Reflection: Jessica

Going Off Trail

Over the course of this semester, I found “Religion and the Anthropocene” to be very beneficial for me, beyond academics. This course helped open my eyes to different yet very similar overlapping qualities of various religions, how religious and spiritual practices are connected to nature and how they are connected to the Anthropocene. Beyond religion though, I have been fascinated with the teachings and research behind the term “Anthropocene” for a few years now. I never questioned how religion plays a role within geological epochs. However, an underlying part of me has been wanting to understand various religions a bit more and how spiritual philosophy interacts within our current environment. This course was incredibly thought provoking to say the least. I have come to a realization that our class discussions and small group sessions over zoom were huge enhancements for personal growth. Although this year has been tough for everyone, I am thankful for the shared interactions and positive learning environment that we all created. I value shared perspectives and new ideas from my classmates, so overall I am incredibly grateful with how this course broadened my mind. 

During our class discussions, we talked a lot about sacred places and what those sacred places are considered to be through a religious lens. When I think of places to pray, mosques and churches come to mind. Structures built for prayer and spiritual practice were built by the human hand and are therefore nowhere near a natural environment. This course got me thinking, what if the true places of prayer and spiritual cleansing are in fact natural environments such as untamed rivers or forests or the ocean? Maybe natural landscapes that haven’t been manipulated by the human hand are direct portals to a higher consciousness. I am proposing this thought due to a recent hiking experience where I felt deeply connected to my spirituality. Personally, I do not practice any specific religion right now, though I am not closed off to learning about different religions and or practicing one that I identify with. However, I have noticed a depth in my spiritual practice that I have not reached before. This depth was and is not only a product of engaging with the course material, but a product of immersing myself in nature. I believe that the material I soaked up throughout the course added to my spiritual awareness and environmental awareness. 

Very recently, I hiked throughout the Pacific Northwest along the Oregon Coast and had a very profound experience. But before I speak on that experience, I'd like to share more about myself in regard to my relationship with nature through hiking. I started hiking trails a lot when I was a teenager and eventually it carried over into this addiction and craving for the outdoors. As an athlete for most of my life however, I was trained to be competitive with myself and my surroundings. This competitive mentality poured into my love for hiking yet ultimately interfered with it. I had to deconstruct what hiking truly meant for me. Was I hiking for speed or was I hiking for something deeper? Was I hiking to escape reality or was I hiking to reshape my internal world? Was I hiking to test my physical endurance or was I hiking to test my spiritual awareness? I couldn’t figure out what exactly was motivating me. I knew that I had wanted hiking to be less of a competition with myself, and more of a spiritual practice with myself and nature. It truly wasn't until recently, that I willingly decided to go completely off trail after reaching the top of Neahkahnie Mountain. Oddly enough, the direct English translation of that mountain is “The place of the supreme deity.” I truly believe that there is an energy shift when one decides to go off trail or get lost (and/or found) in nature. By going off trail, I was no longer in control of my path because there technically wasn’t a path in front of me. I had to trust my intuition, but ultimately I had to trust and respect my surroundings. I was no longer hiking a man-made trail; I was directly engaging with Mother Nature. I was scared yet completely at ease at the same time. There were moments where I thought I would have to hike back to the trail due to very natural obstacles such as mudslides or bouldering problems or steep slippery sections or fallen trees. For a long moment, I wasn't totally sure of what to do or what I had gotten myself into. I decided to pause and just close my eyes. I began to meditate by rooting myself among the tall trees that lived on that mountain. I realized that for those 20 minutes of meditation, I was sharing a very intimate moment with the natural world. So intimate that I felt as though I was becoming part of it. I felt like I was being swallowed whole by the vast forest or “turning into a tree,” as my partner likes to put it. Eventually, I navigated my way through these obstacles with the utmost respect for my surrounding environment. I found my way back to the bottom of the trail, on the other side of the mountain. After more moments of reflection, I came to these conclusions that I believe are intertwined with the course material:

- Nature is in fact a temple; we must treat her as such.  

- Nature is humbling. 

- Nature has a way of finding your weak spots, and putting them through the test. 

- By going off trail or away from the imposed man made sections of nature, the human is no longer in control but exposed to great magic. 

- Prayer is showing respect and love for the land. 

- Humans often forget that there is no hierarchy within the web of life. 

- As the Anthropocene continues to shine light on constant environmental change, we must do the internal spiritual work to shift with these changes.  

- We often think that the outside world is more important than our internal world; But our internal world or environment is a reflection of what we experience on the daily. 

- The real magic of prayer is exposed in places that are completely wild (off trail). 

Photo of myself off trail post meditation - Neahkahnie Mountain.