J, thanks! I'm looking forward to watching this. The personal histories and relations entwined in the national parks have been of great interest to me for several years now. That places like the national parks are preserved and kept wild to greatest extent possible is invaluable to us, and sadly many do not have the opportunity to see and understand why this is so. Fortunately, I've seen many documentaries that have been capable of expanding this understanding, and I'm always glad to see more. It'd be better that everybody got to experience these and other natural wonders firsthand, but good documentaries also offer insight beyond what the immediate experience fosters.
Edit: I just finished watching the first episode, and this has to be, by far, the most informative documentary about the national parks I've ever seen. My favorite aspect of this episode was the depth with which they explored John Muir's passion and influence. I'd learned some about him in a couple of courses in college, but the course material neglected to mention that he would climb trees with the intent of riding out storms in them, among other things! Also, the fact that his thoughtfulness and deep connection with what empowered him was able to override the forces of rampant commercialism is so inspiring, and holds great significance for those who need such empowering forces to counter the overwhelmingly obtuse commercial culture which prevails today.
This leads me to think again about the Dubai article which Maggie posted, and J's response to it. I feel like the story of Yosemite and the story of Dubai are both a corollary a sad tendency of ours which is played out again and again. With the promise of money people will cast most basic human decency aside, save nothing for the most consummate human ideals and activities. The people who sought to exploit Yosemite were unable to grasp, or even to respect the sublime wonder which the park inspired in Muir. They would have entirely written off the prospect of that profound relationship as a joke, and if their way had prevailed the image of the park would have been forever cheapened. Muir's cathedral would have been lost to greed, and sad as that prospect is, in the face of a disaster like Dubai it would have constituted a mere blemish. Because of the good sense of so many who agreed with Muir that Yosemite has a greater worth than money can ever measure, at least one tragedy was prevented.
The outcome of the story of Yosemite made me reflect on my desire to see humanity's destination as illumination, as Z put it. I want to believe that we all have the capacity to recognize the profound good in ourselves, and in humanity. I want to believe that if we can see this goodness echoed in a relationship with a place like Yosemite, or in relationships with friends, or relationships with hobbies, the arts, or sciences, then we can use this to ground ourselves in a sense of goodness. I also want to believe that we all have the capacity to know that the cruel exploitation of human beings is evil, and that the senseless and rampant exploitation of nature is evil in the harm that it causes to our planet's inhabitants. I want to believe these things, because if we all have those capacities, then we also have the capacity to do as Muir and to see clearly the mess that our most base desires are making of our collective cathedral, so to speak, and to want to do something about it. The images and stories of Muir in his cathedral and of Jesus in the temple are so paramount right now, because these are the kinds of stories that people should be able to relate to and, I hope, feel empowered by.
I do, to some extent, believe that every human being has the capacities I mentioned above. Unfortunately, the actual ability to understand, on a personal level, the workings good and evil in the world is often obfuscated by the very forces which people desperately need grounding and clarity to counter. The more I think about these kinds of things, the more I realize just how gradual and arduous the overturning of such treacherous forces and institutions will likely be, and the more I realize that I agree with a very important point which J made in the Dubai thread. "'Life as we know it' is much more tenuous than it seems." With the wrong ideologies in power, much of the vast potential for human goodness that exists today could be gone in as little as a generation. That is a frightening though that I've had to contend with on most days of my life, just as a result of living in this simultaneously foreboding and auspicious epoch. I don't doubt that many others here have had to contend with it as well. It can be excruciatingly hard to face, and I understand the overwhelming temptation to write it off, but I'm learning more and more that to do so is a critical, and perhaps a deadly mistake.
I'm also learning that those who choose to accept this reality, to accept the horrendous human ability to throw away the invaluable in this world, and to accept that this ability has brought us yet again to a point where much good in the world could be lost forever -- those people are not alone. Perhaps we're alone in that the peril we face today is unimaginable, but we're not alone in spirit. The story of John Muir has reminded me that fact, and has reminded me of the great potential impact of anyone who is capable, as he was, of seeing the vast potential for goodness, and indeed the goodness, in this world. Indeed, this world needs as many people as possible, people with such heart and fervor. They may be all that saves us from going over the edge.
2nd Edit: I realized that unless you've watched the entire first episode, the particular story of John Muir and Yosemite to which I am referring will probably not be familiar. For a very brief overview of his connection to Yosemite, here is this Wikipedia link:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Muir#California Granted, that section of article probably sounds less than inspiring, but take the bit about his running out to greet the earthquake and expand upon that in your mind. Muir's connection with Yosemite was so deep that he would talk to its rocks, listen to its rivers, and make daring climbs up steep rock faces without proper climbing gear just to see its waterfalls from the other side. As I mentioned earlier, he would ride out storms in trees just to understand the "feeling" of a tree in a storm. All of this was his purposeful exploration into the wonder of nature which most of us will never understand on a level even half as deep. This was also how he came to know the great potential for beauty in nature, and in the connection between nature and human beings. I can barely imagine how alive he must have felt on any given day while he lived in Yosemite. That place was his life blood while he lived there, and perhaps it would make sense to more people here to say that Yosemite, to him, was akin to a soul mate.
He left the place eventually to write and to try to make others more aware of the importance of such natural wonders. I think I remember correctly in saying that it was at least 2, maybe 3 decades later that he went back to Yosemite. When he went back, he found that his life blood had been turned into a side show. Those who ran the tourist industry in the park would regularly send dynamite over the mountainside, and had carved enormous archways into some of the oldest trees on earth, just to encourage people to take certain walkways. In addition, profuse livestock and ranching was damaging the landscape greatly. The potential for profound connection with which he was familiar was all but gone, so he set out to save his "cathedral" (as he referred to it) by engaging the public. The public, apparently, petitioned congress enough so that Yosemite became a protected national park.
