Emerson's Argument Essay

"In the woods, we return to reason and faith. There I feel that nothing can befall me in life, - no disgrace, no calamity (leaving me my eyes), which nature cannot repair. Standing on the bare ground, - my head bathed by the blithe air and uplifted into infinite space, - all mean egotism vanishes. I become a transparent eyeball. I am nothing. I see all. The currents of the Universal Being circulate through me; I am part or particle of God."

Ralph Waldo Emerson and Henry David Thoreau were the giants during the 19th century American Transcendentalism movement. Their influential work brought upon shared beliefs on concerning spiritual perspectives, government interference, and the ideology of cultural values in American society. Nature has a multitude of meaning if looked at it from all angles, but deeper within nature is the reflection of what you exert while in it. However they agree on the human condition, the two authors speak with different tones that reflect how nature affects the entirety of man’s spirit. While both Emerson and Thoreau practice the spirit of the human condition, Emerson focused his energy on how “[nature’s] philosophical import [is]…unchanged by man” (215.) where Thoreau implied that we are “subjects of an experiment” (1051).

Emerson’s Nature is often cited as a defining text within the transcendental movement. In the essay, he address man’s relationship with nature in the context of modern society in 1836; however, the ideas remains applicable for audiences today. In the same manner, Ray Bradbury’s Fahrenheit 451, while written in 1953, it is equally, if not more, relevant to man’s experience in 2015. These two texts share more than just their lasting impression; they also contain distinctly similar themes, which pertain to the core of the transcendentalist movement. Nature is a commentary of the modern man’s inability to go into solitude. Emerson points out that solitude is not only about being by oneself, but also completely shedding one's societal

To transcendentalists there was not necessarily a supreme godlike being, but a connection with the nature that they were birthed from and that they would return to at the end of their life. In Nature, by Ralph Waldo Emerson, he explains that "The currents of the Universal Being circulate through [him]; [he is] part or particle of God" (242). He is discussing how when someone is in touch with nature, they become one with nature, and that everyone is a part of nature. Emerson emphasizes that people should break away from reliance and that each individual should develop a personal and meaningful relationship with the universe in order to understand it. He also speculates that, “it is certain that the power to produce this delight, does not reside in nature, but in man, or in a harmony of both” (242). Emerson's words reflect back to transcendentalist views of spirituality by describing the amount of happiness that can result from connecting to nature on a spiritual

Emerson says, “Nature never wears a mean appearance… Nature is a setting that fits equally well as a comic or mourning piece.” He explains that people can look to nature in any situation—good or bad. It comforts us and gives us answers if we allow it. Emerson believes nature is our connect to God. In his essay “Nature,” he says, “I am part or a particle of God.” Emerson and Thoreau both believe man can find spiritual meaning through nature. Nature allows us to dig deep into our minds and souls. Thoreau moved to Walden Pond alone and away from society to find meaning in his life. In his essay “Walden,” he says, “I went to the woods because I wished to live deliberately, to front only the essential facts of life, and see if I could learn what it had to teach, and not, when I came to die, discover that I had lived.” He tells us that through nature we can learn to depend on ourselves and reach our full potential to better our

In the introduction of the essay "Nature," Emerson argues that all the questions that people have developed about the universe, including those regarding the connections between God, nature and humanity, have answers that come through experiencing life and the world. Because each person is a unique manifestation of divine creation, each person has a different key to solving the universe's

(Crane 21). The author outlines the stark contrast between the thoughts of man and those of nature. Additionally,

Nature is defined as the natural world the way it existed without human beings, and if no human being existed how can man learn to praise it. This brought Emerson to question the place of man in a “science” of nature itself. To the reader Emerson durability is the measure of his genius. To him the environment is a perfectly ordered world because it is natural, and also believes that the generations beheld from God and nature face to face. This explains why nature helps humans survive since it is giving in the ways that it provided shelter, food, and water. Emerson considers the world to be composed of Nature and the soul. He wrote the essay “Nature” in appreciation of it. It was divided into different sections: Nature, Commodity, Beauty, Language, Discipline, Idealism, Spirit, and Prospects. They each define the ways in which humans use nature for their basic needs and communication in the understanding of the world. In nature the sun shines to-day, there is more wool in the fields, there are new lands, new men, and new thoughts that lead to demand, laws, and worships. Viewing nature and understanding it can help put matters into a

Jacob Bronowski once said, “The wish to hurt, the momentary intoxication with pain, is the loophole through, which the pervert climbs into the minds of ordinary men” (qtd. in “Bronowski.”). He elaborates that wanting someone to feel agony is immoral. Society frowns upon obliterating another person’s reputation for self-benefit. Most people characterize hurt as physical soreness, but to completely understand how the word has evolved it helps to look at the etymology and the diverse definitions that exist in economics, sports, and psychology.

According to Emerson, the nature manipulates the human mind. In ‘The American Scholar’, Emerson stated that the nature has the power to capture the mind of the human as the poet, artist, as it offer a unified vision and inspired the man towards his work for such as the poet, artist musician, architect, and so on. And it conveys a sense of well-being and of communion with the universe by its natural beauty. Emerson further states that “The nature and the spiritual element in man works together to provide human a noble character and behavior of moral and heroic human deeds. There is a particular resemblance between the processes of nature and the capabilities of man. Nature gives a right quality and impressive backgrounds against man’s higher deeds are dramatically

Two men sit quietly on a bench as they look out towards the open land. There are trees swirling and dancing in the wind, the birds are cooing within the treetops, and the echoes of the babbling brook are heard from the distance. The first man is speechless from the beauty he sees around him. He closes his eyes to feel the wind gently caress his cheeks and he calmly listens to the harmonic sounds of nature. His body relaxes and he releases a soft sigh. He feels as if his body and soul have become one with nature. The other man looks at him and does not understand what he sees. The other man looks at the open land and he visualizes tilled soil where he can plant and harvest his crops. He stares at the trees and wonders how many he can cut down to settle his house and barn. He closes his eyes and listens to the babbling brook. Instead of hearing its beauty, he imagines the sound of a watermill creaking through the body of water to power his house. He does not see the absolute beauty in which nature holds. He can only see how he can use it for his own gain.

I agree with you as well, Emerson is not necessary stating that we should do whatever we wish to do, I believe that he is in fact saying that we do as wish after determining if what we wish to do is right or wrong. Emerson's overall argument was helping individual realize that we can become "genius" independents only if we knew what our true desires are.

Moreover, there is an importance to understanding the different perspectives and how they are to our advantage. For instance, our wide-ranging different perspectives can in fact build us and make for a better community. When different perspectives come from different "lenses" or "transparent eyeballs" by a humans personal experiences, then many different perspective exist and allow for learning and understanding of the world. When a human has a better understanding of the world “not only enhances all of as human beings, but can also be harnessed for the better good, leading to improved health and quality of life” (Keim). Relating back to the "transparent eye-ball" (1836), Emerson emphasizes that looking and understanding nature in different perspectives,

Every so often throughout history, great doers and thinkers come along that break the mold and set new standards. People like Caesar, Shakespeare, Napoleon and Jesus have been studied and immortalized in volumes of texts. Then there are others who are not as well known. People like Ralph Waldo Emerson. From his life, writings, associates, beliefs and philosophy, this Concord, Massachusetts man has set his place as a hero in American literature and philosophy (Bloom 13).

With the warmth of the sun shining across my face, I began to take in the peace and enjoy the short-lived moment of serenity that settled in me. Birds singing and leaves rustling against each other brought up emotions that have been locked up inside my soul for as long as I can remember. Laying on top of a soft blanket and feeling the dampness of the moist grass, I closed my eyes and started to think of why I see so little of the beauty nature has given us. It is so difficult to find the time and place to appreciate what the world once offered. Instead of preserving and cultivating our world, we have desolated every tree and bush around us with our own bare hands. There I sat, on top of that soft blanket for a long yet brief hour and a half, and wondered why we have come to this point in life. Why is nobody doing anything to help? And why am I sitting here, doing nothing to help, just like everybody else? I sat there, contemplating, until I realized that I am not doing nothing to help; I am someone who is just making a small step forward in life, making a small change in the world. Starting with just one person shows hope in resolving this problem, and from that, overtime, it will make a greater difference in not only my life, but everyone else’s. In Ralph Waldo Emerson’s excerpt, Nature, he stated, ”I become a transparent eyeball; I am nothing; I see all; the currents of the Universal Being circulate through me; I am part or parcel of God.” Me becoming part of