Intro and Peach Blossom Summary

Summary                                                       Sidney Rogers 3^rd

                  The two articles we were assigned to read were both very interesting. The first one titled “Introduction to Responses to the Land: Nature, Ecology, and Materialism” was about man-kind and nature. Many different cultures perceive nature differently and what makes nature natural. There have been many questions asked about what nature consists of and what role humans have in nature. Some believe that if anything man-kind is diminishing nature, and others believe that humans play a vital role in nature because we too are part of it and we make what is called nature possible.

                It was said in the passage that different cultures use nature as a sacred place and feel a spiritual connection with natural creations and feel it necessary to be a part of it, or painters and poets can become inspired by just nature. This passage also talks about how in the Bible human kind is seen as separate of nature and that God granted human’s dominance over nature to use as survival. Yet this passage shows examples of how we both help and diminish nature. Such as when we do landscaping or anything else that puts nature to action when it would have otherwise been unable to in a certain environment. But also because the start of the industrial revolution in the eighteenth century, we have evolved so far in technology that are now harming nature, such as global warming, and rain forest depletion.

                The second passage I read was “The Peach Blossom Spring” and it was a story about a man who was  rowing down a river when we noticed we was surrounded by peach trees, he continued on until he found a small cave that lead to a little village. The people welcomed him with food and wine, and he stayed there for a few days. They told him to never tell what he had discovered and as soon as he got back to the city, sure enough he did. Then he tried to return to the village with another man, using the clues he left and was never able to find the place again. I thought that this was a very interesting short story that could have so many different meaning behind it, but I believe that the main point is trust and honesty. And that without those two things you will soon lose whatever good things you had.