I like to take walks in the forest. Forests are pretty. At times I may feel spiritual in the forest, but I'm not feeling spiritual about the forest, if you understand me. It is only the privacy that it offers that allows me to introspect and feel spiritual.

If you had to go some place for rejuvenation, would your first choice be a temple, mosque or church -- or the Great Outdoors?

Not a fair question for me. By preference, I'd choose to look at uplifting art, a shuttle launch, or some interesting architecture (not necessarily a religious building).


eudaimonia,

Mark

[Sunstone]

I don't know. Who are these nature religionists today?

So far as I know, there is no organized nature worship in the US of any appreciable size. However, the Pagan Movement comes pretty close to being nature worship according to some people. And there are individuals who could be said to worship nature. But perhaps one of the most noticeable effects of nature on thoughts about deity is in the writings of Thoreau and others of a similar bent to him. Lastly, there is the environmental movement which to some extent owes some of its reverence for nature to this loosely defined Great American Nature Religion.

All of that is a way of saying that one should not take the label Great American Nature Religion too literally. Especially don't take it to mean an organized or formal religion. It's really just a way of referring to the fact that Americans have evolved a way of looking at nature as sort of revelation of deity, truth or wisdom, much as if nature were a form of holy scripture.

[Elvendon]

In my honest, humble view, there are many sources of revelation. Each has their own merits. As an Anglican, I believe that there are three sources for divine authority - tradition, scripture and personal judgement.

For me, each of these are equal. However, I would be broader in what I call personal judgement - most Anglicans would classify their own logical skills as relevant, while I would include personal mystical experience and the analogies we draw from nature as important also.

[Radio Frequency X]

I think everyone, pagan or not, is influenced by Nature more than Scripture. Faith depends on simple psychology. Positive and Negative reinforcement encourage faith, while positive and negative punishment discourage it. Our personal experience is limited to Nature and thus influenced only by nature. The more we understand Nature, the more we understand ourselves as we relate to each other and to everything else. So, in a sense, Science is a true religious expression. Any belief not encouraged by Nature (personal experience of nature) is a result of the imagination or the instincts, and are more personal, as they are derived from our deepest needs and desires.

[Seyorni]

I voted "depends" only because I wasn't sure how we were defining "revelation."

I generally conceive of Nature as God, and I worship this Nature-God in the form of her planetary incarnation Earth.

I'm a bit skeptical about the genesis of the GANR, though. It was taught that the first colonists were cowed by the vast wilderness they encountered. It was viewed as hostile, dangerous and mysterious; more awful than awesome.

By the time we had infected the region coast-to-coast the prevailing sentiment was often that every acre of land; every drop of water not turned to the purposes of man was wasted. Thoreaus and Muirs were few and far between.

It was only recently that Nature began to be generally appreciated as a fragile and beautiful life-support system. As Joni Mitchell puts it: "Don't it always seem to go; That you don't know what you've got till its gone?..."

[michel]

Originally Posted by Sunstone

I have long suspected that Americans began evolving a nature religion almost from the days when the first colonists landed in North America and discovered to their incomprehension a natural world far more primeval and imposing than anything they had experienced in Europe.

Being Good Europeans Of the Time, they tried to tame it, but in the process of trying to tame it, Nature somehow became for many of them synonymous with holy scripture. That is, nature, as the handiwork of deity, was eventually seen by many Americans to reveal deity just as much as the bible or any other holy book.

That, in a nutshell, is how the Great American Nature Religion evolved.

Do you think this is broadly correct? As I am not sure I can understand your concept, I can't really answer

Do you think that nature reveals deity at least as much as any holy book or other sacred scripture?

Yes, without a doubt, for me.

IF so, do you go a step further and assert that nature reveals deity better than any holy book or other sacred scripture?

Again, speaking for myself alone, without a doubt.

Does nature inform and guide your values? Is it a source of values for you?

I couldn't really use what I see as the Moralities of nature for myself. Nature can indeed be terribly cruel; the 'food chain' for one (of which I am a part in that life dies so that I may be fed- but I don't 'like' that). Nature too is harsh on creatures that are unhealthy; young animals and birds are often ignored by their parents because The parents can sense that the young one 'is not viable'. I could never adopt that morality.

If you had to go some place for rejuvenation, would your first choice be a temple, mosque or church -- or the Great Outdoors?

The great oudoors most likely, though there is a Buddhist retreat not that far from home which has a wonderfully soothing atmosphere.
[quote]

Last, is it true Mike182 has slept on more strange couches than any other RFer after his nights out clubbing

Most likely, I did so, at his age.