Master's Thesis Anecdotes

As soon as I learned to walk, I was barefoot in the jungles of Latin America. My mother whisked me on an three year excursion from Baja, Mexico down through Belize, Guatemala and Honduras, where playing outside meant holding onto tails of wild iguanas whilst avoiding bugs with especially menacing stingers, and using the restroom meant relieving oneself in a plastic bucket placed at the base of a towering palm. Our shelter was a Westfalia camper van, and my makeshift bed was in the pop-up top, while my backyard happened to be whichever wild environment I woke up to that particular day. I danced and played with local Mayan children in the shadow of Volcán Atitlan as they taught me their words, and clambered up 3,000 year old Mayan ruins as I held onto my mother’s hand. It was a very holistic entry into my formative years, for which I am forever grateful as it shaped my current understanding of our remarkable world.

Although very young, I distinctly remember the sensation of moist earth under my bare feet, the thick atmosphere as it settled like a blanket around us, and the peculiar sounds of animals becoming active in the morning, their calls to each other a reflection of the beautiful symbiosis revolving around a circadian rhythm. It was through these particularly alternative experiences of my childhood that I came to discover nature and my place within it in an exceptionally deep, unique way. This immersion into the natural environment granted me the opportunity to explore the innate pull that we as humans have towards the natural world, a phenomenon that the acclaimed biologist and naturalist Edward Wilson christens Biophilia. Wilson asserts through his captivating book of the same title that it is this same biological connection to nature and lifelike processes that allows us to be fulfilled on a fundamentally intrinsic level, while denying this bond would be to lose our innate sense of place in a larger, vital context (Wilson, 1984). 

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My favourite place in the world since I was 12 years old is situated high atop the Santa Monica Mountains, overlooking an expanse of Los Angeles county bordered by the Pacific Ocean. The white travertine stone structure is built almost organically onto the mountain, appearing as a divine fortress surveying the landscape below. Walking through the grounds, you feel as though you've become immersed within another plane of existence, as manicured although naturally-placed gardens meander around streams and the Southern California sunlight softly reflects off the travertine in an otherworldly manner. The Getty Center is an art museum as well known for these enchanting grounds as it is for its internal galleries, and it attracts people from all over the world. It has entranced me every time I visit, and I never feel jaded of the deep connection I sense while walking amongst the bougainvillaeas, hearing the cascading stream, or feeling my steps softly pattering onto the natural stone corridors. My breathing slows, almost as though in a meditative state, and my senses heighten with the feeling of awe and wonder induced by the beautiful natural elements. I understand that this effect is not only personal, as you will see a multitude of people exploring the area in a vernal fashion, all at once stimulated and feeling in harmony with the world around them. It is a very special place and illustrative of the reason why it is so important for us as humans to be part of places where we feel connected to the natural sights, feelings, sounds, and processes of the natural world.