A No-Wonder-Sort-Of Thing

It’s a no-wonder-sort-of phenomenon that Timothy Treadwell viewed humans as enemies to the bears and the habitat they live in. To Treadwell, nature was his sacred space and humans interfered and destroyed it, either by hunting the animals within it or destroying the place they called home. It's not that Treadwell hated humans, its that humans caused a disruption, in his mind, to the forces of nature.  Treadwell's distinct view of himself being a part of nature and being its protector and advocate can be attributed to the fact of his obsession over it and the mentality his set forth for himself. 

Treadwell's mentality can be claimed genius and a different understanding of life to psychosis, particularly the disorder known as dissociative identity disorder. This disorder, commonly known as DID, or multiple personality disorder, is just that, where an individual becomes another person and acts as a totally different individual. This state can last from six months to even a few decades, and can be triggered by many forms of stressors, an example for Treadwell might be his alcoholic abuse, warping his brain chemistry, or the event of seeing the grizzly bears in need and the idea of people harming nature in its home. Treadwell's idea of nature was that it was perfect, beautiful, and humans should interact and respect it -- living in it and protecting it, all while trying to understand the wildlife. As romantic as Treadwell's idea is, nature isn't just beautiful, it's also reckless and powerful and lacks the one sense humans have: the sense of morals and ethics, or higher thought processing humans uniquely possess.

Treadwell's altered view of nature and reality is an example of how frail human beings are and how our minds can become chemically and neurologically changed, even by natural causes. Humans are a part of nature, which is cruel and notorious, as Herzog points out in contrast to Treadwell. There is a point at which compassion can be shown, as miracles do happen, but often there is an unspoken line that shouldn't be crossed with humans and nature, and each force needs to be shown respect from the opposing one. Many claim, even the Native Americans in the area, that Treadwell crossed this in a way, by his direct interaction with the bears and other animals in the area (like the adorable foxes). 

I believe that Treadwell had good intentions overall, in advocating for the grizzly bears, but he did cross the unspoken line with his relationship, as a human being, with the wildlife in the are his was camping in. Along his journey of self-discovery, he identified himself as a bear, not a human, and lost the focus of his sojourn as a partial study of the bears. He became confused and lost, with only the bears and his self-interest at heart, which is what ultimately got him killed. He forgot he was in nature's habitat, not his home, and lost the mental process of survival as a human being in the wild Alaskan grizzly country. He lost the insight that he was intruding on the bears' sacred space, an uninhabited area by humans, a place they could feel safe and live their lives as bears, dealing with their own worries for survival and ideas of peace. Timothy Treadwell left a legacy of ferocity and controversy, one that establishes the human being as being a lesser and weaker force to nature and gives a powerful lesson of not to mess too much with nature in its sacred space.