Dr. Harbour: Heaven And Earth In Jest

It is the known, or perhaps that is an overstatement. There are some things that we can see. We try to make sense of what we see. Annie Dillard has written a book about seeing. She is walking near Tinker Creek, Virginia and she sees some things in nature. Nature has a voice. It is difficult to see clearly. It is also presumptuous to say that we understand what we see. However, we ought to look and we ought to think. What kind of world is this?

As I read Pilgrim at Tinker Creek, I am another step removed from seeing. I am listening as Annie Dillard sees. She thinks and I think along with her. Then I begin to pay attention to the world, to see for myself, and to live in wonder at the sight, the sound, the voice.

Chapter One

Heaven and Earth In Jest

• “I wake expectant, hoping to see a new thing.” (4)


• “And just as I looked at him (a frog), he slowly crumpled and began to sag. The spirit vanished from his eyes as if snuffed. ... An oval shadow hung in the water behind the drained frog; then the shadow glided away. ... ‘Giant water bug’ is really the name of the creature, which is an enormous, heavy-bodied brown bug. Through the puncture shoot the poisons that dissolve the victim’s muscles and bones and organs – all but the skin – and through it the giant water bug sucks out the victim’s body, reduced to a juice.” (8)


• “That it’s rough out there and chancy is no surprise.” (9)


• “What do we think of the created universe, spanning an unthinkable void with an unthinkable profusion of forms? ... If the giant water bug was not made in jest, was it then be made in earnest?” (9)


• Einstein: ‘God is subtle, but not malicious.” (9)


• Her question is: What does nature say? Is it violent and cruel? Yes. Is it powerful and beautiful and somehow awe inspiring to us? Undoubtedly.

“We must somehow take a wider view, look at the whole landscape, really see it, and describe what is going on here.” (11)