An introduction to the thought of Emerson.
A thought experiment to understand the relationship between people and nature.
It is interesting to ask and reflect on whether our more detailed description of the properties of nature changes things or simply adds color and depth to Emerson’s perspective. ( )

Wonderful limited edition, 35/50.

The essay remains puzzling and unconvincing, to me, but we struggle for the sublime, anyway.

Finished at La Push on birthday trip. ( )

"Build, therefore, your own world. As fast as you conform your life to the pure idea of the mind, that will unfold its great proportions"

I think I'll need to reread this every autumn. ( )

Ralph Waldo Emerson’s Nature is a testimony of a Transcendentalist with a faith in nature. In this treatise Emerson presented nature as paramount in people’s lives. With captivating descriptions he showed how natural phenomena always played a vital role in our lives. Every aspect of nature was presented as important to mankind’s thinking and actions.
Our mind, body, and soul are guided by nature. People shouldn’t make the mistake of thinking that nature was separate from them, for they are intricately interrelated with it. Emerson’s prose was rather poetic. He was able to blend nature’s beauty with these natural gifts. To this end he was most successful in bringing life to a Pantheistic view of the world. To Emerson, “nature was all in all,” and embraced every aspect of life. ( )

Hmm, like I could review such a transcendent book of wonder. ( )

I found Emerson to be naive. His understanding of science was evidently pre Darwinian. He seems to think that the world was made for us and he does not understand the fact that we are creatures of nature. Basically most of what he says is incorrect. ( )

Emerson’s swoony, romantic language disguises his pragmatic vision of Nature - that it can be investigated by science and that the personifications we attribute to it are projections of our human psyche. Nature and the laws of physics are material from which people create the metaphors that give life meaning.
From the essay’s introduction:
“Undoubtedly we have no questions to ask which are unanswerable. We must trust the perfection of the creation so far, as to believe that whatever curiosity the order of things has awakened in our minds, the order of things can satisfy. Every man’s condition is a solution in hieroglyphic to those inquiries he would put. He acts it as life, before he apprehends it as truth. In like manner, nature is already, in its forms and tendencies, describing its own design. Let us interrogate the great apparition, that shines so peacefully around us. Let us inquire, to what end is nature?”

What's the appropriate number of stars to express the following sentiment?

I'm writing a paper that involves the two books in this volume, and while I don't agree with everything Emerson and Thoreau say here, there is plenty to write about and to encourage critical thinking. Thus, I am happy. ( )