Our relationship with the planet has always been a troubled one. There is a tendency in modern times to romanticise the natural world, but in fact humanity’s history is all about our struggle to escape it as much as possible. This means that the very ground we stand on has a complicated set of meanings for us that can easily leave us feeling confused and uncertain about our place.
On the one hand, the Earth is quite literally where all of our resources come from. It feeds us, clothes us, shelters us and warms us. Even in the modern, urban world, it is impossible to escape the symbolic association between land and life. The ground is nurturing, providing, maternal and caring. It can be a thing of great beauty, warmth and comfort. Travellers by air and sea are often struck by how alien those environments become, and how much returning to dry land feels like coming home. Particularly in the sterile settings of modern life, this caring warmth is a great draw, and many of us feel a great attraction to the outside.
On the other hand however, the Earth is also the home of all that threatens us. Historically, it is the source of wild beasts, poisonous plants and creatures, dangerous terrain, threatening weather and everything else that bedevils us, including other people. It is as likely to be dark and scary as it is to be light and lovely. Nature is not kind, it is ruthless. All those deadly dangers remain in the back of our minds, as anyone who has managed to spend the night alone in deep woods can attest.
Even more powerfully, the ground is where we are laid to rest. Dust to dust, when we die the Earth opens up and swallows us, and makes us part of itself. It is the cold of the grave, a hungry monster devouring all flesh. To our symbolic thoughts, all ground is teeming with ancient carcasses, every drop of soil the broken-down remains of some pour soul. Bare earth, in particular – ploughed fields, empty flowerbeds and so on – carries this strong association to mortality, inevitability, death and decay. No matter how beautiful the Earth may be however, it always carries with it the charnel whiff of the grave – and underneath our modern romantic longing for nature, there is always a tang of fear.
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