Vocabularies of Nature - Burch

Under An equal among equals, Burch states that "unlike the myths in our society, the myths of tribal groups seldom contain the tendency to subordinate and exceed the natural habitat." Last year, I took an anthropology course which focused on tribal groups. I was fascinated by their rituals, such as the medicine man trances. Burch's line made me think about how our society as a whole often views nature as something to conquer. You always hear people "conquering" the Grand Canyon, or the white water rapids, or Yosemite. For exapmle, when I went capming iat Lake Sommerville with soem friends, it was as if they had overcome something after the trip. It was such a big deal for some of them because camping and nature are not a part of their daily regimen. I don't think that the feeling that my friends and others have about "conquering" nature is actually about nature being subordinate. In fact, I feel the opposite. Nature is something so great that when we climb a mountain or sky dive, we feel like we have indeed conquered something. But then again, there are those who litter parks and oceans and could care less.

Burch goes on to say that "[l]ife possesses the same religious dignity in its humblest and its highest forms." I was a vegetarian for 3 years because I believed this at the time. I'm sure I still do. With a religious mother, it was hard to convince her that my vegetarianism was not brought about due to a religious conversion. I don't really know why I'm not a vegetarian anymore. Maybe it's the hypocrisy of being a vegetarian who wore leather shoes.