The PBS special The National Parks: America’s Best Idea that runs throughout this week is a joy for many reasons.  One is the continual affirmation that the wilderness areas have “spiritual values.”

Here is a good working definition of a “spiritual value”: That which benefits our souls, motivates us toward worship, and connects us consciously (or perhaps even unconsciously) with the supernatural.

To begin to grasp the spiritual value of wilderness it’s important to begin with a tenet of orthodox Christianity: the biblical affirmation that people are made in the image of God. This belief holds that only humankind has this privilege—and this responsibility. Though there has never been a fully-agreed-upon articulation of the meaning of being created in God’s image, it’s 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 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—and then aligning one’s life with both realities.

Combining these two factors—the meaning of a spiritual value and the understanding that mankind is 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 then living in accord with it connects us consciously to 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).

No doubt this deeper meaning of the wild is the reason people still read Henry David Thoreau’s Walden. How is it that many of 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.  Hence our national parks are becoming more valuable to us.

Many would agree that all people need to discover the values offered by Thoreau and then later by John Muir. Without the wild 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 wild areas now available to them are a diminished people. And diminished people are poorly suited to make sound decisions about the fate of the earth’s dwindling wilderness areas—the regions of the globe that were featured in God’s reply to Job and his miserable comforters.

Barbara Kingsolver, though not writing from a biblical worldview, is a wordsmith who has often voiced a concern for the preservation of wilderness:

People need wild places. Whether or not they think they do, they do. They need to experience a landscape that is timeless, whose agenda moves at the pace of speciation and ice ages. To be surrounded by a singing, mating, howling commotion of other species, all of whom love their lives as much as you do, and none of whom could possibly care less about your economic status or your running-day calendar. Wilderness puts us in our place. It reminds us that our plans are small and somewhat absurd. It reminds us why, in those cases in which our plans might influence future generations, we ought to choose carefully. (Preface to Off the Beaten Path: Stories of Place, North Point Press, 1998)

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 enjoy—or exploit. Our hearts want to feel that some part of Eden still exists where people and the natural world might live in community and where our souls could once again walk with God in His garden.  Our souls need the wild where we can meditate on the handiwork of our Redeemer-Creator—as the psalmist tells us:

Great is the LORD and most worthy of praise; his greatness no one can fathom. One generation will commend your works to another; they will tell of your mighty acts. They will speak of the glorious splendor of your majesty, and I will meditate on your wonderful works. They will tell of the power of your awesome works, and I will proclaim your great deeds. They will celebrate your abundant goodness and joyfully sing of your righteousness. The LORD is gracious and compassionate, slow to anger and rich in love. The LORD is good to all; he has compassion on all he has made.
Psalm 145:4-9

See you outdoors,

Dean

[Click on the photos to enlarge them]