/lit/ - Literature

[Anonymous No.19885334]

Being outside is the only thing that makes me feel whole and I basically want to start worshipping nature. Are there any books that explore this feeling and aren't just new age hippie bullshit? Fiction or non. I'm already reading a lot about religious naturalism, which is the closest concept that seems to capture my attitude.

[Anonymous No.19885394]

>>19885334
>I'm already reading a lot about religious naturalism
Any recommendations you’d like to share?
I was always big into ecology and nature writing but have only recently accepted God into my life.
Some literature I would recommend to you;
Anything by John Muir, but especially picrel if you can find it where you are. I know he was a man of God and there’s a quote by him about him preferring to worship God in nature rather than in a church. Some more recs would be;
Desert Solitaire by Edward Abbey
A Sand County Almanac by Aldo Leopold
The Ecology of Wisdom/Ecology, Community and Lifestyle by Arne Naess
The World-Ending Fire by Wendell Berry
Emerson’s essay on Nature
All of these men have such a strong love for the outdoors and preserving the wilderness. There’s also James Lovelock who writes a lot about ‘Gaia’ worship that you may be interested in. It’s not to my taste but to each his own.

[Anonymous No.19885403]

>>19885334
>>19885394
>Picrel
Was meant to be this.

[Anonymous No.19885405]

>>19885334
>and I basically want to start worshipping nature.
Anon nature is good because it's God's creation. Don't go retarded here.

[Anonymous No.19885471]

>>19885403
thanks, I have read many of those and will check out wendell berry and james lovelock, i'm unfamiliar with both of those. Donald Crosby is someone that seems to have views similar to my own, but there is a whole list of people on the religious naturalism wikipedia that are pretty similar.

>>19885405
I think it has goodness and value independent of its creator.

[Anonymous No.19885507]

>>19885334
The essence of the divine mother penetrates all of the universe is the very foundation for reality. Worship your mother through nature, worship the essence behind the nature. The cause of it existing in the first place.
If you want to build a devotional relationship to woods, lakes and mountains you could try quieting your mind well enough for you to be able to communicate with them.
Sit by a tree, empty your minds on all thoughts, caress the tree, tell the tree that you love it. You will be surprised when you feel the tree communicating back.
Also, an individual tree do not have a "distinct" personality as human beings, they act more as representatives for their whole family.

[Anonymous No.19885543]

>>19885507
that is all well and good, and I hope you enjoy conversing with the trees in this way, but this is the sort of hippie stuff I just can't stomach.

[Anonymous No.19885654]

>>19885543
Worship and devotion should be practical. LARP until you make it into reality.
What's the point of texts, second-hand accounts etc? Just go out there and be with nature, surrender yourself to it.
Saying "I love you" to something you want to worship shouldn't be that awkward? Isn't that how most devotional practices goes anyway? Surrender yourself to your beloved, no point in rationalizing it.

[Anonymous No.19885773]

>>19885471
wendell berry is great you wont be disappointed

[Anonymous No.19885790]

>>19885334
Read anything by Mary Oliver. Probably the best poet who communicates the fear and desire to crawl back into nature, and the gentle spirituality of letting the leaves take you

[Anonymous No.19885815]

>>19885654
well i do spend a lot of time in nature everyday, i just don't think about things in that way, seems to anthropomorphize nature too much and actually just gives you a fantasy that feels a little too self serving.

[Anonymous No.19885865]

>>19885334
here ya go anon
you can even insert your own good enough joke here if you want

[Anonymous No.19885877]

>>19885471
>I think it has goodness and value independent of its creator.
Alright anon, I'm a different guy, but doesn't really matter if things are good in themselves or are good as a relflection of God. The point is that the wild isn't a deity. Why offer the worship that is due a deity to dead stone and soil and mindless wood, which does nothing in response to your adoration? You can enjoy nature without trying to worship it. Nature can even become a religion of sorts, a whole way of life, the meaning of life in the first place, but it's not a god. How do you come up with this stuff?

[Anonymous No.19885887]

>>19885334
Shintoism

[Anonymous No.19886008]

>>19885790
thanks, her book of essays looks really good
>>19885865
thanks already had that one on my list for religious naturalism
>>19885877
i know it is not a deity. that's why I said I was interested in religious naturalism, which depending on the variation is often athiestic. I have reverence for nature, i don't need anything in response.
>>19885887
was really into shintoism 10-15 years ago and I like to read about it, but sort of feel that unless you are immersed in japanese culture, it's too easy to misinterpret things.

[Anonymous No.19886156]

I enjoy Algernon Blackwood, its fiction but his love and reverence for nature really shines through his writing.

[Anonymous No.19886171]

I’ve been considering spending all of my savings to wipe out my student loan debt and moving in with parents so I can take a farm job. I worked at a farm for 3 months in between jobs, and it was the only time I felt good about my daily life in at least a decade.

[Anonymous No.19886177]

>>19886156
awesome, thanks! The Willows sounds great.

[Anonymous No.19886228]

>>19886171
I know that feeling. A decade ago I had a job doing conservation work for a year, and being outside all day everyday was amazing. What sucked was the back breaking labor (i'm in great shape, but carrying a saw all day, bent over cutting down invasive trees, for example, absolutely destroys your back) and the living conditions were crap as well.

Now i've been able to arrange my life so that I have access to a lot of trails and nice wilderness areas, so every afternoon I go hiking for awhile after work, and take my family on the weekends. This is sort of a half measure, but i'm trying to get my fix however I can, whether through my garden, plants, feeding the birds, etc. Whatever you decide, even if you don't go full farmer, I think there are ways you can look to incorporate more nature into your daily life.

[Anonymous No.19886264]

>>19886228
I live in the mountains so I get out for a walk just about every day after work. Still, it’s a different feeling when you actually live it. Work is especially depressing.

[Anonymous No.19886306]

>>19885815
>anthropomorphize
Personalizing your object of worship is essentially step one in order to build a relationship with it and devotion towards it. Why do you even want to worship nature in the first place?
If you do not want a personal relationship with nature, do physical service, start gardening and planting trees.

[Anonymous No.19886332]

>>19885334
OP I'll give you a different recommendation. It's for a book that will help you get outside and worship nature from a perspective that will blow your mind. Godspeed

[Anonymous No.19886343]

>>19885334
Emerson's Nature
Thoreau's Walden
This is about as much motivation as you need to abandons the idols of modern society in favor of the infallibility of the natural world
Idk why you think making a religious distinction will get you to some higher end
If you wanna worship nature how about you actually take action and live in the woods? A lot more significant than reading a book about praying to trees or some shit

[Anonymous No.19886395]

>>19886008
>religious naturalism
Is that anything else than just "I feel a sense of awe towards nature"? Also in your op you said "worship", of which I see no sign of in religious naturalism, although I hadn't heard of it before to be honest.

[Anonymous No.19886950]

>>19886264
>Work is especially depressing.
yeah when I worked in an office I hated it. now I work from home and am at least able to look into my backyard and see the trees, birds, garden, etc. it is some consolation.

>>19886306
I dunno man, personalizing it in that way seems to be just treating plants and animals as leafy or furry people, which is a gross mischaracterization in my opinion and closes us off from the wonder of encountering things that have alien ways of being. Also, I already have a personal relationship with nature. I spent a year doing conservation work and planted thousands of trees. I garden and walk everyday. Lately I have been seeing a drop tine buck at least once a week near the river where I live and it means a lot to me to have been seeing him for the last 6 months and I would love nothing more than to find his sheds in the next few weeks.
>>19886332
I already get out plenty. I'm not looking for books on "practice" of this religion, which I've already been doing for years. I'm looking for books of theology, if that makes sense.
>>19886343
I have a family and job. I have no problem with the hermit lifestyle, but it isn't practical right now. I spend plenty of time in nature as is (even though more would obviously be better). I am more looking for theoretical framework for how I already am trying to live.
>>19886395
Well, it depends on who you ask but reverence is probably a better term that I should use. As evidenced in this thread, using the term worship makes people think you believe trees are gods or whatever. And I don't. I just think ritual, reverence, and connection to nature is the bedrock of human spirituality, without any reference to supernatural entities.

[Anonymous No.19887477]

>>19886306
>Personalizing your object of worship is essentially step one in order to build a relationship with it and devotion towards it.
Animist here. The only things with personality the way humans do are fucked up shit. Everything has a spirit but humans are the restless ones, and things which appear human are doing it to kill you.

[Anonymous No.19887669]

>>19887477
could you tell me a little about your belief system, or direct me to any books? I was going to check out The Handbook of Contemporary Animism by Graham Harvey.

I more or less "agree" with animism in practice, but the metaphysical aspect of it I just can't get behind, hence religious naturalism. Unless there is maybe some panpsychism angle there, which would be intriguing, but not exactly what most animists believe, I'd wager.

[Anonymous No.19887676]

Download a copy of Thoreau's journals and read every single word. No man can talk about nature like he can.

[Anonymous No.19888563]

>>19885334
What keeps me whole is my iron patience and my ability to stuff down my hot blood curdling hatred for mankind I've NEVER liked other people they are selfish and are just something bad waiting to happen

[Anonymous No.19888570]

>>19888563
Forgot my picture... It's a tent crushed by a tree do you think a little hedgehog was in there when it fell ape? Do you?

[Anonymous No.19889526]

>>19888570
probably not?

[Anonymous No.19889603]

>>19888563
lmao this. the only thing that makes nature good is the absence of other people. If every person in my city were disintegrated overnight I know I'd feel already more at peace. The key is that humans are an anomaly and they should've been aborted.

[Anonymous No.19889782]

>>19885334
Dharma Bums by Kerouac is great and easy, clearly Jack worships nature. Also Leaves of Grass by Walt Whitman, The Peregrine by JA Baker and Walden.

>t. a guy who's job it is to worship the environment

[Anonymous No.19889959]

>>19889782
thanks. are you a Kannushi or what lol?

[Anonymous No.19889968]

>>19886950
Anthropodenial is worse than Anthropomorphism.
Anthropodenial denotes willful blindness to the human-like characteristics of animals, or the animal-like characteristics of ourselves.

[Anonymous No.19889970]

>>19889603
nah, spending time outdoors with people you care about is even better than when alone. especially kids that haven't had the sense of wonder crushed out of them already. they are like little shaman, the way they can notice and care about things that adults are completely oblivious to.

[Anonymous No.19889984]

>>19889968

I don't disagree, obviously there are similarities and connections and it is helpful to explore them. I'm not denying that. My point was that if you try too much to categorize nature using human concepts, like trying to explain the "personality" of trees, you're doing yourself and the natural world a disservice.

[Anonymous No.19890183]

>>19889603
>lmao this. the only thing that makes nature good is the absence of other people.
Sucks to be you, but that shouldn't be the case, and isn't the case for most people. Your overwhelming sense of shame is what drives you to hide from people, not draw you to nature.

[Anonymous No.19890212]

>>19889970
>kids that haven't had the sense of wonder crushed out of them already
kids that young can't walk

[Anonymous No.19890291]

>>19890212
you are too pessimistic bro. some of the closest things to a religious experience i've ever had is with my kid in the woods, seeing reactions to animals, details they notice, stories they create, etc

[Anonymous No.19890385]

>>19886177
Check out one of his other stories "The Man Whom The Trees Loved". Its such an absurd premise for a story but Blackwood manages to pull it off.

[Anonymous No.19890569]

>>19890385
looks like that is part of the collection Ancient Sorceries as well, I added to my list. thanks again.

[Anonymous No.19890578]

>>19890569
Yea the Penguin collections are pretty good as samplers for some authors.

[Anonymous No.19890677]

>>19889970
Yeah, I was trying to make picture books encouraging such things, but the literary agents just care about "woke" bullshit now. You sound like a good father.

[Anonymous No.19890779]

>>19890677
while I generally agree, there are still some good nature picture books coming out.

Outside In by Deborah Underwood
A Stone Sat Still by Brendan Wenzel
are a couple of my favs from recent years

[Anonymous No.19890929]

>>19890291
>you are too pessimistic bro
I am not pessimistic enough lol, my subconscious is still trying to find some decency in this world.

[Anonymous No.19891070]

>>19890779
I think my art style is too traditional compared to those highly stylized ones. My style is closer to Molly Brett or classic Golden Age of Illustrations.
Finding Wild by Megan Lloyd is another recent stylized picture book about the benefits of free play in nature for creativity and equanimity. I can appreciate its style, but I prefer the artwork of figures like Catherine Walters.

[Anonymous No.19891094]

>>19891070
I like that style, show us some of your art

[Anonymous No.19891179]

>>19887669
Ours is tied to the supposed history of humanity where we were the victorious race. The other races are like humans, and the original humans and the defeated races were able to do magic or control nature. There's supposed to be a truce when we won, so they would stop visiting nature to control it and kill humans, but individuals from other races sometimes cross between where they live and our world. They aren't like evil demons, but part of the truce was humans would respect and not change nature, so when humans do magic it is weak because the other races got to keep being magical.
It's hard to explain, because disturbing nature can mean it's just a rogue fighter from the other side, but more usually it is someone human who helps them exist in this world. Some families are related to the other races, so they have magical problems that follow them in this world because they are connect to the other one.
It's like a turf war more than a religion.

Nature itself is more like a series of gods. Very few of them need you to do anything for them. But some of them have connections to all the humans, so they act as potential conduits for the turf war. For those ones, what happens is humans on earth have to show the god that they are respecting the peace treaty and prisoners of war. If you damage some plants which belong to the other side in the peace treaty, or don't leave food or other nice things for them in places they are likely to come see the same god, then the God takes their side.

Most of the magical things are what researchers are interested in, but avoiding the magical things is the basic guiding principle of practicing. The older humans who we forced to abandon earth can still listen and see earth, especially at certain times and places, so from the outside it can look like at these times we are worshipping the old humans. However, the purpose of saying and doing nice things for the dead human races who lost is so they don't invade us when nature will give them a greater advantage. We call them nice names but it's more like a hostage situation.

It's hard to explain because English would see a lot of things like demons, but they're just humans who happen to be dead for thousands of years and still have magical powers and a grudge. Lots of neopagans try to pray to them for help, which is just fucking retarded.

[Anonymous No.19891623]

>>19891179
well that's certainly interesting, thanks for the explanation. is this part of from some tradition that you belong to or how exactly did you come across this?

[Anonymous No.19891928]

>>19891623
Somewhere way back one of my relatives supposedly drowned in a magic way, so we're kind of cursed/blessed, depending on how you view it. It doesn't really matter much to the outside world, but people from within the tradition hear my family's names and they're like
>sucks to be you
A few centuries ago it probably would have impacted more, but some people wouldn't marry into my family even today. Neopagans think it's cool, so sometimes they try to get us more magic or more cursed or whatever by exposing ritual sites we hid or buried, and then doing weird rituals there. It doesn't really do anything to have unrelated people doing weird shit there, but it's also often someone's supposed grave they're doing it on. Even if they did manage to contact someone there, it's a blood line thing so they're not even going to get cursed the same way we are.

[Anonymous No.19892155]

>>19885877
>Nature can even become a religion of sorts, a whole way of life, the meaning of life in the first place, but it's not a god.
and how would you know? you're so littte you don't even know. Know your place.