Testament to a moment in time

Contributions to the Save-the-Redwoods League over a period of more than half a century have preserved these trees from the axe and saw.

You stroll into Founders Grove in the Humboldt Redwoods State Park on a fall day after an early rain has made the air fragrant with the spicy odors of laurel leaves and ferns and damp redwood bark.

Slanting rays of sunlight come down through the high foliage to the forest floor, where they draw tendrils of steam from damp banks of fallen leaves.

The sun backlights the translucent leaves of the turning maples, creating glowing canopies of green and gold. Underfoot is a rich red-brown carpet of redwood needles, mottled with the yellow maple leaves.

A leaf spiraling down from somewhere above catches the light against the dark tree trunks. Another ray of sunlight illuminates a few strands of spider web on the hole of a tall tree, and they shimmer with all the colors of the spectrum.

Raindrops glisten on the shiny red-and-green huckleberry leaves and on the angular fronds of sword fern and lady fern and bracken.

You eye is continually drawn upward along the tapering, fluted columns to the forest ceiling, where the redwood branches converge in lacy gothic arches.

The redwood groves have been compared to cathedrals so often that the simile seems banal. Yet it occurs to you on this warm autumn afternoon that perhaps there is a parallel that goes beyond cliches.

You recall that your first visit to medieval cathedrals, long ago, like your first visit to the redwoods, evoked a quick geewhiz response. In both cases you were awed by immensities of space and time. But sheer magnitude is common to all of the great churches and the great trees as well: If you’ve seen one, you’ve seen them all.

It is an entirely different experience to study the cathedrals with a knowledgeable eye — the varying designs of naves and transepts, arches and gables, barrel vaults and clerestory windows; the changes in architecture through the centuries, from the rounded Romanesque arch for example, to the slightly pointed early Gothic arch to the extremely pointed arch of the late Gothic flamboyant style. When the details of design and symbolism become clear, the dark cathedral walls begin to glow with life and historic meaning. Each structure becomes a unique expression of the aspirations of its builders and their time and place . ...

On this fall day in the Humboldt redwoods, it seems to you that these cathedrals of the forest may also have dimensions of meaning unsuspected by the casual visitor. If we could read the symbolism here, these groves might become as deeply significant to us in our time as the cathedrals of stone were to the Middle Ages.

You can see here, for example, symbols of the ascending spirals of evolution — from the primitive lichens and mosses on the logs to the ferns, which propagate from spores up through the seed-bearing maples and laurels to the redwoods. Although the conifers predate the broad-leaved trees, the redwoods seem to be in some ways the summit of plant life on earth.

Throughout the forest, young redwoods are growing rapidly and vigorously as a result of their ability to sprout from stumps of fallen trees.

As you stroll through Founders Grove — dedicated to the founders of the Save-the-Redwoods League — it seems to you that the deeper significance of these groves is related to our own moment in history as the cathedrals were related to theirs.

The most far-reaching discovery of our own era is the dawning realization that humans cannot be conquerors of nature but must become an integral part of nature’s total community; that a sustainable civilization cannot be built on destructive exploitation that poisons the air and waters, destroys plant and animal species and drastically erodes the soil; that an overriding goal of the human race in our era must be to find our place in the natural systems that give us sustenance and make life possible.

This is the goal toward which all our politics; our economic systems and our technology must be reoriented. But any such reorientation can arise only from the shared assumptions of large numbers of people, assumptions based on first-hand knowledge of how nature works and on the kind of direct experience that fosters an intuitive grasp of the inter-relations among plants, animals, humans and the total biosphere.

That direct experience is possible to a supreme degree in the redwood groves but it is possible to some extent wherever nature is permitted to go its own way — in mountains or unspoiled coastlines, in the ocean’s intertidal and undersea gardens, in deserts or parks or fields or woodlots. Every person everywhere needs access to some natural enclave, no matter how small, to sense the interdependence of life on this planet.

Part of the impression made by the European cathedrals arises from the knowledge that they were painstakingly built, stone by stone, over the centuries, by generations of designers and workers who found the meaning of their lives in devotion to a project that most of them would never see completed.

This element, of course, is missing in the redwoods. Nevertheless, something resembling that effort, on a smaller scale, is responsible for the existence of these groves. Contributions to the Save-the-Redwoods League over a period of more than half a century — by hundreds of thousand of people, from school children to civic groups to philanthropists — have preserved these trees from the axe and saw so they could be experienced by future generations . ...

Properly understood in their literal and symbolic meaning, these forest cathedrals and other natural sanctuaries may be able to evoke a new conception of our role in the world, a transcendent vision as appropriate to this age as the medieval synthesis was to its own time.

At Founders Grove the day wanes. The shafts of sunlight coming through the leafy clerestory windows now enter these vaulted chambers at a low angle, and you reluctantly leave the forest as this aromatic fall afternoon comes to an end.

A longer version of this column originally appeared in The San Francisco Chronicle on Nov. 7, 1982. American Bookbinders Museum “Litquake Series at the ABM: Chaos Monkeys of Silicon Valley.” Antonio García Martínez in discussion with Peter Hartlaub. 7 p.m. Sat. $15. “Riding Out Doomsday: Michelle Tea with Daniel Handler.” 7 p.m. next Sun. $15-$20. Through Oct. 13. “The Woman Bookbinder.” Through Oct. 9. Collection of 18th and 19th century bookbinding equipment. Ongoing. 355 Clementina St., S.F. (415) 824-9754. www.bookbindersmuseum.org.

California Academy of Sciences “Gems and Minerals Nightlife.” With “Gems and Minerals Unearthed” exhibition open; S.F. Gem and Mineral Society pop-up shop; S.F. Bazaar vendors; geology chat with academy scientists; Bobby McCole, DJ; exhibitions extended hours; cocktails on the rocks. 6-10 p.m. Thurs. $12-$15. 21 and older. “BigPicture.” Natural world photography exhibition. Through Oct. 30.More exhibition information on website. 55 Music Concourse Dr. (415) 379-8000. www.calacademy.org.

GLBT History Museum “Stroke: From Under the Mattress to the Museum Wall.” Through Oct. 16. “1964: The Year S.F. Came Out.” “Biconic Flashpoints: 4 Decades of Bay Area Bisexual Politics.” Ongoing. 4127 18th St., S.F. (415) 621-1107. www.glbthistorymuseum.org.

Mexican Museum “Cinco y Cinco/Five and Five.” U.S., Mexico, and Latin America contemporary art group exhibition. Through Nov. 6. “Dialogos Gráficos.” Printmaking. Ongoing. Fort Mason Center, 2 Marina Blvd., Bldg. D., S.F. (415) 202-9700. www.mexicanmuseum.org.

S.F. Library “San Francisco Neon & Icons From the Archives.” Through Oct. 30. “Absent, I Come to the Home of the Absent: Celebration of the Life and Poetry of Mahmoud Darwish.” Through Oct. 31. “Home Away From Home: Little Palestine by the Bay.” Through Nov. 27. “Sent Down Youth.” Through Dec. 1. “Black Matters Exhibition.” AfroSolo multimedia exhibition. Through Dec. 15. “Fear of An Atomic Age! Government Documents From the Cold War.” Through Dec. 15. “Dadamatic Mail Art: From Irene Dogmatic’s Collection.” Through Dec. 31. “Al Mutanabbi St. Starts Here: In Defense of Culture.” Through Jan. 1, 2017. See website for information about other exhibits. 100 Larkin St. (415) 557-4400. www. sfpl.org.

Other Bay Area

African American Museum “Mother of Civil Rights.” “African American Community in Oakland, 1890-1990.” Ongoing. 659 14th St., Oakland. (510) 637-0200. www.oak landlibrary.org.

Berkeley Historical Society “Remembering the Firestorm: 25 Years Later.” Reception/ ceremony 1 p.m. today. Through Nov. 5. Berkeley History Center, 1931 Center St., Berkeley. (510) 848-0181. www.berkeleyhistoricalsociety.org.

David Brower Center “Art/Act: The Canary Project.” Through Feb. 9. 2150 Allston Way, Berkeley. (510) 809-0900. www.browercenter.org.

Filoli House and Gardens “The Valley of Heart’s Delight.” Multiple media Santa Clara valley history exhibition. Through Oct. 23. “Garden Sculpture.” Outdoor group exhibition. Through Oct. 16. 86 Cañada Road, Woodside. (650) 364-8300. www.filoli.org.

Marine Mammal Center Free. Tours 11 a.m., 1 and 3 p.m. Fri.-Mon.; 11 a.m. Sat.-Sun. Free. 2000 Bunker Road, Fort Cronkhite, Sausalito. (415) 289-7325. www.marinemammalcenter.org.

Pacific Pinball Museum Historical machines available to play. $7.50-$15. 1510 Webster St., Alameda. (510) 2056959. www.pacificpinball.org.

Pardee Home Museum Tours 10:30 a.m. Sat.; 2 p.m. second Sat. Ongoing. 672 11th St., Oakland. (510) 444-2187. www.pardeehome.org.

Rosie the Riveter Center Visitor center open 10 a.m.-5 p.m. daily. 1414 Harbour Way South, Richmond. (510) 2325050. www.rosietheriveter.org.

Saratoga History Museum “A Century of Key Events in Saratoga History.” Through Nov. 15. Free. Museum hours: 1-4 p.m. Fri.-Sun. 20450 Saratoga-Los Gatos Road, Saratoga. www.saratogahistory.com.