Campbell - Perceptual Reciprocity
Abram, David. The Spell of the Sensuous: Perception and Language in a More-Than-Human World. New York: Vintage Books, 1996.
After watching the film Black Robe, the significance of cultural variations in religious meaning and identity is much better understood, especially in relation to primal cultures. The French Jesuits found their sacredness within man-made structures, such as large cathedrals with vaulted ceilings and ornately constructed altars. The Native Americans, on the other hand, found virtue and value within the ancient architecture of Mother Earth, including the communities of animals, plants, and geographical features. Some aspects of the rituals and religiosity of the French Christians and Native Americans overlapped, including the need to find sacred significance in personal means. This is exemplified in the scene where Father LaForgue got lost in the forest during the group's journey to the Huron mission. He called out that he was lost, both physically and metaphysically - he was facing a severe challenge to his faith whilst living among people who he considered 'savage,' 'ungodly,' and 'uncivilized.' A group of Native men approached him humorously, telling the confused European to find his answers among the trees.
To me, Father LaForgue was searching for his God within that forest to gain some spiritual insight and physical guidance. Even though he was outside of his traditional religious element (as in the cathedrals from France), LaForgue was able to continue his prayers and his sacred relationship with God. In a way, the forest offered a holy space for the priest, even though it was not what he was used to. This reflects that, although LaForgue does not fully understand the religious immanence of the woods, he can feel it and uses these ties to complete his conversation with his God. The Native Americans, however, centered their religious practices solely on the nature world. To them, the animals played important roles in mythology and creation narratives. All beings - animate and inanimate - held ancient wisdom that was passed down generationally with oral language. To the Algonquin Natives, speaking to the trees was more or less speaking with God because, to them, all of nature was divine. Additionally, nature offered a sacred refuge to perform sacred rituals and prayers as a means to search for answers, work through challenges, or simply feel less alone during times of distress. As Father LaForgue was seeking for a way to solve his problems, the Native Americans too sought their sanctuary within nature.
This relationship with nature is described in Abram's Spell of the Sensuous, wherein he explains that primal people's connections with nature are something that even modern people are aware of, but we have become quite distanced from these primitive ties. As Abram claims, "such deference in the face of natural elements - the clear sense that the animate terrain is not just speaking to us but also listening to us - bears out Merleau-Ponty's thesis of perceptual reciprocity; to listen to the forest is also, primordially, to feel oneself listened by the forest, just as to gaze at the surrounding forest is to feeling oneself exposed and visible, to feel oneself watched by the forest" (p. 153). This quote perfectly summarizes the situation which occurred when Father LaForgue was lost in the forest: he was cognizant of not only his awareness of the forest, but the forest's awareness of him. He called out to seemingly no one, exclaiming that he was lost. Yet he knew there wasn't any human around...to whom was he calling to? Searching for his God, he found the sacredness of the forest. He may have been rather disconnected from the immanent spirituality of nature, especially when compared to the Natives, but he certainly felt a religious draw to it. I believe this is what Abram was trying to explain with this quote, which is that we all feel some sort of awareness of nature's awareness of us, whether we can comprehend it or not.
After watching the film Black Robe, the significance of cultural variations in religious meaning and identity is much better understood, especially in relation to primal cultures. The French Jesuits found their sacredness within man-made structures, such as large cathedrals with vaulted ceilings and ornately constructed altars. The Native Americans, on the other hand, found virtue and value within the ancient architecture of Mother Earth, including the communities of animals, plants, and geographical features. Some aspects of the rituals and religiosity of the French Christians and Native Americans overlapped, including the need to find sacred significance in personal means. This is exemplified in the scene where Father LaForgue got lost in the forest during the group's journey to the Huron mission. He called out that he was lost, both physically and metaphysically - he was facing a severe challenge to his faith whilst living among people who he considered 'savage,' 'ungodly,' and 'uncivilized.' A group of Native men approached him humorously, telling the confused European to find his answers among the trees.
To me, Father LaForgue was searching for his God within that forest to gain some spiritual insight and physical guidance. Even though he was outside of his traditional religious element (as in the cathedrals from France), LaForgue was able to continue his prayers and his sacred relationship with God. In a way, the forest offered a holy space for the priest, even though it was not what he was used to. This reflects that, although LaForgue does not fully understand the religious immanence of the woods, he can feel it and uses these ties to complete his conversation with his God. The Native Americans, however, centered their religious practices solely on the nature world. To them, the animals played important roles in mythology and creation narratives. All beings - animate and inanimate - held ancient wisdom that was passed down generationally with oral language. To the Algonquin Natives, speaking to the trees was more or less speaking with God because, to them, all of nature was divine. Additionally, nature offered a sacred refuge to perform sacred rituals and prayers as a means to search for answers, work through challenges, or simply feel less alone during times of distress. As Father LaForgue was seeking for a way to solve his problems, the Native Americans too sought their sanctuary within nature.
This relationship with nature is described in Abram's Spell of the Sensuous, wherein he explains that primal people's connections with nature are something that even modern people are aware of, but we have become quite distanced from these primitive ties. As Abram claims, "such deference in the face of natural elements - the clear sense that the animate terrain is not just speaking to us but also listening to us - bears out Merleau-Ponty's thesis of perceptual reciprocity; to listen to the forest is also, primordially, to feel oneself listened by the forest, just as to gaze at the surrounding forest is to feeling oneself exposed and visible, to feel oneself watched by the forest" (p. 153). This quote perfectly summarizes the situation which occurred when Father LaForgue was lost in the forest: he was cognizant of not only his awareness of the forest, but the forest's awareness of him. He called out to seemingly no one, exclaiming that he was lost. Yet he knew there wasn't any human around...to whom was he calling to? Searching for his God, he found the sacredness of the forest. He may have been rather disconnected from the immanent spirituality of nature, especially when compared to the Natives, but he certainly felt a religious draw to it. I believe this is what Abram was trying to explain with this quote, which is that we all feel some sort of awareness of nature's awareness of us, whether we can comprehend it or not.
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