Wilderness, Nature, Creation—synonyms? or different? Each name for Earth’s evolutionary processes has merit and emphasizes particular qualities, even though we often use these words interchangeably. All overlap. And still, even when we put them all together, they do not describe fully the rich synergy of this Earth-school which offers the highest credentials for us to learn how to live on our planet. The story stretches words, and finally defies any language to name it. Let’s look more closely at what each of these three words points to.
“Wilderness” emphasizes Earth’s wildness. “Wild” contrasts sharply with the “civil” that is the root of “civilization.” Wilderness cannot be fully or finally tamed. Only some aspects of her can be domesticated. Her quality of wildness assures that her life cannot be contained in civil categories. It will repeatedly reconfigure itself and break out anew. Wilderness has a certain kind of independence and sovereignty that remains beyond the reach of the human project of civilization. It is her wildness that also connects her with what we call deity. Her abilities to defy civilization’s control are similar to theological understandings of divine sovereignty. A sovereign One cannot be finally controlled. Totalitarian efforts will always be outwitted finally, and wildness or sovereignty will be re-asserted.
“Nature” emphasizes Earth’s naturalness. Nature does what she does by being herself. Whether as germ or galaxy, moving at light’s speed or sitting in a boulder, Nature just does what she does. There is both order and surprise; sympathy and contrast; cooperation and competition. Civilization’s efforts to describe Nature dub some of her activity “supernatural” because it is so far beyond what we humans can get our minds around. But it’s all Nature. The natural activity that stretches and exceeds human comprehension is similar to theological understandings of holy or sacred mystery. The civilization story often calls natural activity beyond its control “acts of God.” But those, too, are part of the natural dynamism of the universe. Many theologies recognize this dynamism as expressing dimensions of macro-evolutionary processes that are natural to the universe’s Creator.
“Creation” emphasizes Earth’s expansive, rampant creativity. Whether it’s planets and stars being born, babies being conceived among species, or genetic changes that counter antibiotics or pesticides, rampant creativity is a pervasive trait in Creation’s prolific labs. Creation includes the entire Cosmos, making it far more expansive than “Nature” or “wilderness.” Creation bridges into theology by being incarnate, not only in the Earth story, but also in the human civilization story where she expresses creativity through humans. Individually and collectively, we create businesses, technologies, buildings, and urban centers. Nicolas Berdyaev, 1874-1948, Russian political and religious philosopher, was committed to universal understandings of all things and bridged creativeness with theology when he said poetically, “Creativeness in the world is, as it were, the eighth day of creation.” Most striking is the work and play of Creation beyond the confines of human civilization. It is in evolutionary Creation, from cell to Cosmos, where we see creativity without end.
Whatever name we give it, the story told is the coherent story of OneEarth in a UNI-verse.