Of the books mentioned, Blackwoord's "The Man Whom the Trees Loved" is a favorite of mine. His story "The Willows" is among the scariest I know of. Blackwood "believed that the natural world has a consciousness that operates apart from and, at times, in direct opposition to that of humankind." An experience I had in the Tuscarora State Forest some years ago leads me suspect he may have been onto something.
That the natural world has a consciousness is something my own experience has taught me again and again. That it is often totally indifferent to human ideas and needs is also evident from experience. I don't think it's hostile, when it's in direct opposition to humanity, I just think it has its own rules, and is indifferent.
ReplyDeleteWe often tend to be more self-important as a species than really seems warranted.
You're right, it is indifference, which can be pretty scary for us in the wilderness.
ReplyDeleteWhat Art said. I agree totally.
ReplyDeleteWhen do we get to hear the story of what happened to you in the forest, Frank?
ReplyDeleteOh, the story is not terribly dramatic. I was with my foster son. We did a lot of hiking together. It was, in fact, the day after I first met Debbie. Anyway, we planned to spend the night in sleeping bags off the trail in the forest. Now, both of us had spent a lot of time in woods. Building a fire where we decided to bed down was not permitted. But what both of us sensed was how different it felt off the trail. The trail, we felt, was a kind of neutral zone, which we outsiders were permitted to use. Off the trail, we were interlopers. Neither of us had ever felt this before. it really was uncanny in the strict sense. So we were actually grateful when it started to rain, making the prospect of a night in sleeping bags unpleasant to say the least. So we hiked back out and slept in Mike's truck
ReplyDeleteWow, there is a lot of worthwhile material above!
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