| Copyright 2002
Wilderness Drum, Inc.
All rights reserved Closer to the Earth
Steve Beyer On Not Naming Things When we were younger, a typical "nature lesson" consisted of gathering around an instructor who taught us to name things. "Gather round, kids. This is an elm. You can tell it's an elm because the leaves are shaped like this." We were never told why the leaves were shaped like this, or even why the tree had leaves at all. Knowing about nature meant being able to identify things. Now, there are lots of good reasons to learn the names of things, but there are also some good reasons not to name things. Names are easy to forget. We can certainly love and appreciate things without knowing their names. In fact, once we've named something, we have a tendency just to stop thinking about it, as if, by naming it, we had mastered it, and had no more need to think about it. The name of a tree, for example, does not tell you whether you can eat the berries, or whether the leaves stay green all year, or what kinds of birds nest in it. Knowledge of the processes of life can be more important than knowing the names of the pieces.  When you see an animal or plant, do not name it. Use action instead. Observe it. Use all your senses. Be silent. Let the impulse to name it pass away. Let it be in beauty.
When you see an animal or plant, do not name it. Instead, think of a brief description which gives its place or function in the natural community. Think of it as a decomposer, or a bird of prey, or a flying-insect-eating mammal, or a flying insect that preys on birds and mammals, or a converter of sunlight into sugar. Or think of a brief description of how it relates to you specifically. Think of it as a tree whose bark you can use to make baskets; or a plant whose berries are good to eat, but only when they are ripe; or a tree whose sticky sap is good for starting fires and healing cuts.
When you see an animal or plant, make up your own name. Call it a Skinny Tree, or a Red Glory Flower, or a Skittery Mouse, or a Hoo-hoo Bird. Or give it its own individual name. ”This tree is Sally, and that bush is Sam, and over there is Fatso the Frog.”
When you see an animal or plant, do not name it. Instead, think of the sensory experiences you associate with it. For example, you might think of a briefly glimpsed fox as the smell of wet leaves, the sight of a quick red flash, the taste of blood, the sound skts skts on the grass, and the feel of soft fur.
Without using language, simply sense colors, textures, forms, tastes, smells, sounds, movements, and contrasts. Do not label or name anything, but just let the sensations of the wilderness flow through you. Move through the wilderness without concentrating on any one thing. If you feel the need to name or label, substitute something else for that name; label everything nameless, or conundrum, or Fred. Or forcefully tell your urge to name and label to quit. Experience the natural world with mental quiet. < Previous Next > |
