Wilderness wonder is a cultural state of mind, not a natural fact

Evidence

Indeed, one could almost measure wilderness by the extent to which our recognition of its otherness requires a conscious, willed act on our part. The romantic legacy means that wilderness is more a state of mind than a fact of nature, and the state of mind that today most defines wilderness is wonder. The striking power of the wild is that wonder in the face of it requires no act of will, but forces itself upon us—as an expression of the nonhuman world experienced through the lens of our cultural history—as proof that ours is not the only presence in the universe. — William Cronon, The Trouble with Wilderness; or,…, 78

Categorization

• DEFINE: Defines wilderness-of-idea as a culturally conditioned state of mind ultimately rooted in romanticism, distinct from any landscape fact.
• XREF: Provides the foundational ‘wilderness-as-idea’ definition this chapter is assigned to deliver, ready to hinge toward Reading the Landscape and the settler-colonial erasure thread. — connects to: Wilderness is a cultural construction, not an untouched natural sanctuary — William Cronon, The Trouble with Wilderness; or,…, 5; Modern environmental awe of nature is secularized religious worship. — William Cronon, The Trouble with Wilderness; or,…, 41; Honoring wildness requires critical self-consciousness, non-use, and gratitude — William Cronon, The Trouble with Wilderness; or,…, 85 (+8 more)

Related

• Wilderness is a state of mind defined by wonder, not a fact of nature (similarity 0.96)
• Wilderness is a cultural construction, not an untouched natural sanctuary (similarity 0.87)
• Wilderness is a cultural construct, not a place that exists apart from humanity (similarity 0.86)
• The word wilderness once meant desolate wasteland, not sacred refuge (similarity 0.86)
• Before the nineteenth century, wilderness meant wasteland and evoking terror, not beauty (similarity 0.86)
• Wilderness appreciation was an elite urban leisure projection, not a rural ideal. (similarity 0.84)
• By the late nineteenth century the wilderness sublime had been domesticated into sentimentality (similarity 0.82)
• The garden tree is as wild and wondrous as the forest tree (similarity 0.80)
• The sublime and the frontier jointly remade wilderness into its modern form (similarity 0.80)
• Wilderness recreation is a class privilege that devalues rural land-based labor (similarity 0.80)
• Every landscape, from city to wilderness, is both cultural and natural (similarity 0.80)
• Wilderness originally signified biblical places of moral peril and exile (similarity 0.79)
• William Cronon — The Trouble with Wilderness; or, Getting Back to the Wrong Nature (similarity 0.79)
• Honoring wildness requires critical self-consciousness, non-use, and gratitude (similarity 0.79)

Broader Connections

• Wilderness is a cultural construct, not a place that exists apart from humanity #corroborates (0.95) — William Cronon, The Trouble with Wilderness; or,…, 5