Literary Trails of the Mind Inspired by Nature: How Walking the Land Brings New Intellectual Wisdom to Humanity from Gazing at Stars to Butterfly Wings

Abstract

Literatura inspirado por la naturleza.

The imminent quest for knowledge, wisdom, and service is revealed continuously throughout literary heritage inspired by individuals who are willing to share their collected wisdom for the greater cause of humanity through the inspiration of Nature. Long lasting emotional imprints on our intellect and cognitive thinking patterns aroused by tragedy or comedy are attributed to our ancestors as well as our contemporaries. In seeking to understand complex tensions and challenges surrounding the individual, a retreat to a private space of calmness heals the mind. The jotting down or logging into memory (later transcribed by author or disciples) directly to paper with a pen or quill is a social act, as it is intended to be shared (if not, why write) (Kant). The act of the pen between the forefinger and the thumb triggers a signal to the brain (Honke 2011) as much as reading with the forefinger by tracing the words; it becomes a tactile, visual, and an audio sensory input (if read aloud or internally) rather than perhaps with rapid transmission to the public without the craft of reflection and prose or predominately forefinger input. The final transformation of the slow diary into art can find infinite formats: rhetoric, plays, scripts, novels, poems, dance, painting, music, etc. The public is merged with the private experience mainly due to the necessity to share as the human has been deemed to be a social being (although not always apparent). The poet/writer absorbs Nature in a noninvasive manner without extraction of specimens or a need for dis-covering, as much as a need for reflection to uncover wisdom (listening) to contribute something fresh (Badiou) to humanity. Why should we abandon the ancient transmission of wisdom process derived from nature walks for children to follow in the footsteps of their nomadic and pastoral ancestors?