Grant Wiley – Idolizing Nature (class reading)


             In this chapter of his book, Norman Wirzba brings up an extremely important idea that we discussed in a previous class. This is the difference between nature and wilderness. In analyzing nature, Wirzba talks about the Greek word physis that is translated into the English as nature. This was specifically talking about the processes in which something achieves its end. He uses the example of a wheat plant’s nature being the production of seeds and the germination of them. There is also the Greek kosmos which relates to the natural order of things in the universe. On the other hand, there is the wilderness. This is closer to what people are likely meaning to refer to when speaking about nature. Still, Wirzba brings up the idea that we really don’t have true wilderness anymore. Basically, what we think of as wilderness is still man-made and is not truly wild. I believe this knowledge is going to be extremely helpful for the rest of this class and I hope to expand upon my definition of nature and compare it to wilderness.

            I thought an interesting example and use-case for wilderness that Wirzba brought up was John Muir. Muir was totally connected and in-sync with the wilderness or what he called Nature. In class we talked about Muir tying himself to a tree in the middle of a storm and just allowing the storm to take him where it would. Muir had an early interpretation of the wilderness as something magnificent, something that could relate or bring God to him. He saw the mountains as altars and the entirety of Creation as a great worship of God. The issue is that the wilderness or nature that we see in places like Yosemite National Park or Yellowstone National Park are not exactly what Muir had in mind when he said these things. We have turned these areas into money-makers and have added civilization to them. I drove to Yosemite National Park after I graduated high school to hike the John Muir Trail and I had a negative physical and mental reaction to the park. I hated it. While it was beautiful and honestly one of the most amazing places I’ve ever seen, I was appalled by how settled the area was and the sheer amount of people, cars, buildings, etc. Wirzba makes the case in this chapter that Muir would probably find what we consider wilderness or nature repulsive. I agree. 

- February 4, 2021

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