F i e l d S p i r i t Intimate

Kaza, Stephanie. 1998. Field of Bright Spirit: Intimate Relations
with the Natural World, ReVision, 21(2):16-19.
F i e l do f B r i g hS
t pirit
'i'&
IntimateRelations
with the
NaturalWorld
S t e p h a n i eK a z a
ne summerrnontingin our
back road place in Napa
Valley, California, I saw a
paradeof wild turkeys.Up
close. Walking down the
driveway. They were enormous; I
thought they were heronsat first. These
high steppersmoved lightly and -eracefuliy on long legs, each step deliberate,
a dozen turkeys flowing through the
grasses. It was a rare and intimate
encounter. usually one sees wild
turkeys in the distance standing in a
field, and even that is uncommon.This
was intimate becauseI was so close,
enteringthe spaceof their activity witho u t o b s t a c l e sI r. o ra b o u ta q u r r t e ro l a n
hour I stayedwith theni,mesmerized
by
their deliberate novernent, until they
disappcared
into rhebruslr.
wlllt
qucha mo',enr of inrimacy
fully lived. Intirnacythus depenclson
serendipitybut alsoon attention.
A caveathere:this discussion
of intimacy with the natural worlcl addresses
only the human experience.I do not
believeit is possibieto know what intimacy meansfor plantsor irimals. without accessto some form of interspecies
communicationin which the nonhuman
can accuratelyrepresentits own experience, any speculationabout such inti_
macy is likely to reflect human projections of what the other is feeling. Even
in scientific interpretationsof animal
behaviorthis kind of projectionis more
common than one would expect.Thus
q u c s t i o n sa b o u l, , , u , u " , i t 1o r : d e g r e o
cf
intiniacy reurain an epistemological
mystery.
From a Zen perspective,intinracyis a
qualiry of mind-a willingnessto be
fi*
6
3
o
t:
i;";;-^;,;;;';,;;"';;;il;;*"J,;i;';;";*iir'i,'iJ,,ii,.,?,l
;ii:. opouii
a
"
is
domly,rcflecting
it",..o*pticalo p"r-
rntiveto the poinr of inrinracy.Even
Twelfth-century 7.en master
Honghzi
,uro,l'riyo"rl., .,r-.^0"*
"i,
ir's gap, notlring will bc received."
of inteirupling barriers of self. In
see
or humarr-planr
encoun.1i9,.1..,,1.1=tis.ts
ltt,,:^.:l^*l.rt'human-animal
,s
3
r
the active nrind
can generatea winds.'
stornt of thought that
ciouds the field of intimate meeting.
Spiritual training sucli as Zen helps to
quiet the mind/body and develop a stablc arvarenessprepared to receive
momentafter momentof intimacy.Thir-
with a
and rhe
touching
getic flux-"(
arise.
sometime6
i2ed
;of,iiil
of God of:the
this overlooks the it
'cAll ,
immediacv
---.-J
of
.-i
..that;.qqmes
response
twoness.Together both experiences indicate the dynamic:uni-':,.
verseof field and form, of bbin$s i
and moments of meeting 9on:
stantly arising and passing ?way:.
To experience fully both aspects,
one cultivates a spaclous
attention uncluttered by
opinions, feelings, perceptions,and other conditionings of the mind. Then one
'.. c&Dstepaway from dualistic
views of self and other, of
self and unified held, and
"roam and play" in both
aspectsof intimacy (Hongzhi
1991,9).
What can one learn about
an oak or hummingbird
through intimate encounters?
To answer this we must also
ask, How doesthe mind influence the tone of the encounter?
First inrpressionsmay reflect cultural stereotypes such as thc
"creepy" slug or the "awesome"
e a g l e( K a z a1 9 9 . 5 )O. r t h c y r n a yb c
penetratedby strongernotion- the
' . t e r r o rt h a t a r i s e si n e n c o u n t e r i nag
." bear, for example.But if you stay
closeto lvhat is actually going on,
.- organizing patterns begin to
cnrcrgc.Frour my creeksidestudio
F
., in Calilbmia. I have beclr rvatchinga
pair cf black phoebesthis spring.They
l l l er r t t ' hl o r i o v c r t h e s l r e a r na n r l t l t e n
. . l c l tt i m e I
c l : t rht r r c ku p i n t o l h c a l d c r s F
Rathel than being an occasionalgift
clinib the stairsthey call loudi1'to each
fl'onrtlte unir,erse,
intiuracycanbe a natL t l i l l i l t i l \ ' t i 1 ) i C o l ' | ; ; 1 .1 i . 1 . i I l . l ' r ' l t : i l r r U i C t
othcl rvith what seer.rsto rne rlight lie
tiurervith thecLrltivation
u'cinyingcries.In fact, I discoveredthat
of awareness.
I i v l s p n s s i n gr n , i t l r i sni x l e e t o f t h e i r
Hongzhi ciescribes
tu'o aspectsof tl-re
( l) o1' the other'
nest. which was tucked into the eves.
intirnute encor-lntcr:
i{
teeuth-cenlury Zen teacher Eihei Dogen
encapsulateclthe process this q,a),:
'[o
stud1,the self is to knou' the scl{.
To knorv the self is to forget the self.
To forget the self is to bc actualizedby
the myriad things.(Tanahaslii1985,70)
I998
F,rLL
17
Over tinrc I havccome to scc hou' tltcl'
favor celtainpcrchingspots\\'hcrcpcr
haps tlie widtlr ol the br.anchis most
t or thc vicw trr
com{i)rtablcfor their ['ee
t h e c r e e ki s w i d c s t .T h e c l i l r i c n s i < lon1s
t h e i n t i r n a c yc x p a n da s I s p c n dn t o r e
t i m e i n t h e i t -c o t n p i t n yI. b e g i n t o s e c
sonretllingabout how thcse bircls11y,,
ea1,rcst, anclspcakto eachothcr.Pat, a t t c n r so f n c g o t i a t t e r n so l ' b c h a v i o rp
ing spacc,patternsof locationstart to
elnefge.
T h c n t h c r c i r r c o r g r r n i z i n gp a t t c r n s
over time that determinewhat grows
where and why. Along our quiet road,
slopesare covered
the steepwoocilancl
with springwildllorvers.This year is a
spectacularseasonbecauseof the long
rains of the El Nino winter.The surprise
of finding a handful of yellow globe
lilies rnultipliesasI seehow u,idespread
they are this year. It can go the other
way, too; in droughtyearsmany seeds
never sprout,ar.rdthe patternof distribution remainshidden.One's experience
of intimacygrows by seeingthe fluidly
shifting manifestationsas they vary
from yearto year.Experiencedfield naturalists become particularly intimate
with thesechanges,able to distinguish
normal variationfrom extremehardship
such as drought.fire, or toxic impacts.
Cultivating a capacity for intimacy
dependsboth on presencein the moment
and on integrating thosemomentsto find
pattern or n-reaning.A small example:
Four yearsago dr.rringone of the tropical
stoms that durnped tonential rains on
California,therell,asa loud crashin the
n i g h t .T h c b i g a s hb 1 't l r c g u c s tc o t t e g c
had droppeda major linb-over half of
its upper mass.We wele therewith it in
thi.s nroment of sudden injury. 1'he
r c r n n i r r i nbgr a n c h e lsc a n c dp r c c a r i o r r s l y
ovcr the barnroof. Sccingfhc trec'sroften corc.we sadlydcterrnirred
thatit had
lo conredou'n.Corrfrontingits dcatlrled
to ruorcu*nr.n,, oi i,.rtir,'..u
rflif* rir
lins bv theascdiree.Latertharu,eekI
ru,,r.hla as thc arhrrrisrskillfully
renroved
chunkafrerchunkclfthelcan-
:
"
:
-
ing ttee,It rn,lssaclto sce the slrat ash
taitt in picceson the grouncl.ilut soon
tlrcrewls all tlre splirtingand stacking,
eabhpieceof ashlovingtl,t:riAin o -.rn--
Iruclrstick carlicsthc u,holcstory,and
t h es t o r yg ( ) c so n i n w a l n t i n go u r l i v e s .
B L rw
t h a ta b o u t h cc x l t c r i c n cocf i n t i r t t a c l , r v io
t hn c ' so \ \ n t l r i n k i n ag n dl c e l ing nrind'H
? e r c i s t h c t c r r z r ionf ' l i k c s
a r t d d i s l i k c s , p r o j c c t i o n ,o v c r - a n c l
ttnderstatcrrcnt.
Hcle t(x) at'ctlrc lirr-rns
a n c l i n r i t so l ' h u r r l r np c r c e p t u iol lr g a n s .
To stuclythescstrearns
ol scnsepcrecptiortis tcllearnsorrrcthing
abouthorvwc
intefpfctlight and dark, rnuvcrncnt,
conrnrunicaticln,
llnd colttext.Thc hor'ering perpetualntotionol'the eycs,the
s e n s i t i v er e c e p t i v i t yo f t h e n o s c , t h c
electricalfield of touch all over thc
body-all inforrn tlrc intirnltecncounter.Each senseconsciousness
is
shapedby previousencoullters,
registering and shapingimportantinfbrmation
for futureencounters.
A tastydiscovery
of a patchof ripe blackberries
imprints
with the lureof dcsire.A scarymoment
w i t l ra c o i l c ds n r k ei r n p r i r r tassa ni m a g c
with fear.
associated
Exanrirring
t h c h : r r r i e l st u i n t i m a t e
encounterscan be a frLritfulpracticeas
part of a spiritual path. N4ental,physical, or emotional barrierscharacterize
the conditionedmind, and all human
minds areconditionedorshapedby previous experience.Conditioningtoward
plants and anintals,rocks and rivers is
greatly affected by cultural-historical
patterns. In the postenlightenment
industrialWest,thoserevoive arounda
reductionist,mechanisticview of the
natural u'orld and a privileging of
human life as most complex and valuabie. Places,trees,and insectsare typically vicu'cd throughthe discrininating
Iensof "useful/useless/harmlul"
in relation to human needs.Tliesc thought
f o r n r sn o w u n t l c l p i nv i r t r r a l l ya l l c o n snmer activity in the West, fl'om {he
extractionof natural"resources"to the
selling of consurnerist
statesof mind.
T o d e c o n s ( r u lcl tl c s cp r t l c t n so f c o n ..
d i l i o t t e dd i s t a n c i nigs a P 1 i 1 1 [p1r1o[c c s \ .
fbr .manyof the attachmentsare linked
directly with messagesof personal.
"anirnal" survival, the drive of the
autonomousself. But the call for intinacy can motivate the practitionerto
plesson. Tlre dcliglrtirr this cau be so
d e e pa n dg e n u i n tch a to n ei s u i l l i n g l o
approuchthe rnineficldof unconscious
attiludcsin ordel to cngagethe Other
m o r ef u l l t ' .T h i s s t u d yo 1 ' t h er n i n dc a n
i
benefitfrom the greatwealthof literature in the fields of environmental
ethics,environmentalhistory, rel igion
rrndecology.Ecofeminists,
for example,
havc developedsophisticated
analyses
o1'parallelsin the patternsof domination of womcnand nature,deepecologistshaveelucidated
the pervasivehabit
ol' anthr<lpocentrism.
Scholarsof relig i o n a r c c x p l o r i n gt h e w a y s i n w h i c h
J u d a i s ma n d C h r i s t i a n i t yh a v e c o n tributcdto the declineof intimatc relat i o n sw i t h n a t u r e .
Barriersto the practiceof intimacy
with naturcincludeat leastfour pitfalls
( a l t h o u g hc e r t a i n l y o t h e r s c o u l d b e
narned).The first is romanticizing the
experiencc
of intimacywith the natural
world. By this I rneanoverstatingthe
s i g r r i f i c l n coef t h e e x p c r i c n c ei r r s o m e
you encounter
way.Suppose
a mountain
lion: this may simply mean that you
happenedto cross its foraging path.
Romanticizing huntan-anirnal or
human-plant encounters rel'lects a
tellingof the storyonly from the human
perspective,
dwelling primarily on the
question,What doesthis meanfor me?
It is not uncommon for people to
assurnethe mountainlion appeared"for
them," as a power animal, a messenger,
or a medicinefigure.Suchassurnptions,
however,miss seeingthe plant or animal in its own independentcontext and
thus underminethe full dimension of
twolless.
A secondpitfall is developinggreed
for intirnateencounters.One tastes the
thrill of seeing into a bird's nest or
rneetinga gnarledold pine; the state of
mind this intinacl' engendersis scr
sharp that one desires more such
encounters.
That is how peoplebecome
avid birdrvatchersor botanizers.They
just want to see more and rnore of the
intirnateworld of natur€.But too often
the clesircfor nroreis useclto rationalize
aggrcssivebehai'ior,as rvhen five partiersconvergeon a rare g,arbleror peoplc repeatcdll'tramplethe deserlto see
I l t r ec i r c I i .
A tlrird pitfall is that one can becorue
stuckin a perpetualvisionquest,always
sc-ekingthe intimate encounter with
n.rtrrre hrrl rrever *r'lllino cnntt.h
tn intn-
grate multiple experiences.Such habits
lray characterizethe world travelerwho
hops finm one rainforest to the next,
collectingspeciesfor his or herlife list.
In that kind of seeking,one cancome to
equateintirnacyprimarilywith encountering the unfarniliar,the surpriseof
seeing somcthingstrange.That is one
route to intirnacy,but it is pcrhapsmore
like thecloseness
of one-nightstands.[1'
o n c c u r n e st o c x p c n c n c ci n t i m a c yp r i
marily in this *'ay, it may actuallybe
d i f l l r ' u l to r i r n p o s s i b tl c( )c o n t a citn t i n r i r cy u'ith the familiarthathasaccumulate d i n r n a n y ' n r o r n convt se rl i m c .
A Iburth pittirll lies in prcferringcertain aspectsof natureand ignoringothors. That approachperpetuates
abuseor
neglectof the most useful,rnostbeautiful, or rnost hateclspecies-often to
t h e i r g r a v e d e t r i m c n t . S e v e r a lc' u l tureu,idepreferencepatternsare well
known: favoring big organismsover
small ones-rvhales and elephantsas
nrore beloved than earthrvorms;favori n g a r r i n r l l cb e i n g * t r v e r i n a n i m r t e
b e i n g s - b i r d s a n d b a b o o n sa s m o r e
"contactable"thanserpentine
stone;and
f a r o r i n g f r i e n d l l o r h e n i g l ro r g a n i s r n s
over harmful or unfriendll'ones-butterflies as more inviting than ticks,for
e x a r n p l eA.l s o .a so n eg a i n sI n o r ee x p c rience in intirnacl, rvith the natural
world, onetendsto noticeandbe drau'n
to \\'hat is known over what is not
known. The firmiliarbird songheraldsa
mornentof intimacy,whiie the unfamiliar songsgo unnoticed,blurringinto the
background.
Each of thcsepitfallsin seekingintimacy generates
anclreinfirrces
a dualistic orientationby exaggelating
lrunran,
nattrredifferencesor preferringonc sort
of intiuracl'to another.Fronra Zen perspectivc,hovucvcr',
tlie cleepest
embr-trce
of intimacy' is bascclon nondualistic
expcrience.This is corc to unclerrstanding the natureof lcalitl' as interdependent and interpenetlatin-c.
Tvpicallyone
views the oak. tlie creek.tlic niountain
as sefaratcfronr one'ssell',eachbeing
cornpletelyisolateclalld autouotnous.
The senseof sell-asisolatedand inclependentpel'pctuates
a clualisticu,orldview. Zen trainingclrivesthe pructition-
er insteadtoward nondualisticinsight.
In spontaneousmomentsof revelation,
the conditionedself drops away and the
studenttastesthc dynamicco-creating
universein which one is participating.
One glimpsesonenessof self and other
within the unified field and also experiencestwoness-the self as co-originating with otherswithin the ever-changing
matrix. These experiencesmay appear
to be mystical or extraordinary,but
actuallythis kind of awareness
can be
systematicaily
cultivated.
The practiceof nondualitywith both
aspectsof intimacycan be engagedanywherc, any tirne, with any part of thc
naturalworld. The sun,the air, the earth
beneathone's {'eetare all contactpoints
for awareness.Food and eating are
another:savoringthe food, learningits
sources,meeting the growers-each
point of contact increasesthe depth of
intimacy. Even plastic wrapped agrochernicalfood (McDonald's,etc.) has
its intimate stories-the slaughterof
animals,the in.rpactsof cattle on rainforests,the lives of people who handle
the products. Sadly, today, with rapid
urban development and agricultural
clearing,the possibilities*forencounter
rvith some speciesare decleasingprecipitously.
Doesthe practiceof nondualintimacy changeour behaviortoward the natulal rvorld? Inevitably. Meeting the
other in its "suchness,"a Buddiristterm
fbr the full nature of sorncthingin a
given moment, opcns the heart to the
exquisite beauty ancl suffering in the
worlcl.The full radianceof humnringbird or swallou'tailrevealsnot only tl.reir
olr'n rniraculouslives but the dazzling
energeticfbrce ficld out of r.vhichthe1,
arisc.Contactnrayalsocornethrougha
rllonlcuto1 witnessinganclther's
suff-ering.This springa babygreatliornedou,l
I'ellout of its ncstontotlic zendoroof at
Glecn Gulch Zen Clcnter;the parents'
screamspenetrateclthe ntinds of those
in meditationbelou,.
E,xperiencing
suchintinracvandcortrpassion,one trcconteslesstiblc to con-
sciously deStroy
of life. h causes
one becomeskihderjj
more receptlveltn
the windows.As one
man") world, as David Abram {1996)
suggests.one hecomesless self-centercd, less human-centered,
more of a
parlicipantthan a ruler in the t'big conversation."Living in intimaterelation
with others,onesensesthe possibility of
"piace-specific intelligence" (262)'a
co-crcateddanceof minds and mindforms evolved over time in a particular
realm.[t becomesnot only something to
protect,but somethingto learnfrom, so
that peoplemight cometo find a way to
live more closelywith the naturalworld.
Then perhapswe will increasethe odds
that the opportunitiesfor suchintimacy
u'ill continueinto the future, sustaining
the lives of oaks, whales,and slugs, as
."vellas people.
REFNRENCES
Abram,D. i996. ThespelIof lhc sensttotts:
PL.rceptiotlan.dlanguage in. a mrtre-tltctttlruntanx,orld. New York: Pantheon.
llonghzi, Z. 199I. CtLltivatingthe ertpnn
fteltl. Trans.TaigenDaniel Leighton. San
Francisco:North Point Press.
Kaza, S. 1995.I\{istakenimpressionsof the
natural rvorld. Whole Terrain: Reflective
EnvironntentalPractice4:5-l 1.
Tanahashi,K. ed. 198-5.
Moon in a dev,drop:
\l/ritirtgs of Zen Mast.er Dogen. Sal
Francisco:North Point Press.
S t e p l r a n i eK a z a i s a n a s s o c i a tper o l e s s oor { e n v i ,
ronr'ncntalstudies at the Ilniversity-of \trnront
q,lrclc shc telrc:hes
envirrrrnrentalctlrics,rcligion
anclecology,rr(lical environmentalisrn,
and nirtrrle
rlriling. Steplranieis a long-time studcntof Zetl
Buddhisrn.practicingat GreenGulch Zen Centcr-.
Calilbrnia. rs a la1-ordaincdstudellt of Kobun
ClrintrRoshi.Stephanieis the authort:[ T'heAtrt,tttiw 11eu1,a collection of rneditatire essays on
trces, and r'rurrerousarticlcs on Buddhisn and
ccology. I{er book in plogressis (ireert IJuddltu
I I ' hA
i l l g . a n c n r i r o n l l e r l l a il n t e l p r e t a t i oonl l l t r d dhist philosoph;,iurl practice.
'l
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