Lost Mountain Part 3

Wendell Berry uses both the rational and sympathetic mind to show the difference in views people can have. The rational mind is centered on the facts. This state of mind is about the scientific evidence towards a certain issue. This is related to coal mining because a rational mind sees the money involved in strip mining. This rational mind just thinks of the advantages the action will have. A sympathetic mind is the direct opposite; it looks at the emotional outcomes. In other words, what is actually the right thing to do? Sympathetic views look and see if strip-mining benefits everyone and everything involved.

Eric Reece is showing his sympathetic mind trough out the entire chapter, September 2004. Through his firsthand account, he goes into great detail on the destruction of Lost Mountain. He traces back from his first visit to the remains of the mountain. He is clearly showing this state of sympathetic mind because he is trying to convey the damage humans have caused. Even though he was an outsider, Lost Mountain became a part of him.

Another example of Reece’s sympathetic mind is in the Conclusion chapter. He talks about his friend, Jenny Williams, who is affected by a hollow hill. He goes into detail on how Jenny as to worry every day on if a mudslide or rockslide will kill her family. This shows his concern and how he couldn’t even imagine this situation. I think it is a stronger example because he also gets the readers sympathetic mind involved. People are going to feel for this family.

A quote that stuck out to me was on page 230, in the Conclusion chapter. It states:

“That we now live in such a mechanized world, and that such an artificial environment is the source of much depression and violence among Homo sapiens is a theory that stretches from Alexis de Tocqueville to Thoreau to Paul Shepard to the Unabomber. It has been well documented, most recently by psychiatrist Peter C. Whybrow, that while Americans are four times more affluent than during the ‘60s, we have shown no measurable gains in happiness. In fact the opposite is true: We are more depressed, more medicated, more frazzled than at any other time in our short history. The more we are anesthetized by material wealth, the farther we stray from our biophilic selves. We move from house to garage to car to work to mall to gym to house again with little regard to out ancestral homeland- ancient savannas at the edge of vast forests.”(p. 230)

This quote just shows me how far gone our society really has come. All people want is to be truly happy, and they will do anything to achieve that. It is interesting to see that some Americans have the material wealth, but at the end of the day that doesn’t make them happy. It might distract them from their problems, but the problems are still there. Our every day is based around the social norm that is accepted. People live their lives daily without thinking about the land and area around them. Most of us take it for granted. People won’t see what is truly important until we start to appreciate our surroundings.