Jamie Richards- Outside Reading #2

"I was something that lay under the sun and felt it, like the pumpkins, and I did not want to be anything more. I was entirely happy. Perhaps we feel like that when we die and become a part of something entire, whether it is sun and air, or goodness and knowledge."

This quote was extracted from the novel, "My Antonia, the last book of a series authored by Willa Cather primarily describing life on the prairie. I found this statement particularly intriguing, as it appears that the protagonist is encountering an experience with spirituality identical the many episodes we have covered within our class lectures. As the main character lays in the open fields and enjoys the sun's warm rays, he declares that he needs nothing more in life. He describes himself as utterly content, perhaps at a certain point of self-realization. He then proceeds to ponder on the likelihood of us, as individuals, feeling this very emotion at the time of our passing, detailing it as integration with nature, the "sun and the air." I find this especially interesting; the protagonist feels a sense of unity and understanding with the natural world solely due to his surrounding and the circumstances of the situation at the time. He does not intentionally seek this sense of "oneness," and yet comes across it so simply. It is notable that out there exists numerous individuals seeking this very same spiritual experience that even opt to partake in vast journeys across the world's lands and still find it difficult to encounter these enlightening affairs. Although not necessarily based upon true happenings, many would say that this character is quite lucky to come into touch with this ordeal in such a context.