I expected Snow Leopard to be more of an adventure thrill-read and was surprised to find almost all the action was internal, an autobiography of the author's spiritual journey across the Tibetan Plateau in the 1970s. Matthiessen, who died last year, was a naturalist writer, a CIA agent, and the co-founder of The Paris Review -- what a guy. He sets out on a journey across Tibet with renowned biologist and conservationist George Schaller (still living, still renowned) to observe elusive blue sheep and hopefully catch a glimpse of the snow leopard. The underlying second reason is to seek peace and meditate after the early death of his wife from cancer. This isn't dealt with in great melodramatic chapters, but rather in a few scattered paragraphs among straightforward travel prose, which I thought was very affecting. A few notes:
"In other days, I understood mountains differently, seeing in them something that abides ... they appalled me with their 'permanence', with that awful and irrefutable rock-ness that seemed to intensify my sense of my own transience. Perhaps this dread of transience explains our greed for the few gobbets of raw experience in modern life ..." (p.256)
"Left alone, I am overtaken by that northern void ... This stillness to which all returns, this is reality, and soul and sanity have no more meaning here than a gust of snow; such transience and insignificance are exalting, terrifying, all at once ..." (p. 179)
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| Bharal (blue sheep) in Tibet; photo by George Schaller, source |
Both of these quotes speak to the existential power of the "sublime" in nature; see my previous entry on de Botton's The Art of Travel, which really hit the nail on the head. Further:
"The purpose of meditation practice is not enlightenment; it is to pay attention even at unextraordinary times, to be of the present, nothing-but-the-present, to bear this mindfulness of now into each event of ordinary life." (p.257)
Mindfulness, yes! And now let's rewind over 100 years and see what Thoreau had to say about that: "... we are enabled to apprehend at all what is sublime and noble only by the perpetual instilling and drenching of the reality that surrounds us." (p.77, Walden) Side question: is it easier or harder to do this today, in the abundance of Instagram and Twitter as-it-happens updates? Does it detract from reality or illuminate reality?
Matthiessen spends a lot of time discussing Buddhism and Thoreau throws in several references to "Hindoo" beliefs. I guess Eastern spiritualism has a more intuitive connection with nature than Western religion? Or at least lends itself more easily to environmental philosophy? For more on transcendentalism: Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy
In minor contrast to Matthiessen, Thoreau goes into the woods seeking to live on his own, in solitude, as a test of his independence/resourcefulness and a way to "stick it to the man" (not a direct quote). A man living off the land and bucking conformity -- the most Americana thing ever. Thoreau also includes chapters on personal economy, the importance of reading, and "the ability of man to elevate his life by a conscious endeavor" (why hello there, Sartre!). In both books, Matthiessen and Thoreau embrace a temporary apart-ness from modern society in the interest of enlightenment. One goes all the way to remote Tibet while the other goes two miles down the road, so I guess it's all about your mindset. See also: thoughts on Into the Wild & the case of Chris McCandless. While Matthiessen and Thoreau avoid McCandless' romanticizing nature, I'd like to point out that Matthiessen leaves his now-motherless young son behind to go into the wilderness. I give that some side-eye.
More naturalist works remain on the reading list, Thoreau's mentor Ralph Waldo Emerson included, and it'll be interesting to compare the individual nuances on transcendentalism and environmental philosophy.
Parting quote: "Time is but the stream I go a-fishing in. I drink at it; but while I drink I see the sandy bottom and detect how shallow it is." (p.78, Walden)
Bottom line: Two transcendental journeys, one into his backyard and the other halfway across the globe. Introspection and nature like peanut butter and jelly.
