Jacqueline Thornley- Space Trilogy #2

In class while we were reading the Space Trilogy we talked about the difference between Mother Nature and Mother Earth. I found this discussion really interesting, particularly the emphasis we seem to place on Nature, even though we are in contact with earth more directly. Earth is all around us, it is everything (and subsequently nothing) yet nature is really just a concept. You can pick up dirt, feel the wind and rain and sun but you cannot physically touch nature. Yet why is “nature” so important to us? Perhaps it ties into the importance of myth. When a story is told, the particulars don’t really matter, it’s what those particulars mean in relation to the individual. Just as two people can hear the same story and take different meanings from it, two people can experience the same bits of earth and have a different experience. So when you’re walking the Noland Trail, it’s not the dirt, trees, or birds that convey meaning, but rather, the greater concept of nature and what that means to each individual experiencing it.