Hunting as a Spiritual Exercise with the Earth - Essay Example

Hunting as a spiritual exercise with the earth We start our live from a dark abyss and we end it in the same darkness. In between we see brief luminous moments and we try to appreciate them. We encounter with the Mother Nature from the very beginning, from the first gulp of air that we breathe. Nature startles us because it seems that laws there act beyond our understanding, as nature stems from the depths of the primordial essence. Nature keeps the indestructible force or the whole universe and possesses the superhuman strength to heal itself - plants, animals and humans. Opposing the forces of nature for example inflicting with its rhythm through damaging the soil with pesticides, emitting carbon dioxide, dumping wastes, and killing uncontrollably animals for food or trophies destroys the balance between Earth and human beings. People have lost the vision to embrace and harmonize their life with nature and invested enormous efforts to modulate the environment in a way which opposes the holiness of the natural surroundings. Hunting uniquely carries in itself the self-actualization, wholeness and expression. These needs are more compound than simply protecting and feeding the tribe. Hunting connects people spiritually with their past and themselves. Shepard (1999) examines the people's relationship with the natural work and how wildlife and hunting predators had shaped in developing human intelligence. Shepard (1999) believes that hunting as a defense mechanism benefits humanity as it stabilizes the inner spirit of belonging to community. Hunters are actors into the rhythms of life and death, they bear the feeling of the ecological imagination (Shepard, 1999). Shepard (1999) has the strong determination that hunting is the act of organic relationship with the wildlife and insists that through hunting people inevitably reach out for their spirituality. What he claims in his essays (1999) is that hunting was the instrument which transformed the "tropical forest-dwelling prehumans" into an intelligent being. Hunting embodies the honest relationship between humans and nature, and the fact that hunters are in the border line between life and death. Hunting brings people in contact with the natural world through the most natural way - sacredly kill an animal and justify it as hunters have the responsibility to secure the food. Petersen and Williams (2000) point out that in our mass culture few are the tribes in the worlds that perform hunting as part of their cultural heritage and in the authentic role that hunting conceals - namely the fact that we kill an animal in order to feed ourselves. Hunting was a tribal ritual, which both unified the men against the animal and made it easier for the group to survive. Nowadays, hunters, despite their location, religion, or culture united so as to enjoy the pristine feeling of the "sacred game" - the instinctive and inexplicable moment of subordinating life to our power. Hunting is perceived as commercial and recreational pursuit, however, it is deeply hidden in our cultural heritage and brings its essence. Hunting is an ancient game. Hunting is the ultimate source of gaining power over nature and establishing a relation between the group of hunters and the prey and the hunters and other members of their society - women and children. Petersen and Williams (2000) explain that humans have an intrinsic yearning to hunt and fish. Moreover, he notes that the forest green colour is universally perceived as peaceful and reassuring, whereas the blood like red colour as bringing excitement and agitation. We can not miss mentioning that hunting involves a cycling element, because each species have to chase their prey and to victimize it in order to survive. The cycling element is that you have to kill in order to restore the balance in nature. Hunting also has a natural selection component. The strongest will predominate over the weakest, thus the strongest will pass their genes to the new generation and will secure that they will outlive. Hunting has profound biophilic feeling. This sensation is similar to the one evoked by the green scenery and red blood of the killed animal. In ancient times hunting as indeed biophilic experience, since the motives were to physically survive, preserving at the same time the connection with the nature that gave humans the possibility to hunt. In the contrary, modern people find superficial reasons to go you and hunt. Now they rather include adventure, challenge, sportsmanship, and egocentrism characterized by keeping and hanging "the trophies". Hunting in the past incorporated debate, exploration, and discovery. The tribe gathered together and discussed the techniques of killing a particular animal, then they decided upon which area to explore - near water basin or forest and then they discovered the sensation of hunting together as a group. Shepard (1998) presents an exhaustive account of the human behaviour and nature in light of our past taking into account our hunting abilities. He states that people now experience ecological decline and concentrates on hunting and gathering tribal traditions as a model which closely tunes human spirituality with the nature's. What Shepard (1998) advocates for is to affirm the intense and sincere role of hunter and gatherer through recovering the environment in a peaceful manner. Thus, society can benefit from redefining its concepts about hunting as mere adventure or trophy tournament. The basic idea that Ortega y Gasset (2007) tries to communicate is that hunting is an ancient occupation of humans and that it is part of the primordial definition of man's place around nature and how we are integrated into the Earth's code. What Ortega y Gasset (2007) reveals is that by hunting people accomplish their physiological, biological and spiritual imperatives through the realization of their abilities for restoring balance in nature and bringing future for their children through securing the food. "Strictly speaking, the essence of sportive hunting is not raising the animal to the level of man, but something much more spiritual than that: a conscious and almost religious humbling of man, which limits his superiority and lowers him toward the animal. Hunting submerges man deliberately in that formidable mystery and, therefore, contains something of a religious rite and emotion in which homage is paid to what is divine, transcendent in the laws of nature (Ortega y Gasset, p.106)." Elaborate of the Kaplan's quote, "environments that are restorative have a quality of 'being in a whole other world." This statement is part of Kaplan and Kaplan (1989) theory of attention restoration. It is connected with the fact that prolonged and demanding use of focused attention usually leads to severe symptoms of fatigue, depression and mental dysfunctioning. The recovery process is effective when it is enabled by a natural setting. The benefits of the natural setting which aid to overcome the attention deficit is that natural environment clears away the stress, the mental noise and enhances the capacity to reflect again upon important issues. Kaplan and Kaplan (1989) found out that there are four component features that make the natural setting the most restorative one. They are being away, the extent of the setting, the fascination moment and the compatibility. The concept of "getting away from it" is directed towards the separation of the individual from the ordinary environment, so as to avoid the regular irritating factors and to transform the attention away from the worn out mental state. Being away in the natural setting is namely such attention restoration technique. The second proposed component is the extent of the setting which has sufficient structure and content which to keep the mind occupied and allow the attention t rest. This particularly Kaplan (1995) characterized as setting being "whole other worlds". Wilderness provides endless opportunities to reduce stress and restore attention and mind from the mental fatigue. Regular visitors of park and recreational areas report substantial stress reduction and mental rejuvenation thanks to the fascinating experiences among environment (Kaplan, 1995). Respondents were excited by the wilderness and the restorative components of the natural surroundings. In order for the therapy in the open air to be effective the setting ought to be compatible with the purposes and inclinations and the individuals. Natural settings can be differentiated for their wide range of activities and purposes. Therefore, the aspirations of the individual should match and coincide with the setting in order to experience "the whole other worlds" sensation. Kaplan (1995) concludes that greater degree of mental rejuvenation was recorded if the period in the natural setting is increased. References: Kaplan, R., and Kaplan, S. (1989). The experience of nature: A psychological perspective. New York: Cambridge University Press. Kaplan, S. (1995). The restorative benefits of nature: Toward an integrative framework. Journal of Environmental Psychology, 15, 169-182. Ortega y Gasset, Jose (2007), Meditations on Hunting. Wilderness Adventures Press. Petersen, David and Williams, Ted. (2000). Heartsblood: Hunting, Spirituality and Wildness in America. Johnson Publishing Company. Shepard, Paul (1999), Encounters with Nature: Essays, Island Press Shapard, Paul (1998), The tender carnivore and the sacred game, University of Georgia Press. Read More