LOVE - The Spiritual Values of Wilderness
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by Dean Ohlman
The Meaning of “Spiritual Value”?
There is a certain paradox in our venturing out into nature to seek spiritual values. The American Heritage Dictionary’s primary definition of “spiritual” highlights the oxymoron: “Of, relating to, consisting of, or having the nature of spirit; not tangible or material.” Nothing is more tangible and material as the wilderness; yet historically people have ventured there in search of a spiritual experience. The logical tension begins to resolve itself, however, when we see the further definition of “spiritual” as meaning “of, from, or pertaining to God.” If we understand nature, or the wilderness, in its classical Christian meaning as a revelation of God, we then begin to see how the spiritual and material (God and nature) connect. Two biblical passages are sufficient to summarize:
A further aspect of understanding a spiritual value comes from a tenet of orthodox Christianity: that people are made in the image of God. This belief holds that only humankind has this privilege—and responsibility. Though there has never been a fully-agreed-upon articulation of the meaning of being created in God’s image, it is generally accepted that it relates to people as being “uniquely gifted intellectually (and in many other ways) so that they may relate to God and to each other as they live as stewards of the world God has given them to manage.” (Evangelical Dictionary of Biblical Theology; Baker, 1996, p. 366) Being in God’s image likely includes conscious awareness of God, the capacity to love sacrificially, the ability to think and communicate in a symbolic language, the freedom of choice, an aptitude for abstract reasoning, and the innate compulsion to know and then live by what is true materially and spiritually (aligning life with reality).
Combining these two factors – the meaning of a spiritual value and the meaning of mankind as uniquely made in the image of our Creator – we can arrive at this understanding of our relationship to the natural world:
The Value of Wilderness
The contemplation of the natural world and its relationship to the spiritual has historically taken place in “the wilderness.” A significant aspect of wilderness is that it is one of the few places where we can connect emotionally and spiritually through shared values with those who have gone before: where we can relearn the lessons our ancestors learned. We need to be reminded regularly that human community involves not only those who are living today, but also our forebears—and our descendants. The trouble is that the crush of modern life with its constantly changing technologies, it’s shifting social values, and it’s flood of information is so different from the generations past makes it difficult for us to identify with those who have gone before. If our ancestors left no oral or written legacy, we can only imagine what they must have thought, felt, and believed about life’s significant issues. It's in the wilderness that we can most easily avoid the distractions that only on the surface appear to make us different from them.
No doubt this is the reason thousands of people still read Henry David Thoreau’s Walden. How is it that the values and concerns of a man who was born almost 200 years ago still seem to ring true to us? The likely reason is that the real values and concerns of people have remained virtually unchanged from the beginning of human history. Modern technology, especially since the time of Thoreau, has allowed us to isolate and insulate ourselves from the realities of life we face in the wilderness. For that reason one could conclude that we need wilderness today far more than ever before. Many would agree that all people need to discover the values offered by Thoreau. Without wilderness to draw them out, however, we would be severely handicapped. We must never forget that there are critical life lessons taught us by the wilderness that cannot be adequately learned in any other setting. Those who do not value the wilds now available to them are a diminished people. And diminished people are poorly suited to determine the fate of a dwindling wilderness. The recent discovery of a virtually untouched wilderness rainforest in New Guinea, along with its many new species of living organisms, became a headline “good news” story that most of us no doubt read with relish. The joy that many of us felt when reading this account was likely the result of understanding that here was something virtually straight from the hand of God that people had not yet had the opportunity to exploit or ruin. Our hearts wanted to feel that some part of Eden still exists where our people and animals lived in community and where our souls could once again walk with God in His garden. Our souls need the wild.
The Absence That Makes the Heart Grow Fonder
No doubt the value of wilderness is almost more in what is not found there than in what is. Consider what we don’t find in a true protected wilderness:
Wilderness is one of the most important venues for bringing us to recognize what is most significant in life and what is common to all people of all ages. Among other valuable things, a wilderness experience links us in an unbroken chain with all who have gone before. Preserving wilderness will permit our descendants to do the same.
The Wilderness as God’s Revelation
If we are truly attentive, our vision in the wilderness can perhaps approximate Adam’s vision in the Garden: He saw its beauty before he recognized its utility. (Gen. 2:9) Assuming the apostle Paul to be correct about “clearly” seeing God’s eternal power and divine nature in what He has created, what is it we can “see” in the wild? (Using the definition of “divine” as “that which is superhuman, God-like, supremely good, magnificent, or compels a person to worship”). Among other things, we could observe in the natural world. . . .
The Cathedral of Wilderness
Certainly everyone can benefit from such contemplations of the holy in what John Calvin called “the theater of God’s glory.” They highlight our finitude, vulnerability, and our utter and complete dependence upon the creating and sustaining power of God. But it is even more than a theater; it’s a cathedral. And awareness of God’s holiness will occur when we enter it with the right spirit. The word “cathedral” comes from the Latin term for “chair”: cathedra. Traditionally a cathedral is the sacred place where a church bishop has his chair of authority—his throne. While the human bishop is supposed to keep us mindful of our stewardship role in the created order, too often the trappings and traditions of man hinder our capacity to hear the “still, small voice” of God in our urban churches. For that reason, it's important for us to preserve and treasure the cathedral of wilderness where we see that God, the ultimate authority, is clearly on the throne and where His wordless revelation can still be clearly seen and understood. (Romans 1:20) When truly attentive people enter a wilderness, they immediately recognize the signs that this is holy ground—a place where to them a flaming autumn maple is no less evidence of God’s miracle-working power and presence than the burning bush was to Moses.
Also important is for us to recognize that in the wilderness sanctuary we’re not alone in our impulse to worship. God’s other creatures worship there as well. As the prophets Isaiah and David remind us, all created things in their own nature respond to God—even trees, rivers, and mountains. (Isa. 55:12; Psa. 98:8) This amazing truth from the Old Testament is echoed in the Revelation when all God’s creatures will honor the One who died in order that the cosmos may be redeemed: “Every creature which is in heaven and on the earth and under the earth and such as are in the sea, and all that are in them, I heard saying: ‘Blessing and honor and glory and power be to Him who sits on the throne, and to the Lamb [Jesus Christ], forever and ever!’” (Rev. 5:13)
Let this wonderful hymn, penned by the psalmist some three thousand years ago, resound in your heart whenever you worship in creation’s cathedral:
Appendix: Biblical Information About Creation and the Wilderness
1. Adam saw its beauty before he saw its utility (Gen. 2:9)
2. Hagar met God and received His promise in the wilderness (Gen. 16:7)
3. Moses was a man of the wilderness:
a. He met God there (Ex. 3)
b. His people were humbled and tested there (Deut. 8:2)
c. God performed his exodus miracles there (Neh. 9:21)
d. He received counsel from Jethro there (Ex. 18)
e. The first Tabernacle of God was erected there (Ex. 25ff)
f. The scapegoat carried away sin there (Lev. 16)
g. “The Lord spoke to Moses in the wilderness” (Num. 1ff)
h. He died there at age 120 (Deut. 34)
2. God found Israel in the wilderness (Deut. 32:10-14)
3. God found Elijah in the wilderness (1 Ki 19)
4. God humbles and instructs leaders there (Ps. 107:40, Job 12:24, Da. 4:28-36)
5. God puts us in our place through an understanding of wilderness (Job 38-42:6)
6. God blesses the wilderness (Psa. 65:5-13, 104)
7. Blessings will come in the wilderness (Isa.32:16, 35:1, 35:6, 41:18-19)
8. Hosea’s unfaithful wife was purified in the wilderness (Hos. 2:14ff)
9. John the Baptist came as a voice out of the wilderness (Is. 40, Mt. 3:1ff)
10. Jesus was tried by Satan and ministered to by angels in the wilderness (Mt. 4:1-11)
11. Jesus entered the wilderness for spiritual retreat (Luke 5:16)
12. Wilderness is a common biblical symbol of sin, trial, and testing
13. Wilderness changed to garden by God is a symbol of creation’s hope
14. Wilderness changed to garden by God is a symbol of mankind’s hope
15. Spiritual leaders (prophets) often entered the wilderness for retreat and contemplation
The Meaning of “Spiritual Value”?
There is a certain paradox in our venturing out into nature to seek spiritual values. The American Heritage Dictionary’s primary definition of “spiritual” highlights the oxymoron: “Of, relating to, consisting of, or having the nature of spirit; not tangible or material.” Nothing is more tangible and material as the wilderness; yet historically people have ventured there in search of a spiritual experience. The logical tension begins to resolve itself, however, when we see the further definition of “spiritual” as meaning “of, from, or pertaining to God.” If we understand nature, or the wilderness, in its classical Christian meaning as a revelation of God, we then begin to see how the spiritual and material (God and nature) connect. Two biblical passages are sufficient to summarize:
The heavens declare the glory of God; the skies proclaim the work of his hands. Day after day they pour forth speech; night after night they display knowledge. There is no speech or language where their voice is not heard. (Psalms 19:1-3, NIV)In the latter verse, the apostle Paul is addressing the new followers of Christ in first-century Rome. It was a bold assertion in that time and place to claim that the creation itself “clearly” demonstrates both God’s eternal power and his divine nature. But it is even brasher to make the statement in our modern secular civilization, which has virtually ruled God out of any significant role in either creating or sustaining the material world. What would the members of our modern academy make of this Roman Jew’s proclamation to the philosophers of the ancient world’s other great city: Athens?
For since the creation of the world God's invisible qualities—his eternal power and divine nature—have been clearly seen, being understood from what has been made, so that men are without excuse. (Romans 1:20, NIV)
“The God who made the world and everything in it is the Lord of heaven and earth and does not live in temples built by hands. And he is not served by human hands, as if he needed anything, because he himself gives all men life and breath and everything else. From one man he made every nation of men, that they should inhabit the whole earth; and he determined the times set for them and the exact places where they should live. God did this so that men would seek him and perhaps reach out for him and find him, though he is not far from each one of us, ‘For in him we live and move and have our being.’ As some of your own poets have said, ‘We are his offspring.’” (Acts 17:24-28, NIV)From these ancient scriptures we get the still dominant human understanding that the material world we see around us is a revelation of God. To seek truth in the material world about our Creator is hence a spiritual quest—or as the dictionary definition concludes: it pertains to the human soul, to the sacred (worship of God), to the supernatural. A spiritual value could therefore be understood as that which benefits our souls, motivates us toward worship, and connects us consciously (or perhaps even unconsciously) with the supernatural.
A further aspect of understanding a spiritual value comes from a tenet of orthodox Christianity: that people are made in the image of God. This belief holds that only humankind has this privilege—and responsibility. Though there has never been a fully-agreed-upon articulation of the meaning of being created in God’s image, it is generally accepted that it relates to people as being “uniquely gifted intellectually (and in many other ways) so that they may relate to God and to each other as they live as stewards of the world God has given them to manage.” (Evangelical Dictionary of Biblical Theology; Baker, 1996, p. 366) Being in God’s image likely includes conscious awareness of God, the capacity to love sacrificially, the ability to think and communicate in a symbolic language, the freedom of choice, an aptitude for abstract reasoning, and the innate compulsion to know and then live by what is true materially and spiritually (aligning life with reality).
Combining these two factors – the meaning of a spiritual value and the meaning of mankind as uniquely made in the image of our Creator – we can arrive at this understanding of our relationship to the natural world:
People contemplate the natural world to derive from it truth about God—our supernatural Creator—and our role as stewards of what He has made. Awareness of such truth and living in accord with such truth connects us consciously with the supernatural, brings health to our souls, compels us to the worship of our Creator, and moves us toward community with all creatures that share the natural world with us (both human and non-human).
The Value of Wilderness
The contemplation of the natural world and its relationship to the spiritual has historically taken place in “the wilderness.” A significant aspect of wilderness is that it is one of the few places where we can connect emotionally and spiritually through shared values with those who have gone before: where we can relearn the lessons our ancestors learned. We need to be reminded regularly that human community involves not only those who are living today, but also our forebears—and our descendants. The trouble is that the crush of modern life with its constantly changing technologies, it’s shifting social values, and it’s flood of information is so different from the generations past makes it difficult for us to identify with those who have gone before. If our ancestors left no oral or written legacy, we can only imagine what they must have thought, felt, and believed about life’s significant issues. It's in the wilderness that we can most easily avoid the distractions that only on the surface appear to make us different from them.
No doubt this is the reason thousands of people still read Henry David Thoreau’s Walden. How is it that the values and concerns of a man who was born almost 200 years ago still seem to ring true to us? The likely reason is that the real values and concerns of people have remained virtually unchanged from the beginning of human history. Modern technology, especially since the time of Thoreau, has allowed us to isolate and insulate ourselves from the realities of life we face in the wilderness. For that reason one could conclude that we need wilderness today far more than ever before. Many would agree that all people need to discover the values offered by Thoreau. Without wilderness to draw them out, however, we would be severely handicapped. We must never forget that there are critical life lessons taught us by the wilderness that cannot be adequately learned in any other setting. Those who do not value the wilds now available to them are a diminished people. And diminished people are poorly suited to determine the fate of a dwindling wilderness. The recent discovery of a virtually untouched wilderness rainforest in New Guinea, along with its many new species of living organisms, became a headline “good news” story that most of us no doubt read with relish. The joy that many of us felt when reading this account was likely the result of understanding that here was something virtually straight from the hand of God that people had not yet had the opportunity to exploit or ruin. Our hearts wanted to feel that some part of Eden still exists where our people and animals lived in community and where our souls could once again walk with God in His garden. Our souls need the wild.
The Absence That Makes the Heart Grow Fonder
No doubt the value of wilderness is almost more in what is not found there than in what is. Consider what we don’t find in a true protected wilderness:
. . . personal multipliers of power (vehicles, chain saws, electricity, and so forth)There are few mature people who could not benefit from being without these manmade complications—going on a “civilization fast.” Having, as most of us do, a pride for the present, we find ourselves disconnected from the past—somehow thinking that no forebear would have much to offer us moderns. Yet if we found ourselves in a raging thunderstorm on a wilderness mountaintop, we’d quickly learn that we are no different from any other person living today—or yesterday. The fears, desires, and temptations of the first human beings were at heart no different from ours. Living close to nature, however, they likely were able to cope with them better than we.
. . . markets and marketers
. . . external temptations
. . . wrong values
. . . lying words
. . . too many voices to attend to
. . . too many people to relate to
. . . racial, ethnic, and gender tensions
. . . personal deception and pretense (masks)
. . . meaningless entertainment
. . . an overload of news (information)
. . . an overabundance of technologies
. . . extraneous noise
. . . the need to talk incessantly
. . . constant time pressure
. . . any sense that I am in control
Wilderness is one of the most important venues for bringing us to recognize what is most significant in life and what is common to all people of all ages. Among other valuable things, a wilderness experience links us in an unbroken chain with all who have gone before. Preserving wilderness will permit our descendants to do the same.
The Wilderness as God’s Revelation
If we are truly attentive, our vision in the wilderness can perhaps approximate Adam’s vision in the Garden: He saw its beauty before he recognized its utility. (Gen. 2:9) Assuming the apostle Paul to be correct about “clearly” seeing God’s eternal power and divine nature in what He has created, what is it we can “see” in the wild? (Using the definition of “divine” as “that which is superhuman, God-like, supremely good, magnificent, or compels a person to worship”). Among other things, we could observe in the natural world. . . .
1. Mysterious light and matter (which still defy human definition and understanding)
2. Seemingly endless time (no clearly apparent beginning or end)
3. Seemingly endless space (eternality seen in the microcosm and macrocosm)
4. Astronomical extravagance and magnitude (“Billions and billions” -Sagan)
5. Wonderful life (inexplicable in essence and origin and known on earth alone)
6. Fearsome, but essential, death (which is marvelously linked to life)
7. Profound mystery (beyond human understanding)
8. Abiding orderliness (out of seeming chaos)
9. Unfathomable complexity (defying human simplification)
10. Awesome power (far exceeding our own)
11. Incredibly informed design (absolutely beyond human duplication)
12. Virtually endless variety (unbelievable biodiversity)
13. Amazing adaptability (micro-evolutionary change)
14. Overwhelming beauty (touching the heart and soul)
15. Limitless sensory stimulation (candy for the senses)
16. Abundant joy (“even the worm can feel contentment” –Schiller)
17. An unbridgeable gap between people and the other created things (people alone having the capacity for creative thinking, abstract reasoning, and symbolic language and having innate morality and the instinct to worship)
The Cathedral of Wilderness
Certainly everyone can benefit from such contemplations of the holy in what John Calvin called “the theater of God’s glory.” They highlight our finitude, vulnerability, and our utter and complete dependence upon the creating and sustaining power of God. But it is even more than a theater; it’s a cathedral. And awareness of God’s holiness will occur when we enter it with the right spirit. The word “cathedral” comes from the Latin term for “chair”: cathedra. Traditionally a cathedral is the sacred place where a church bishop has his chair of authority—his throne. While the human bishop is supposed to keep us mindful of our stewardship role in the created order, too often the trappings and traditions of man hinder our capacity to hear the “still, small voice” of God in our urban churches. For that reason, it's important for us to preserve and treasure the cathedral of wilderness where we see that God, the ultimate authority, is clearly on the throne and where His wordless revelation can still be clearly seen and understood. (Romans 1:20) When truly attentive people enter a wilderness, they immediately recognize the signs that this is holy ground—a place where to them a flaming autumn maple is no less evidence of God’s miracle-working power and presence than the burning bush was to Moses.
Also important is for us to recognize that in the wilderness sanctuary we’re not alone in our impulse to worship. God’s other creatures worship there as well. As the prophets Isaiah and David remind us, all created things in their own nature respond to God—even trees, rivers, and mountains. (Isa. 55:12; Psa. 98:8) This amazing truth from the Old Testament is echoed in the Revelation when all God’s creatures will honor the One who died in order that the cosmos may be redeemed: “Every creature which is in heaven and on the earth and under the earth and such as are in the sea, and all that are in them, I heard saying: ‘Blessing and honor and glory and power be to Him who sits on the throne, and to the Lamb [Jesus Christ], forever and ever!’” (Rev. 5:13)
Let this wonderful hymn, penned by the psalmist some three thousand years ago, resound in your heart whenever you worship in creation’s cathedral:
Praise the Lord from the heavens; praise Him in the heights! Praise Him, all His angels; praise Him, all His hosts! Praise Him, sun and moon; praise Him, all you stars of light! Praise Him, you heavens of heavens, and you waters above the heavens! Let them praise the name of the Lord, for He commanded and they were created. He also established them forever and ever; He made a decree which shall not pass away. Praise the Lord from the earth, you great sea creatures and all the depths; fire and hail, snow and clouds; stormy wind, fulfilling His word; mountains and all hills; fruitful trees and all cedars; beasts and all cattle; creeping things and flying fowl; kings of the earth and all peoples; princes and all judges of the earth; both young men and maidens; old men and children. Let them praise the name of the Lord, for His name alone is exalted; His glory is above the earth and heaven (Psalm 148:1-13).
Appendix: Biblical Information About Creation and the Wilderness
1. Adam saw its beauty before he saw its utility (Gen. 2:9)
2. Hagar met God and received His promise in the wilderness (Gen. 16:7)
3. Moses was a man of the wilderness:
a. He met God there (Ex. 3)
b. His people were humbled and tested there (Deut. 8:2)
c. God performed his exodus miracles there (Neh. 9:21)
d. He received counsel from Jethro there (Ex. 18)
e. The first Tabernacle of God was erected there (Ex. 25ff)
f. The scapegoat carried away sin there (Lev. 16)
g. “The Lord spoke to Moses in the wilderness” (Num. 1ff)
h. He died there at age 120 (Deut. 34)
2. God found Israel in the wilderness (Deut. 32:10-14)
3. God found Elijah in the wilderness (1 Ki 19)
4. God humbles and instructs leaders there (Ps. 107:40, Job 12:24, Da. 4:28-36)
5. God puts us in our place through an understanding of wilderness (Job 38-42:6)
6. God blesses the wilderness (Psa. 65:5-13, 104)
7. Blessings will come in the wilderness (Isa.32:16, 35:1, 35:6, 41:18-19)
8. Hosea’s unfaithful wife was purified in the wilderness (Hos. 2:14ff)
9. John the Baptist came as a voice out of the wilderness (Is. 40, Mt. 3:1ff)
10. Jesus was tried by Satan and ministered to by angels in the wilderness (Mt. 4:1-11)
11. Jesus entered the wilderness for spiritual retreat (Luke 5:16)
12. Wilderness is a common biblical symbol of sin, trial, and testing
13. Wilderness changed to garden by God is a symbol of creation’s hope
14. Wilderness changed to garden by God is a symbol of mankind’s hope
15. Spiritual leaders (prophets) often entered the wilderness for retreat and contemplation