Earth Blog: Lessons in the Sublime

There is a pleasure in the pathless woods; 

 There is a rapture on the lonely shore; 

There is society, where none intrudes,  

By the deep sea, and music in its roar;  

I love not man the less, but Nature more... 

 - Lord Byron

There is something fascinating about nature that draws us to it, which we see in Moby Dick. Ishmael pointedly reminds the reader that "beholding the tranquil beauty and brilliancy of the ocean's skin, one forgets the tiger heart that pants beneath it; and would not willingly remember, that this velvet paw but conceals a remorseless fang".

Though it is so easy to enter, sometimes we forget that nature is unpredictable, untamed and unstable. There have been a number of occasions in which I was left with that sublime feeling of the wonder and power of nature--that thing that made me suddenly feel small and insignificant in the big picture of things.

I remember a time that I was out in “mouth” of the inter-coastal, where it meets the ocean among the rough breakers. I was feeling powerful on the back of a jet-ski, speeding the open waters. It was our playground where everybody rode and jumped the waves. One particular wave began to curl at just the wrong time and our Jet-ski went straight up the face of the wave and we plummeted backwards. At that moment, within those few seconds, I lost sight of everything. All I could see as I tread water was the waves bobbing up and down all around in every which direction, each too high to see beyond. It was at that moment I sensed the greatness of the ocean: not knowing how deep it was beneath my dangling feet, nor how far away the shore was. As I was tossed in the waves, fretting over if I would be found, I realized how small and insignificant I was. Time seemed to slow down and my senses became uncomfortably heightened. I was fearful. It wasn't long before I was found but it took only that sharp, quick moment to get utterly lost in the wilderness of the ocean. Since, I have had a hard time going back out in it because of that penetrable moment in the oceans belly made me realize how small and vulnerable I was against the water-world.

Another experience centers around Yosemite. Every granite wall stretching thousands of feet tall, seemed to hold some kind of majestic quality. It made me feel indescribable, as if I was in a place for the supreme. Waterfalls plummeted with amazing force and grace. But what was even more humbling than seeing such beauty and awe first hand, was the recent story of 3 people going over Vernal-Falls where I  happened to get engaged 6 months before. It was an awful feeling, imagining their faces bobbing towards the edge of the 318 foot waterfall, knowing their fate had been terrifyingly sealed.

It made me realize that nature does not change for us, we are affected by nature. One persons heaven is another person's hell but the nature of the place is the same. It just reminds me that nature is unbiased and unfeeling; it will not bend just because you will it so.

When we go into nature, we should go with respect because it will impress and inspire us, but the experience we seek to have in the wild may not be what we get. I am reminded of Christopher McCandless from Into the Wild. That particular moment when he realizes the wonder of Alaska has trapped him by snow caps melting into water blockades. Then his whole mentality shifts because he is no longer venturing into nature, he is trapped in nature. He dies out there alone among the beautiful. Sublime nature is intriguing but it’s lethal, even in that captivating beauty.