Internal and External Landscapes

In Lopez's writing he differentiates between internal and external landscapes, which each themselves are not so difficult to grasp. Moreover, in this context, Lopez is more so trying to stress not one or the other but the relationship between the two, specifically how the development of the intangible internal landscape is a result of our tangible interaction with the external. Our external landscape is what we can feel, see, hear, touch and smell; observable in our surroundings, though, it is limited. One can only take so much from these interactions, but to fully process our external landscape so we may develop the internal, it is necessary to begin to understand the interactions and relationships taking place all around us. The internal landscape is the transcendental interaction of our experience with the land to the part of our consciousness manifested in thought, perception, emotion, will, memory, desire, and imagination; it knows no boundaries. I believe the exterior landscape that one dwells in molds the shape and character of one’s thinking; furthermore, I believe Lopez said it best when he said that this mold is most strongly ".. influenced by where on this earth one goes, what one touches, and by the patterns one observes in nature..." A personal example comes not from one specific moment but from a daily occurrence. Wherever I am, whoever I am with, whatever I am doing, nature consumes me like a curse and the fine line between passion and distraction becomes easier to lose. With each venture into the mountains, onto the open ocean, or into the wilderness, the desire to escape and explore the undiscovered grows exponentially and it becomes easier and easier to neglect (what some might call) priorities...