D.H.Lawrence's Philosophy of Nature

In accordance with his unconventional preference for the spontaneous way of living, Lawrence claims “all I want is to answer to my blood, direct, without fribbling intervention of mind”. His desire arouses from his deepest belief that creative originality only springs from imagination, from blood knowledge, instead of from mental knowledge. So he admires the unconscious quality in artists and novelists. His proposition of unconscious creativity contains the spirit of Wu Wei. In Taoist Wu Wei, it is highly recommended to reach the state of “suspending the will, reducing egoist extremes of unrest and possession, and the stilling of the interfering rational process”. Only from this mental stillness, from the non-action of the mind, can Taoist sages achieve intuitional enlightenment. The total stillness of the rational mind generates spontaneously intuitive creation in one’s artwork. When one’s rational mind does not interfere, the self is liberated and develops a very high level of integrity in creative art. The artist achieves this high level often in an unconscious way and with little effort. Lawrence’s experience is a very good example in revealing the advantages of following one’s intuition while producing imaginative art. In Fantasia of the Unconscious Lawrence describes his way of writing: It’s no good looking at a tree to know it. The only thing is to sit among the roots and nestle against its strong trunk, and not bother. That’s how I write all about these planes and plexuses – between the toes of a tree, forgetting myself against the great ankle of the trunk. And then as a rule, as a squirrel is stroked into its wickedness by the faceless magic of a tree, so am I usually stroked into forgetfulness, and into scribbling this book. My tree-book, really. In this text, we find a striking resemblance between his way of writing and the way of traditional Chinese artists. Simply “sit between the toes… forgetting myself” is his spontaneous way of writing. His description is seemingly paradoxical: how could he be at once “stroked into forgetfulness” and “into scribbling this book”. The forgetfulness here means the very lack of self- consciousness, eliminating various external interferences and concentrating on writing. Lawrence writes, “I lose myself among the trees. I am so glad to be with them in their silent, intent passion, and their great lust. They feel my soul”. The spiritual unity he is experiencing gives his writings intuitional enlightenment. Forgetting or ignoring the complicated ideas coming forth to his rational mind while writing in his unconsciousness, he actually reaches a state of inner peace and complete freedom. In art and creativity, this freedom is possible when the self is undergoing the same “forgetfulness” of the rational mind. Lawrence’s “not bother” attitude echoes Taoist non- attachment. In Zen Buddhism, we also find a similar freedom in the practice of Zen’s “silent contemplation”. While writing his book without strenuous thinking, Lawrence is actually following Zen’s teaching of “feeling without thinking”, or looking at nature, staring subject, without thinking in the sense of narrowed attention. A Zen Buddhist believes, when writing or painting, the sensation of the ego or the effort of consciousness is unnecessary, it could only result in a state of confusion. According to Alan Watts’ analysis, the practices of seeking, staring, and straining one’s mind use more energy than is necessary to think, see, hear, or make decisions. These efforts are as futile as trying to leap into the air and fly. Lawrence does not stare hard at the tree in order to know it, to write it. Instead, he resorts to his feelings, and the spontaneous flow of feeling enables him to scribble his book in a manner of “forgetfulness”. Lawrence’s “not bother” (when one is writing) also matches the Taoist “Wu Nian” or “Wu Xin” meaning “no-thought” or better “no second thought”. It is a psychological practice of free association, a kind of technique to get rid of obstacles preventing the free flow of thought from the unconscious. No thought or no strained contemplation should be employed to “block” the individual’s natural organism that performs the most complex activities. One should “not bother” to make conscious efforts in writing books, because conscious efforts are not necessarily helpful. Being natural and spontaneous is the prerequisite of creativity, which, as understood by the Taoists, reflects the most fundamental laws of nature. This “nonthinking mode of awareness” is, as Watts argues, the only way that guarantees achievement of an “effortless, spontaneous, and sudden dawning of a realization”.