Ashleigh Kennedy--Gary Snyder response

The Different Uses of the Wilderness

The wildness has accompanied many different uses by people over time all depending on their cultural variation. Snyder (1990, p. 88) states, “There are places where women go for seclusion, places where the bodies of the dead are taken, and spots where young men and women are called for special instruction. Such places are numinous, loaded with meaning and power.” For example for nomadic peoples thrive on the destination they arrive at to find food for survival. Therefore, nature and land is sacred to them based on a need for continued existence. Honoring the dead with cemeteries and burial grounds is yet another spiritual use of wilderness. For instance, Native American Indian tribes have been fighting for protection of their burial grounds that are left over as a sign of respect for their ancestors. The wilderness also has been used in countries as a way of initiation. For example, the ancient aborigines performed a role for introducing adolescents into adulthood on the “sacred ground” adjourned with two circles that was supposed to represent the world in the beginning. This shows that nature was important to their culture. Snyder discusses the use of land for initiation with his own personal experience during his stay in Australia. He describes a piece of land that a particular tribe found sacred because the young men were taken there for their ceremony—he deemed this a very powerful experience. This proves the axiom that a sacred place is the “ordinary made extraordinary”—in this case through a sanctified ritual. Landscapes and the wild are much storied places and essentially become the reasoning for their sanctity. Therefore, it sometimes becomes harder for the land to be protected and preserved if it is not appreciated by the majority or by the hand controlling the development. For example, Native Americans have a hard time preserving the land sacred to them because the government hasn’t always found it a necessity to do when it comes to development and other economically beneficial uses of it. However, the cultural variation should be taken into consideration when deciding on the most important use of the limit wilderness we have left.