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A Vision of Nature: Traces of the Original World
For thousands of years humans have grappled with the idea of Nature. This enduring question has left its poignant mark on a multiplicity of images, stories, works of art, and philosophical and religious systems. In A Vision of Nature, Michael Tobias seeks to unravel the aesthetic, psychological, and philosophical impact that the Earth has had on humanity. It is a dramatic and invigorating overview of the new field of ecological aesthetics. Comprised of 10 autobiographical essays, A Vision of Nature is lavishly illustrated with art and images never before brought together in an ecological context. The author examines the mystical links between Vivaldi, Giorgione, and Dosso Dossi and draws important parallels between the Age of Exploration and the rise of the “interior landscape” in the works of van Eyck and Vermeer. Tobias examines the ancient cultures of the Mediterranean, the ascetics of Sinai and Tibet, and the Pure Land Buddhists. He introduces the reader to the Jains of India, whose lifestyle is one of the most ecologically balanced in all of human history. In profiling various artists of 19th century Europe and America, Tobias discovers incisive continuities among such luminaries as British poet Percy Bysshe Shelley, Austrian impressionist Emilie Mediz-Pelikan, and American intimist painters Ralph Blakelock and George Inness. Tobias finds a common, transcendent instinct that affirms rebirth over destruction in the lives of explorer Francis Kingdon Ward, storyteller Hugh Lofting, philosopher Nikos Kazantzakis, and film character King Kong. He concludes his lyrical investigations in the Antarctic, where he ponders the future of humanity and its role as caretaker of the Earth. Ultimately, the survival of humankind and of all other species hinges upon our willingness to uphold and celebrate the truth, beauty, and very sanctity of Nature.
312 pages, Hardcover
First published April 1, 1995
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December 27, 2023
Eloquent discourses of a romantic adventurer...
Sure, sometimes Tobias's prose is over the top, but I'll gladly cut him some slack as he again and again recounts his youthful adventures (including several near-death experiences) in the pursuit of his aesthetic quest for truth and beauty - the essential gist being that just as we manipulate and modify nature to our purposes, so does nature work its mystery through and on us. And with slack appropriately cut he carries us away on a (apparently life long) world-wide journey of learning and discovery. The spirit he exudes is pure Huck Finn crossed with William Blake, with a bit of someone more scholarly and erudite than I can place (Jordan Peterson perhaps!). Accompanying his prose (part travelogue, part philosophical and historical discourse) are beautiful photos (his own) and works of art (museum treasures), making this the ultimate arm-chair adventure for a winter's day.
"In the highest sense, to appreciate a work of art or nature is to become, even momentarily, a Buddhist." (p. 77)
"...You can walk to Ryoan-ji through the cobblestone backstreets of Kyoto's greenbelt, as I did, a white plumb in your hand, admiring the evergreens and maples and the ten thousand residential details that descend from the artistic genius of places like Gin-kaku-ji and the Zen sand gardens. Stopping for cookies, you will eventually reach the pond and monastery; where you can stroke the smooth faces of the docile, golden carp, then take a seat before the ultimate, unconditional moment of consciousness. Such blatant accessibility is generous to the extreme, and it characterizes an important development within Asia. Paradise was not merely made over in the guise of art. Steeped in mythology, it could live in the realm of a mountain hike, a garden, a teahouse, even a city. One didn't have to die naked in a cold cave on the fringes of the world to enjoy it. It exists everywhere, potentially." (p. 77)
"In his "Essay on Landscape Painting," writer, philosopher, painter Kuo Hsi evoked his own masterpiece, 'Early Spring', painted in 1072. He discussed four types of landscape painting: those in which one could travel, gaze upon, dwell within, or ramble. The The lover of art was asked to step into the scroll. ."Early Spring' was large enough to do so.. All of the Buddhist dialects and psychology that had debated cognition for centuries fell short of the spectacular confrontation this painting invoked: a sacred space for mysterious observation." (p. 88)
Sure, sometimes Tobias's prose is over the top, but I'll gladly cut him some slack as he again and again recounts his youthful adventures (including several near-death experiences) in the pursuit of his aesthetic quest for truth and beauty - the essential gist being that just as we manipulate and modify nature to our purposes, so does nature work its mystery through and on us. And with slack appropriately cut he carries us away on a (apparently life long) world-wide journey of learning and discovery. The spirit he exudes is pure Huck Finn crossed with William Blake, with a bit of someone more scholarly and erudite than I can place (Jordan Peterson perhaps!). Accompanying his prose (part travelogue, part philosophical and historical discourse) are beautiful photos (his own) and works of art (museum treasures), making this the ultimate arm-chair adventure for a winter's day.
"In the highest sense, to appreciate a work of art or nature is to become, even momentarily, a Buddhist." (p. 77)
"...You can walk to Ryoan-ji through the cobblestone backstreets of Kyoto's greenbelt, as I did, a white plumb in your hand, admiring the evergreens and maples and the ten thousand residential details that descend from the artistic genius of places like Gin-kaku-ji and the Zen sand gardens. Stopping for cookies, you will eventually reach the pond and monastery; where you can stroke the smooth faces of the docile, golden carp, then take a seat before the ultimate, unconditional moment of consciousness. Such blatant accessibility is generous to the extreme, and it characterizes an important development within Asia. Paradise was not merely made over in the guise of art. Steeped in mythology, it could live in the realm of a mountain hike, a garden, a teahouse, even a city. One didn't have to die naked in a cold cave on the fringes of the world to enjoy it. It exists everywhere, potentially." (p. 77)
"In his "Essay on Landscape Painting," writer, philosopher, painter Kuo Hsi evoked his own masterpiece, 'Early Spring', painted in 1072. He discussed four types of landscape painting: those in which one could travel, gaze upon, dwell within, or ramble. The The lover of art was asked to step into the scroll. ."Early Spring' was large enough to do so.. All of the Buddhist dialects and psychology that had debated cognition for centuries fell short of the spectacular confrontation this painting invoked: a sacred space for mysterious observation." (p. 88)
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