A landscape void of all human marks can inspire awe without danger.

Evidence

I cannot describe my feelings on this ride, produced by the utter loneliness, the silence and dumbness of all things, the snow falling quietly without wind, the obliterated mountains, the darkness, the intense cold, and the unusual and appalling aspect of nature. All life was in a shroud, all work and travel suspended. There was not a foot-mark or wheel-mark. There was nothing to be afraid of; and though I can’t exactly say that I enjoyed the ride, yet there was the pleasant feeling of gaining health every hour. — Isabella L. Bird, A Lady’s Life in the Rocky Mountains, 161

Categorization

• DEEPTHINKING: Holds the paradox that total desolation produces exhilaration rather than fear, and that health can be felt accruing hour by hour inside it.
• SEED: Essay angle: ‘There was nothing to be afraid of’ — why empty landscapes soothe rather than terrify the solitary traveler.
• XREF: connects to: Awe at vast landscape produces a religious attitude rather than mere pleasure — Isabella L. Bird, A Lady’s Life in the Rocky Mountains, 187; Landscape beings raise a person into their sense of place and world — Robin Wall Kimmerer, Braiding Sweetgrass: Indigenous Wisdom,…, 83; Every landscape, from city to wilderness, is both cultural and natural — William Cronon, The Trouble with Wilderness; or,…, 82 (+5 more)

Broader Connections

• Awe at vast landscape produces a religious attitude rather than mere pleasure #expands (1.00) — Isabella L. Bird, A Lady’s Life in the Rocky Mountains, 187
• Mountain dawns transform the landscape into transcendent beauty that defies words #exemplifies (1.00) — Isabella L. Bird, A Lady’s Life in the Rocky Mountains, 111
• Landscape beings raise a person into their sense of place and world #complicates (0.90) — Robin Wall Kimmerer, Braiding Sweetgrass, 83
• A landscape’s meaning depends entirely on the observer’s frame #complicates (0.90) — Robert A. Caro, The Power Broker, 749
• Every landscape, from city to wilderness, is both cultural and natural #complicates (0.80) — William Cronon, The Trouble with Wilderness; or,…, 82
• Viewing humans as separate from nature enables resource exploitation without conscience. #complicates (0.80) — James D. Kirylo (ed.), Reinventing Pedagogy of the Oppressed, 1009
• Reciprocity with the land is possible even where land and nature are absent #responds-to (0.80) — Robin Wall Kimmerer, Braiding Sweetgrass, 867
• A structured collectivity can transcend individual finitude without mystical infinity #complicates (0.70) — Anna Kornbluh, Immediacy, or The Style of Too Late…, 337