Hey guys, got a SAC this week, so any tips on improving would really appreciated.
The relationship between the inner and outer landscape is significant in each person’s life as it is through this link that we are each opened to a unique perspective of our surroundings. Hence it is impossible to view any landscape objectively particularly with the strong values and opinions that are instilled within us from birth. Throughout the course of our lives, it is the experiences that we acquire and self development as individuals that force us to see the landscape beyond its physical worth, continuously changing our vision of our surroundings as we mature. The society in which we live in makes it impractical for us to look at a landscape and take it for what it is worth, as the fickleness of our race means that its constant influence will lead us to value it for different reasons, none with detachment.
The values and opinion that are acquired from our initial surroundings, predominantly from our childhood, form the basis of our outlook on life in our later years. Children are easily impressionable, hence any such beliefs that are passed down and imprinted in our minds from our parents, more often than not stick with us for the rest of our lives. This can be seen on a basic and deeper level. The basic examples are the values that are generally accepted and present within society. When we are walking and see a dark alleyway, our minds instantly draw upon negative feelings of fear and apprehension. This ideal is formed from our parents telling us to avoid such places or watching movies that so often depict horror scenes within it. Hence this landscape, which in reality is more often than not quite harmless, is something that are we trained to avoid, for no logical reason other than the opinions that have been formed or more accurately created in our past. We cannot look at it objectively for what it really is; instead we view it as a place of anguish and terror. As the landscape of society and parents is a dominant entity in our lives, it makes it impossible to reject such ideals, hence this notion is just one of many in our lives. The tendency of our past to affect our present further extends to a deeper level to our very culture whereby each individual forms their opinions on a particular place because their upbringing has deemed it so. Religion, personality, beliefs, house life, and a myriad of other factors affected by our culture will change our outlook on the outside world. This phenomenon can be seen in very simple landscapes such as the dinner table. In Turkey conversation must be animate and loud while in Japan chopsticks must be used at all times. Here in Australia, no importance is emphasized on etiquette, thus our culture can also have some bearing on the way in which view a particular landscape. Similarly in “the Tuning of Perfection”, a short story in Alistair MacLeod’s novel, Island, this trend can be seen in the differing viewpoints of Archibald and the rest of his family on singing the Gaelic songs. While Archibald valued the importance of the meaning of the songs as he had been brought up within a place of strong tradition, his family had lived away from the mountain and hence could not understand why Archibald was willing to sacrifice their chance of glory for the sake of his culture. They had grown up within a society much like our own where money and fame are the driving force of their lives, compared to Archibald who had isolated himself with only his tradition to maintain his humanity. Hence the two different upbringings result in a different appreciation for what they had and leads to conflict between the characters. It is through these characters we able to see how our initial surroundings play a vital role in how we view the landscapes of our present lives.
Experiences in the past go a long way in determining how and where we live out our lives in the future. Humans learn best from seeing; hence what we experience will affect our decision in either embracing or rejecting a landscape. Such encounters mean that we cannot view any similar landscape with objectivity. Positive experiences will mean that we seek out the landscape in the future, while conversely, negative experiences will mean that we try to avoid it. We come into contact with a lot of different things throughout the course of our lives, thus it is almost impossible to look at a landscape in the later years of our life without drawing back on past emotions. Trauma victims are evidence of this phenomenon in their inability to associate themselves with a particular landscape after experiencing something negative within it. Hence they are unable to view the landscape objectively; instead they see it subjectively as a source of pain and hurt. However those who have not had this experience are able to view the landscape dispassionately and are able to continue to living their life normally. Thus the influence of all the occurrences in our life can be seen and when one takes into account the fact that it is simply impossible to avoid such experiences as we go about with out lives, it is evident that it must be equally as hard to view any landscape neutrally when opinions are continuously being formed within our minds by the events within it. In “as Birds bring forth the Sun”, the impact of experiences can be seen in the fear of the grey dogs exhibited by the family. In seeing the death of their ancestors, apparently at the hand of the cu mor glas, their view of any landscape which resembles it is altered into fear and terror for what it may bring them. Hence they are unable to look at it normally as someone not related to the family might, because of their unique experience. As we live out our lives we are likely to be touched by many incidents which will change our inner landscape and thus prevent us from viewing anything remotely similar with neutrality any more.
As we grow and mature as humans, it results in a different appreciation for what lies before us. What may have little importance in our lives previously could become essential to our very being as we become older. Humans are fickle beings; hence as we grow, it changes our perspective of our surroundings and the landscape which we are in. Thus it is because of this constant change that the landscape can never be viewed objectively, for we come to understand and value it differently as become older. Religion may have seemed trivial when we are ambitious, young people, however as we reach the end of our lives, we are opened to its concept and the comfort it brings us in the increasingly tough times. Similarly, the growth of one on the battlefield allows them to value the importance of life much more. Initially, one would be excited to enter; eager to make some sort of impact in the war. Killing would seem trivial and glorified after months on the sidelines waiting. However actually seeing death, opens the eyes of any person to how serious it really is and invites the person to value the importance of life. Hence the growth from enthusiastic boy to contemplative man results in a different view of the landscape. What might have once been zeal and fervour is turned into caution as this maturation allows to reach a deeper understanding of the surroundings. We are constantly growing and being exposed to more aspects of life. What we do not understand as children, may become an integral part of our lives when we are older. It is impossible to predict how much or how little we may change, however as our internal landscape continues to grow with us, it will change the way in which we view the landscapes of our lives. In “Winter Dog”, this is evident. It is only as an adult that the narrator is able to realise the error of his ways and truly value the importance of the dog in his life. As a child, he took its presence for granted, even when it had saved his life, however growing up had allowed him to ponder on the events of his life and it had taken on a completely different meaning. Now he viewed the dogs of his present life with a lot more seriousness. Thus we are able to see through his eyes how we are never truly able to view something objectively. Whether as a child or an adult, a place will always hold some sort of meaning to us. If it doesn’t, it certainly will in the near future as we continue to mature as individuals and acquire a deeper understanding of our surroundings.
The constant presence of the physical landscape around us influences the individual that we become and means that no landscape is observed neutrally. From our very beginning as children, ideals and opinions are forming in our mind as a result of our surroundings, such as our parents. As we are continually changing, so too does our view of the outside world, hence the way in which we may see a particular landscape today may be different to how it may appeal to us tomorrow. In the vast society in which we live in, it is impossible to escape without being impacted on in some way. The physical landscape is a dominant entity in our lives and forms the basis of our very identity. It would be futile to spend our lives trying to figure out how to escape its influence. In order to understand ourselves further and our purpose in life, we must instead embrace it as a part of us.
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