Nature Personification
Why Nature Personification is Important to Arcane and Mortal Science
Nature personification holds profound importance for both arcane traditions and the development of modern science. In arcane traditions, it was fundamental to understanding and interacting with the world. Ancient peoples imbued natural forces and elements with spiritual significance, purpose, and will, interpreting natural phenomena as communications or direct actions of divine beings or spirits. This animistic worldview was crucial for practices like divination, healing, and early agricultural rituals, as seen in diverse cultures globally. As historian of religions Mircea Eliade noted, for archaic humanity, “nature is never solely ‘natural'” but is permeated with sacredness and meaning.
For mortal science, personification, while seemingly unscientific by today’s standards, played a crucial role in its origins and even persists subtly. Early natural philosophers, from the Pre-Socratics to figures like Aristotle, often described nature as having inherent “tendencies” or “purposes,” treating it almost as a sentient entity guiding processes. This teleological thinking, where phenomena occur for an ultimate goal, was a form of personification that helped structure early scientific inquiry before more mechanistic explanations emerged. Even in modern scientific discourse, personification can serve as a pedagogical tool or cognitive shortcut. As neuroscientist Robert Sapolsky might use, or as common in popular science, describing “genes wanting to replicate” or “the immune system fighting invaders” makes complex biological processes more intuitive and relatable for students and the public, aiding in conceptualization and communication.
References:
- Eliade, Mircea. The Sacred and the Profane: The Nature of Religion. Translated by Willard R. Trask, Harper & Row, 1961. (For the concept of nature’s sacredness in archaic thought and animism).
- Lloyd, G. E. R. Aristotle: The Growth of His Mind. Cambridge University Press, 1968. (For discussions on teleology in Aristotle’s natural philosophy).
- Sapolsky, Robert M. (Various works, e.g., Behave: The Biology of Humans at Our Best and Worst). While not directly a work on personification, Sapolsky is an example of a contemporary scientist who effectively uses anthropomorphic language to explain complex biological concepts in an accessible way, which supports the pedagogical point.
- Wallace, William A. The Modeling of Nature: Philosophy of Science and Philosophy of Nature in Synthesis. The Catholic University of America Press, 1996. (For historical perspectives on how early scientific thought conceptualized nature).