The Etiquette of Freedom summary Gary Snyder

The Etiquette of Freedom by Gary Snyder

Summary

Etiquette: a “customary code of polite behavior in society.”, good manners

 

In Snyder’s view, what is often missing in human behavior is graceful conduct. The essay “The Etiquette of Freedom,” reminds us of our ethical (moral) obligation that we are indeed (truly) connected to everything else. Learning the birds and the flowers is local etiquette. It is rude not to know the creature near us. He concludes in this extract that ‘ The lessons we learn from the wild become the etiquette of freedom. To know the wild is to be truly free. Here wild means uncontrolled freedom. There is wildness in us everything comes from there. We need to manage and understand its nature to know the true meaning of freedom 

According to the writer, we are an animal because we are mammals. Our ancestors were animals. Our bodies are wild. Both animals and humans have the same features. Both quickly and automatically turn their head at a shout, feel fear of the danger, breathe, feel relaxed in the quiet moment, to survive both eat food. Therefore, he says our bodies are wild.

It would be a mistake to think that human beings as superior because of language and society.  Animals also communicate extensively (widely).  Language is learned in the house and in the fields, not at school. Without having ever been taught formal grammar we speak correct grammar. We learn vocabulary from the mind. The mind is also wild because the mind takes it automatically or freely.  Likewise, other creatures learn a language from their surroundings. In school, language is refined and grammar is taught. 

There is social order not only in society, it is found in nature too. In fact, it is in nature before the age of books and legal codes. Actually, we are followers of nature's rule. The lessons we learn from the wild become the etiquette of freedom. We human beings only are not present in this world within us other creatures also share equally this earth. They have similar features. The depth of mind, and the unconscious, are our inner wilderness areas. Memories, images, anger, and delights, arise spontaneously in the mind.  We balance it with the outer world. There is uncontrolled freedom in it.  We need to manage it to enjoy a true sense of freedom. Freedom doesn’t mean we harm other creatures. As we all share the same planet. We must live in harmony with each other and establish an etiquette relationship with nature.

 

Every reader has his/ her own understanding so to get the right understanding please read the text. 

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