Chrześcijańskie spojrzenie na środowisko geograficzne jako przestrzeń pielgrzymowania

A Christian View of the Geographical Environment as the Pilgrim's Space

Summary: Pilgrimage may be observed through the analysis of the space in which it is conducted. The aim of this essay is to examine the ways in which the natural geographic environment may be identified with the space of pilgrimage, the ways in which contact with the contiguous worldmay enrich pilgrimage and become a path of inquiry endeavouring to lead up to the Divine Creator. A Christian approach to geographical environment calls for a foundation in the basic truths of the faith, that is in a belief in God's omnipotence andlove, and in a belief that it was through love that His omnipotence created the world and Man. Man the rational creature is duty-bound to discover the world in order to understand it, and understanding it, to love the world. Hence he is duty-bound to discover the omnipotence, wisdom, and love of God. Man the rational being has the right to make prudent use of the natural resources, but he is also responsible for the environment on the Earth, his native habitat. The relation between the scholarly pursuit of research into the geographical environment and the environment of pilgrimage thus becomes fuller and more coherent in the light of the Christian faith (Fig. 1, 2a, b). Like the observer of nature, the pilgrim too may limit himself merely to the observation and analysis of the objects and events he sees. How far he pursues his inquiries will depend on his knowledge about, and primarily hiscuriosity of, and sensitivity to the world that surrounds him. The inner sense of a bond linking the pilgrim in his experience of his pilgrimage route with nature offers an excellent opportunity for the intuitive experience and encounter of Divine wisdom. Minds disposed to synthetic thinking endeavour to perceive the principles governing the Earth's environment, to discover its hierarchies and its structures, its systems and sub-systems, the variety in its natural wealth, the unique and the commonplace in it, the reproducibility and the singularity in its features, attributes, in the constituent parts and in the integral systems contributing to Man's environment on this planet. In the light of faith such profoundness of enquiry always leads to a realisation of the order and purposefulness of Nature, and to the discovery of beauty in all of its levels. The act of pilgrimage thus becomes a condensed analogue of Man's life. On pilgrimage we are involved in a continuous process of learning about God and the world, of deepening ties with the world and its Creator. The entire endeavour is suffused with intellectual, spiritual, and physical effort. The variety of the Earth's landscapes is an outcome of the systemic complexity of the geographical environment. To give an idea of the problem, suffice it to point out the distinction of the natural landscapes from the man-made ones - a reminder that Man enriches with his own creativity what God has created. In his approach to the landscape man ought to answer the question whether he is a responsible "manager" of the world, or whether he is an autocratic and absolute lord. His attitude to Nature lies somewhere in between the extremal attitudes of affirmation and negation, human responses to the creative design of God. Man may transform the natural environment into a geographical one in a rational way and fully aware of his doings; he may act in harmony or in discord with the laws of Nature. He may be a good husbandman a wrecker of the Earth's resources (cf. Fig. 3). The multifariousness of the Earth's landscapes is a reflection of the structural abundance in its environment, which consists of a great wealth of components biotic and abiotic, static and dynamic, and of a complex and delicate web ofcause-and-effect relations. All this interacts with Man's emotions and his imagination. We first experience the beauty of a landscape, and only then do we inquireabout its origins, asking why, how, and when. Our powers of imagination present us with the most varied associations and analogies. The more sensitive the observer, the scientist , the pilgrim, the richer his range of associations (Fig. 4). Through his observation of the enviroment of pilgrimage, Man the Pilgrim may touch the truth about the nature of the Creator, since the Creation itself is replete with such variety and abundance. His "reading" of the landscape should thus bring the earthly observer closer to his Creator, offering him an oportunity to search for an answer to the questionof his own place among the Creatures and his role in Nature. There are five distinct basic models for the approach to the question of the relationship between Man and the natural environment: the naturalistic, the anthropocentric, the deterministic, the nihilist, and the teleological attitudes. The Christian point of view affords the possibility for a development of the anthropocentric model towards the teleological model. It places Man in a central position with respect to the rest of Creation, but at the same time it also shows the entire system of the environment as "immersed" in God's might, wisdom, and love. Thereby the Earth is imbued with a sense of the sacred.

Peregrinus Cracoviensis, 1996, z.4, s. 75-91.

Instytut Geografii i Gospodarki Przestrzennej UJ

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