Abstract
Throughout recorded history people have used myth and metaphor to explain the milieu in which their lives unfolded. Human cultures emerged through the cultivation of natural resources, plants, animals and the bio-physical environment, in livelihood ways which varied through time and space. Nature also provided inspiration for symbols of the sacred, for models of societal order, individual and group identity and sense of place. This chapter explores nature symbolism with a specific focus on water and the human quest for wholeness (holiness). Given today’s urgent challenge to re-discover more sustainable ways of life, cross-cultural dialogue on the sacredness in Nature would indeed be timely. Focus rests on the sacred as quest rather than fait accompli, as horizon which recedes as life journeys unfold. Water symbols in diverse milieux afford useful guidelines for human journeys toward cross-cultural understanding of the sacred.
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.
Access this chapter
Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout
Purchases are for personal use only
References
Bergman, S. (2006). Editorial for ecotheology. The Journal of Religion, Nature and the Environment, 11(3), 261–267.
Bergman, S. & Eaton, H. (2011). Exploring religion, ethics and aesthetics. Berlin/London: LIT Verlag. Studien zur Religion und Umwelt, Bd. 3.
Bergson, H. L. (1911). Creative evolution. New York: Holt.
Buttimer, A. (1971). Society and Milieu in the French geographic tradition (AAG Monograph, No. 6). Chicago: Rand McNally and Co.
Buttimer, A. (1993). Geography and the human spirit. Baltimore: The Johns Hopkins University Press.
Buttimer, A., & Hägerstrand, T. (1980). Invitation to dialogue: A progress report (Dialogue Paper, No. 1). Lund: University of Lund.
Cassirer, E. (1944). The philosophy of symbolic forms. New Haven: Yale University Press.
Cassirer, E. (1953). Language and myth. (trans. S. Langer). New York: Dover.
Claval, P. (2008). Religion et Idéologie. Perspectives Géographiques. Paris: Presses de l’Université Paris-Sorbonne.
De Nicolas, A. T. (1978). Meditations through the Rg Veda. Four dimensional man. Boulder/London: Shambala Press.
Eliade, M. (1961). The sacred and the profane. New York: Harper.
Eliade, M. (1963). Myth and reality. New York: Harper.
Fox, M. (1983). Original blessing. Santa Fe: Bear & Company.
Glacken, C. G. (1967). Traces on the Rhodian Shore: Nature and culture in western thought from ancient times to the end of the 18th century. Berkeley: University of California Press.
Hanafi, H. (1999). World views of Arab geographers. In A. Buttimer & L. Wallin (Eds.), Nature and identity in cross-cultural perspective (pp. 87–94). Dordrecht: Kluwer.
Handy, E. S. C. (1927). Polynesian religion. Honolulu: The Museum.
Hasr, S. H. (1964). An introduction to Islamic cosmological doctrines. Conceptions of nature and methods used for its study by the Ikhwan al Safa, al Biruni and Ibn Sina. Cambridge: Harvard University Belknap Press.
Hutton, J. (1795). Theory of the earth with proofs and illustrations. Edinburgh: Cadell, Junion and Davis.
Huxley, F. (1979). The dragon: Nature of spirit, spirit of nature. London: Thames and Hudson.
James, W. (1955). Pragmatism and four essays from “The meaning of truth”. New York: New American Library.
Judson, H. F. (1980). The search for solutions. New York: Holt, Rinehart and Winston.
Jung, C. G. (1964). Man and his symbols. New York: Doubleday and Co.
Keller, C., & Kearns, L. (Eds.). (2007). Eco-spirit, religions and philosophies for the earth. New York: Fordham University Press.
Kirk, G. S., & Raven, J. E. (1960). The presocratic philosophers. London: Cambridge University Press.
Koyré, A. (1957). From the closed world to the infinite universe. Baltimore: The Johns Hopkins University Press.
Langer, S. K. (1957). Philosophy in a new key. A study in the symbolism of reason, and art. Cambridge: Harvard University Press.
Lenoble, R. (1969). Esquisse d’une Histoire de l’idee de Nature. Paris: Editions Albin Michel.
Merleau-Ponty, H. J. (1962). Phenomenology of perception (trans: Smith, C.). New York: Humanities Press.
Merleau-Ponty, H. J. (1963). The structure of behavior (trans: Fisk, A. L.). Boston: Beacon Press.
Mills, W. J. (1982). Metaphorical vision: Changes in Western attitudes to the environment. Annals of the Association of American Geographers, 72(2), 237–253.
Nakamura, H. (1980). The idea of nature, East and West (p. 284). London: Encyclopedia Britannica.
Nicolson, M. (1960). The breaking of the circle: Studies in the effect of the “New Science” upon seventeenth century poetry (Rev. ed). London: Oxford University Press.
Pepper, S. (1942). World hypotheses. Berkeley: University of California Press.
Plato. (1952). Timaeus, Critias, Cleitophon, Menexenus Epistles (trans: Bury, R. G.). Cambridge: Harvard University Press (Reprinted and revised from the edition of Loeb Classical Library).
Robinson, P. J., Jones, T., & Woo, M.-k. (Eds.). (2007). Managing water resources in a changing physical and social environment. Rome: IGU Home of Geography.
Singh, R. P. B. (1999). Nature and cosmic integrity: A search in Hindu geographical thought. In A. Buttimer & L. Wallin (Eds.), Nature and identity in cross-cultural perspectives (pp. 69–86). Dordrecht: Kluwer.
Sokyo Ono. (1962). Shinto. The Kami way. Tokyo: Charles E. Tuttle.
Teillard de Chardin, P. (1961). L’avenir de l’homme. Paris: Editions du Seuil (trans. (1964) by W. Collins & Co. as The future of man). London/New York: W. Collins/Harper & Row.
Tuan, Y.-F. (1968). The hydrological cycle and the wisdom of god: A theme in geoteleology. Toronto: Department of Geography, University of Toronto.
UNEP Programme on World religions and ecology. http://environment.harvard.edu/religion/publications/massmedia/index.html
Zaehner, R. C. (Ed.). (1966). Hindu scriptures. London: J. M. Dent and Co.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Editor information
Editors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
Copyright information
© 2015 Springer Science+Business Media Dordrecht
About this chapter
Cite this chapter
Buttimer, A. (2015). Nature, Culture and the Quest of the Sacred. In: Brunn, S. (eds) The Changing World Religion Map. Springer, Dordrecht. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-017-9376-6_2
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-017-9376-6_2
Published:
Publisher Name: Springer, Dordrecht
Print ISBN: 978-94-017-9375-9
Online ISBN: 978-94-017-9376-6
eBook Packages: Humanities, Social Sciences and LawPhilosophy and Religion (R0)