Not far from the expansive Danube River sits another European behemoth--the Ulm Münster, an architectural Goliath, the gigantes of gothic cathedrals. Its 161m steeple is the tallest of any cathedral known to man, which allows it to survey Baden-Württemberg's Ulm, the birthplace of Einstein, Bavaria’s Neu-Ulm, and the Alps. Such height would seem to suggest omniscience, at least unlimited knowledge of the happenings in Southwestern Germany. But perhaps on November 10, 1619 the pure German gothic church, not even its distraught-faced chimeras, had any surveillance inside a small, stove-heated room in an Ulm roadside inn where Rene Descartes was inventing modern philosophy, an invention no longer interested in Ancient Greek wisdom but in humanity’s mastery over nature.

As I write, I'm enclosed in my stucco-exteriored one bedroom apartment which sits off of South Carrollton Avenue. At this location, peace and quiet does not exist. Outside, the streetcar constantly rolls by, producing a hideous roar when its wheels roll across the steel railway. As well, road construction never seems to end. In the early morning hours, jackhammers shake the foundations of my home and metalworking machines screech and squeal. Not surprising, the party culture of the Greater city of New Orleans doesn't seem to help either when it comes to peace and quiet. One would be hard-pressed not to hear the playing of brass instruments or drunkards spewing unintelligible gibberish from any location. Along with the constant noise, which is mainly a production of mechanized modern man, pesticides, pollutants, deforestation, species and habitat loss, climate change, basically anything anthropogenically defiling our biota isn't far off. As a city born and raised Louisianan, I've never experienced wilderness. Even though the swamps and bayous were nearby, I was highly saturated with the conveniences of modern man, i.e., computers, microwaves, roads, power transportation, etc. However, once I graduate from Loyola, I plan to move to a place more close to wilderness, as Marshall and Nash define it, where I can live sustainably and in balance with nature. Hopefully, I can attain the contemplative state of mind Thoreau reached in his solitary retreat into wilderness, and, health-wise, pure air and quiet, fresher food, larger space, and wilderness recreation. I'm confident that most of the complex, bewildering events and ideas saturating modern man's existence can be alleviated by wilderness or a rural lifestyle.