Lindsey Pritchett - Guest Speaker

I found Dr. Kabat's lecture to be very thought provoking. Something that stuck out to me from that particular lecture was that he said our emotions define our mental state and the way we view the world, in large, defines the way we perceive nature. He also said in order to have a relationship with something we must be able to communicate with it. He gave this as the reason why humans have such difficulty formulating a relationship with nature. In fact, he made the idea of such a relationship being created sound as though it were near impossible. 

I do not disagree. In fact, I  agreed with many of the things he was saying in his lecture. It made me re-evaluate the way I perceived nature and question whether or not I would be able to cultivate a relationship with it. The answer is no. In order to settle in nature, to create a habitat out there and actually LIVE there, there would have to be some form of destruction or mini-civilisation in the midst of the wild; a haven where the rest of humanity can still be contacted and reached but not actually included. Also, this mini-civilisation would be in the domain of the animals: thus it would be incredibly difficult maintaining it as a haven from the wilderness. There would be a constant, everyday struggle to maintain that ground as well as survive alone in the wild. Such a task simply does not seem feasible over such a long period of time. Therefore, I believe that humans are merely only welcome to tred upon the land of the wilderness and not actually partake and live in it.