Grizzly Man

The movie brought one man, grizzly man, closer to bears and the natural world, which in the movie was interpreted as spirituality. I think, for this one man, nature was his way of expressing religion. This religion worked for him and gave him a sense of closure, and reasoning for life. These are the only reasons I accept the fact that nature in this special case is a religion. In my life, Christianity is what helps me through things and lets me accept death as nature does for Treadwell.

In the history of Catholicism many people have died for their faith and were called martyrs. I think this is a big step in any person’s personal faith and don’t know if I honestly could say that I would die even though I am a strong Christen. In the movie we witnessed a man willing to die for something he believed in and believed was his religion. I don’t know if this constitutes religion, but to me willing to die for some supernatural belief is truly religious.

Anther point I found that suggested Treadwell’s “nature religion” was truly spiritual and religious is that he believed it is what saved him. He says that nature and the bears are the only things that helped him with his drug addition and other proplems. I know for many people there faith or religious beliefs are what get them through though times such as a drug addition or death. The only way this is possible is with the thought that there is a supernatural essence helping you; to Treadwell it was the bears and for me Catholicism.

The idea that nature can be a religion also follows our survey of religious evolution. As we discussed in class, Treadwell was not like the Neanderthals because he interacted with the bears as his film has shown. He also was not like the Paleolithic people because they only saw the bears and nature as they were without tying a meaning to them even though they respected them. On the other hand, Treadwell had the choice and interacted with the bears in a more supernatural way. I think that Treadwell was even more religious then the Native Americans because they were forced to live with nature and animals which led them to respect and worship them unlike Treadwell. By choice, Treadwell became one with nature and made it a truly religious experience.