Landscapes of the Sacred: Oral Tale- Samantha Anderson

In the readings by Lane, he talks about spirituality in oral tale. He states, “To be moved by story is to abandon oneself to its life-changing impact, not simply to remember its details as data field for later analysis.” Pg. 88 This makes me think of hearing a great motivational speech. You have a feeling to go out and do great things, but when you try to repeat the same message to someone else it does not possess the same flair. The oral speech/tale is life-changing but cannot be analyzed later. It is a feeling that lingers, a thought that changes your perspective, but yet you cannot pinpoint the change. I wonder how many lessons are learned in this style, especially at young ages. The most basic lessons are taught in a form or story or song.

Noland Trail Experience - Tara Thompson

As I was passing yet another autumn touched tree, I paused to inspect its beautiful branches. I felt something moving on my head, assuming it was probably another annoying bug landing on me. However, as I moved my hand across my head to get the pest off of me, a beautiful butterfly began fluttering around my head. It was spastic! It would come close to me and then I'd flinch and it would frantically flap its wings. It finally landed on a dead stump. I stepped closer to get a better look at it, and realized the poor little thing had a chunk taken out of its wing. Maybe it wasn't trying to be so spastic, but it was broken and needed a safe place to land. I turned away for just a moment, and when I turned back around, the butterfly was gone. Then out of the corner of my eye I noticed that it was on my shoulder! I tried not to move again, but for some reason I flinched again. I WAS SO FRUSTRATED WITH MYSELF! It's a harmless butterfly, and I was somehow fearful of it. Again, it softly landed on the stump, slowly fluttering its broken wing. I felt so much compassion for this poor little, beautiful creature. I yearned for its trust! I wanted to badly for it to land on me once more, and I promised myself that this time I wouldn't scare it away. To my surprise, again it flew over towards me, for a while I stood there as it hovered over me, straining to stand still, yet failing every time it was close to landing. Why was I afraid? Why couldn't I embrace this beautiful creation? It landed on my head for a few moments before fluttering away, forever.

On the bike ride home I tried to figure this whole situation out. It took a while, but I think it finally hit me. I am extremely afraid of brokenness. I'm surrounded by it since we're all so broken in this world. However, I hate admitting that I'm broken myself. I guess in some, weird, way I felt as though I understood the butterfly. It was so broken and wanted so badly to rely on me for help and comfort, but I'm just a broken human, and nothing I do will ever fix that poor butterfly. I've spent so much of my life trying to rely on others for that same comfort but it never works. The only think that will ever fully satisfy me, that can heal me of my brokenness is a Savior.

Viewing Nature Interactively- Sam Anderson

When on the Nolan Trial the other day an array of thoughts raced through my mind. Starting with the simple walk to the Lions Bridge to meet for class, I took in everything around me. With only a short 1.5 mile walk from campus, the scenery changed so quickly. I left academic looking building behind, then soon streets. I was on a coble stone trail with trees on either side of me. Wondering when I would reach the bridge, I kept seeing turns thinking is it right around there, however it was not. Then all of a sudden the water hits you, bam! There it is beautiful blue green water in contrast to the black asphalt and grey cement. It was mind boggling to think that this nature beauty is so close to campus. I have been going to school here for over a year, and if someone asked me how close we are to the water, I would not think of this river. I would tell them that the there is Yorktown beach 20 minutes away. To live so close to the James River and never take advantage of it seems like a waste. I feel I have been treading on a sacred place but at that moment I entered it, just like Lanes axiom. Once we began walking the trail as a class, plants were pointed out and explained. The one that made the biggest impact to me was the Dogwood tree. It is our state tree and I have known this information since elementary school when they drilled state information in my head, but I have never seen a Dogwood in real life. The state tree right there in front of me; looking like any other tree. After walking for about half a mile and receiving a good ten bug bites the class disperses to walk on their own. Listening to the sound of my footsteps I can hear the slight difference in walking on rocks versus walking on hard mud stand. Or, if my feet drift off into the grass portion of the trail I feel the unevenness of the surface. The land becomes more than just a beautiful sight but a feeling from the feet up. Captivating your senses saying “you are with nature.” However, as the walk progress back, less tress are seen and the roads come into view. Next comes the academic building and what do you know the separation from natures and back to academia has become relevant, but that faint remembrance of the Nolan Trail in embedded in my brain. Knowing that at any time I can take a quick walk down the way and be reunited once again.

Nature Experience: Nolan Trail - Peter Ikeda

My experience on the Nolan trail was a rejuvenating break from the hectic week I had. It was a great time for me to take a step back from the business of life and reflect on the little things. Sometimes it's easy for me to get swept up in the motions of life, stressed and worrying about too many things that I lose sight of the significance of life. Instead of being thankful and at peace for my life I become an emotional wreck overcome by circumstances and I quickly slip into going through motions almost like a robot, programmed to perform a task but without emotion. Our trip to the Nolan was the perfect escape for me to focus back on God and my purpose in life. Buber's words "Creation--happens to us, burns into us, changes us, we tremble and swoon, we submit" were spot on to describe my encounter on the Nolan. Walking under the shade of large trees with sunlight streaming in and bouncing off the reflective lake and hearing the sounds of many different creatures brought me to a sense of awe towards God the creator and life.
It all began when Dr. Redick was pointing out a plant called the "devil's walking stick". I remember thinking how negative the name was. Because of a few sharp thorns it had been deemed a tool used by the devil himself. This initial thought sparked the beginning of a deeper stream of thought that would consume my mind and heart during the rest of my walk. I began to think about perspectives and how just because it may hurt US if WE touch it wrong, this plant had been given a horrifying name. But to the tree the thorns were his source of defense, a way of life and yet WE had been so quick to shrug off any consideration towards this because it was harmful to US. How ignorant and self-centered we can be sometimes! I then began to think of all life and how although many things have been deemed negative they might not be negative at all. It was at this point that I stopped at a holly tree. One glance at the prickly leaves and the same thoughts coursed through my mind. One way of life may be completely different from our own and if inconvenient to us, it becomes bad or at least given a negative connotation. Thorns may not be as bad as we make them when looked at through the tree's perspective. I mean the tree could say the same thing about all our "construction" or he would argue "destruction" as we tear down forests for our own sake. This continuation of perspective thought then led me to think about life in general. How precious life is and how easy it is to take it for granted. As I walked through the Nolan streams of sunlight poured through the trees and lit up my face, I could hear the chirps of crickets and the caws of birds scouring overhead for food. The sun danced across the glistening lake and the cool autumn breeze whirled through the air. "How precious life is!" I thought to myself, trying to soak up the entirety of Creation. Closing my eyes I felt a connection with God himself as I walked through His creation. Never before had nature moved in me, I felt one with it, my steps were nature's steps, my breath, nature's breath. It was an odd and foreign yet exhilarating sensation! My entire being had merely dissolved into God's creation and I vowed to never again take life for granted. I came back from the trail with a forever changed outlook on life and an appreciation and connection to God I've never had before.

Kayla Delaguila- experience of a natural setting:Noland Trail

I had one quick thought after reading the excerpt from Lane, “[reciprocity] involved in touching and being touched by its particular array of rocks, trees, animals and geographical features,” I thought… the only animal that I touched and was touched by this afternoon was those silly mosquitoes. Meaningful and deep? No, but I thought I would share that thought before getting into the meat of my walk.
So, I have taken my fair share of nature walks, mostly to clear my head and done so mostly alone. I will admit I did find it hard to truly connect with anything being surrounded by my classmates and being on a time limit. One thing really stuck with me though, at the beginning of class Dr. Redick was talking about the vine and the tree. The relationship between them and such. It brought me back to when I was a little girl, I live in a very woodsy area and I used to run through the forest pulling the vines off the trees because I thought the vines were slowly killing the them. In hindsight it hardly seems fair of me to pick the tree’s life over the vine’s, but I just thought of the vine as this parasite that did no good to my mighty tree. I haven’t thought about this since I was little, but it was the first thing that came to mind when I thought of the tree and the vine. I then thought about Buber’s I and Thou excerpt, “ relation is reciprocity,” What reciprocal relationship does this vine have with this tree? It is like a penniless post-grad who lives in their parent’s basement. Then again I’m still thinking of the vine as a parasite. Perhaps the tree looks to the vine as its child. Then it could be related to an infant in his mother’s womb. Is that baby doing anything for the mom? Not particularly, but the mother is doing everything for that child. So what is a relationship of reciprocity? Are you saying that the mother and child don’t have a solid relationship because that baby is not directly doing anything positive for its mother? I thought I agreed that relationships need reciprocity, but I guess now I am on the fence. I think it more depends on the nature of the relationship. Mother and child, tree and vine, both do not share reciprocal relationships, but there is nothing wrong with that.
Yes, I spent most of my walk looking at the trees and the vines, thinking about eight-year-old me, and the advanced relationships we have and seek. It was a good time.

Jamie Englert-Outside Reading 2

Lately, I have been reading a lot of C.S. Lewis. I recently got a book that is a collection of his writings on certain topics. A particular one about love stuck out to me. "There is no safe investment. To love at all is to be vulnerable. Love anything, and your heart will certainly be wrung and possibly broken. If you want to make sure of keeping it intact, you must give your heart to no one, not even to an animal. Wrap it carefully round with hobbies and little luxuries; avoid all entanglements; lock it up safe in the casket or coffin of selfishness. But in that casket-safe, dark, motionless, airless-it will change. It will not be broken; it will become unbreakable, impenetrable, irredeemable. The alternative to tragedy, or at least to the risk of tragedy, is damnation. The only place outside Heaven where you can be perfectly safe from all the dangers and perturbations of love is Hell" (excerpt from his Four Loves). There are several things I really like about this quote. For example,I like how blunt Lewis is. He doesn't beat around the bush on this topic or sugar coat it by say loving something will always be perfect and painless. He describes love as taking a risk and being vulnerable, all while knowing that it may not end well. Choosing to play it safe and blocking yourself off in hopes to avoid possible tragedy, is a worse option in his eyes and I agree. In that "coffin of selfishness," your heart will become cold and bitter, not allowing anything to cause it to soften. I believe feelings of empathy, compassion and encouragement would completely disappear. Fellowship with anything would be impossible. Comparing this state to Hell is completely accurate. Life without love would be lonely, miserable and hopeless. The original intention to protect oneself would ultimately become their self destruction. We were not meant to live life alone. We have the ability to love because God first loved us. Why would anyone choose not to accept that gift?

Reflection- PJ Leegan

The past weekend I went home to Springfield, Virginia. Most of the time it seems that when I am at home I want to come back to CNU and when I am at CNU I want to go home. This time was different; I wanted to stay at home forever. I visited my old high school which brought back memories-good and bad. Even just sitting in my living room on Sunday watching football with my dad made me never want to leave. It reminded me of how awesome it was to be a child with no worries or obligations. My home is comforting and peaceful and I feel that once I leave it, I am thrown back into the grind of homework, tests and all sorts of obstacles. It seems that right when I returned to CNU I had a multitude of things to do. I guess that this fall break made me realize that my home is an escape or even a sanctuary, a place where I can just relax and wind down.