Perceptions of the Environment

Abstract

Everyone experiences their own environment. The intensity of this experience depends to a large degree on its relevance to their livelihood and religious beliefs with which they approach it. They feel it most strongly at crisis times, such as when there are poor harvests, the deaths of cattle and children, the infertility of women or illnesses in the family. Soldiers and sailors have a widened perception of the environment when terrain or storms pose threats to their survival. This partly accounts for their common awareness of the need for religious support. In urban-industrial societies the perceived and experienced environment has less to do with survival. It can be ignored when it does not positively intrude with fog, flood and earthquakes.