Early Friday morning, one of the most dangerous typhoons in history- Typhoon Haiyan hit the Philippines. When I heard about the typhoon, I began thinking about Shintoism especially the belief that everything including nature has its own soul or kami. Does nature have a soul? It depends on your definition of what a soul is. One definition of a soul is a person's deeply felt or emotional nature. Based on this definition, natural disasters like typhoons
could be nature's way of showing its inner conflict! Although these natural disasters cause destruction and death, shouldn't nature have the ability to express its emotion? As people we have the ability to express our emotions with words or actions that could be destructive to other people. The destruction we can cause though it may not be as large as a typhoon's damage, is just as significant. So maybe we should view natural disasters differently; though they are destructive, based on the Shinto principle we should respect nature's soul and they way it deals with conflict.
Do you think nature has a soul?
I never thought of nature like that before. Now that you bring it up it makes a lot of sense. Nature is kind of like a teenager lashing out at their parents when they are angry. It's like the earth is the mother and the storm is the angry teen!
ReplyDeleteWhat an interesting point. I never thought of nature as having its own kami. Maybe natural disasters are the kamis reacting to the neglect and damage we cause to our countries.
ReplyDeleteI think you brought up interesting points Ranelle. When you look at it from that standpoint, yes nature is expressing its emotion. However, I do believe that the way nature lashes out is in response to all that humans have done to the Earth. The human race throughout History has used all the resources that come from the Earth and in turn the Earth reacts violently, like a human. You can't continuously take and take from a life source without it reacting, either trying to fix itself or hurt the force that destroyed it in the first place. The soul of a human being and the Earth are very similar in that way.
ReplyDeleteI see what you mean, Ranelle. I don't think nature has a soul like humans do, but I think nature responds to the surroundings and environment it is put it. If we neglect the Earth, we will see the consequences. It's in nature's "nature" to respond to the environment. Thinking about it now, I really need to become one with nature and appreciate it for what it is.
ReplyDeleteI don't remember when or where but I was asked this question once before. To me these natural disasters are a way of nature telling us that we need to change our ways. Nature is saying that it can no longer take what the human race is doing to the earth. If we don't change our ways it will only continue to get worse.
ReplyDeleteVery great connection Ranelle! I have never referred to nature as a person but I am familiar with the phenomenon "Mother Nature" and with that I think that in this case we could say that "Mother Nature" expresses her emotions with natural disasters. Floods can be seen as sadness, typhoons as confusion, wildfires as anger, earthquakes as aggression and tornadoes as frustration. With that ,what good things does mother nature bring to us? Why should we have to suffer because Nature is upset? Why should thousands die because "Mother Nature" is angry. I do not believe in Shintoism, I believe that man brings these disasters upon themselves with failure to keep the earth clean and safe.
ReplyDeleteVery great connection Ranelle. It was very thought-provoking.
Thus is interesting. I agree that nature has a soul.
ReplyDeleteNature has the ability to rejuvenate itself, bring beauty to the world, and continue on with life regardless of the torture humans put it through. Nature's soul is able to live on not waiting on anyone or anything. Only something/someone with a soul can portray these factors.
I wonder if we, as human beings can follow mother nature's example. If we can rejuvenate ourselves when were depressed, bring beauty to the world by loving each other not bullying or destroying each other, and if we do get bullied do we have the ability to not care and move on with life. To live life for ourselves not for anyone or anything.
This is a fantasy, I know, but if we did, people would not kill each other. PEOPLE WOULD NOT KILL THEMSELVES!
Only if...
This was a very interesting blog post Ranelle. When I look at it through your point of view, I can see each disaster representing an emotion. The more we hurt the Earth by things like loitering, the Earth will continue to lash out and be angry because we are supposed to be protecting it. It will either try and eliminate the problem or continue to try and fix what was done to it. I think we all need to sit back and reflect on this because if I was the Earth, I would be angry too.
ReplyDeleteThanks everyone! I'm really glad you understood my point of view about appreciating and understanding nature's soul. It's really fulfilling to read all of your comments and know that you were able to formulate your own opinions, thanks again.
ReplyDeleteWow, this is a whole new point of view for me! I never thought of it that way. It kind of reflects that just like humans, nature has emotions and a soul too, but obviously nature can't speak, so it uses it's own language. I suppose when the sun is shining that means nature is happy? :)
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