Zen of the plains: Experiencing Wild Western Places

Abstract

ZEN OF THE PLAINS: Experiencing Wild Western Places. By Tyra A. Olstad. xiv and 269 pp.; maps, ills., bibliog., index. Denton, Tex.: University of North Texas Press, 2014. $24.95 (cloth), isbn 9781574415520. The once vast prairies of the Great Plains are America's most endangered biome. On a global basis, grasslands along with freshwater bodies are the only two biomes underrepresented in the global set of protected areas established as part of the conservation strategy of the 1992 Convention on Biological Diversity, often referred to as the treaty of life. Science is beginning to unravel why prairie exists--a combination of below-ground soil structure and aboveground ecological drivers, primarily grazing or fire--and to determine its diversity. Yet, to many Americans, the Great Plains holds a sense of place--nicely defined in concept by Tyra Olstad (p. 89)--of waving fields of grain or deep black soil, and farm or ranch homes evenly spaced across the landscape. Several generations, perhaps upwards to seven or eight, have passed since change came to the Great Plains due to European arrival and impact. Olstad offers an important and broad contribution to understanding its sense of place as one part of Zen of the Great Plains. The author begins with a quote of Lao Tzu, an important Chinese sage and Taoist: Therefore, take yourself and observe yourself. Take the world and observe the world. So starts Olstad's search something bigger, deeper, wilder (p. 7). Woven into this search is a well-documented description of the extent and environmental features make the Great Plains unique yet are often an environment neglected in the description of personal experiences. Olstad begins in the shortgrass prairie and semidesert shrub-steppe of the Southwest, where everything ... is farther away than it looks (p. 22), part of the vast and inspiring landscape of the Great Plains. She then identifies a second trait: time, to apprehend the complexity of prairie. The tallgrass prairie of Kansas captures the art of this landscape in the form of the complexity and integrity of the ecosystems and the cycle of seasons--elements of time. Or, as the author states that all it takes (time and an open mind) for a place to become your home, for a fit to be achieved, or peace (p. 43). It is this point in the book the transition from Taoism--more of a focus on personal and system qualities--toward the intent of Zen: one is open to the feel of place, or another term for Zen--enlightenment. …