Emerson's Views On Life

Emerson then says "There I feel that nothing can befall me in life, - no disgrace, no calamity (leaving me my eyes), which nature cannot repair." He seems to feel at one with nature. Emerson sees the serenity and peace and realizes how insignificant all of his life's problems are. He believes that there is no problem nature is incapable of remedying. As the saying goes, "Time heals all wounds." Emerson's words seem to echo that. He seems almost completely careless about all his former petty concerns.

Emerson’s purpose in the essay “Nature” is to lay out and attempt to solve an abstract problem: that humans do

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).

Ralph Waldo Emerson said, "People seem not to see that their opinion of the world is also a confession of their character." This quote is a belief that your beliefs show innermost self. Emerson believes that your thoughts and ideas of the world reflect your true self. I agree that your mental outlook of the world is a representation of your real character. Regardless of whether or not you expressed those thoughts and ideas out loud, they still show your true colors. Opinions are just another way of showing the world who you really are. Your attitude on the certain topics and people, marks your stance on the world and show your true beliefs.

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

Ralph Waldo Emerson once said, “Nothing is at last sacred but the integrity of your own mind.” Emerson is a firm believer of maintaining self-reliance and values rather than following the crowd. He also explains that in order to be truly successful in life, a person must make decisions and trust in his or her judgment. In today’s society, teenagers are more likely to not be self-reliant because the teens feel they will be judged for having different beliefs. People today need to realize that they should not conform to be like the rest of the world, they must not depend on the judgment and criticism of others, and people must refuse to travel somewhere in order to forget their personal problems. Through Emerson’s piece, readers are able to

Nature is a major transcendental value which both Emerson and Thoreau thrive off of. Emerson

First, Emerson describes words as signs of natural facts, and he thinks that all words have spirit in them. Emerson states that “every natural fact is a symbol of some spiritual fact,” (789) and he indicates that natural facts or words can be traced back to its real meaning, spirit. For example, Emerson says that “Light and darkness are our familiar expression for knowledge and ignorance; and heat for love,” (789) and this shows that nature is linked to something spiritual. Also, Emerson suggests that moral laws are similar to the laws of nature, and he assumes that we cannot think ourselves as something outside of nature since “parts of speech are metaphors because the whole of nature is a metaphor of the human mind” (791). Furthermore, the statement that “this relation between the mind and matter is not fancied by some poet, but stands in the will of God, and so is free to be known by all men” (792) supports Emerson’s idea that the language is to let us understand the world, for all of us, not just poets. In addition, Emerson assures that “by degrees we may come to know the primitive sense of the permanent objects of nature, so that the world shall be to us an open book, and every form significant of its hidden life and final cause” (793). From this, we can feel that he convinces us that even though we are unsure of the meaning of nature right now, finally we will be able to

Furthermore, he evokes the notion of the embodiment of nature and how few are able to see it; claiming the ones capable of perceiving such enlightenment are the ones who retain a benevolent innocent spirit—such as child—and who has retained the concept in times of adulthood—the poet. The mind of a child responds emotionally rather than sensorial. As a final remark in Emerson’s first chapter of nature, he states: in order for man to see nature plainly and receive the benefits one must push aside the old ways of thinking and egotism to become, as Emerson states, a transparent eyeball. ‘I am nothing, I see all. The currents of the Universal Being circulate through me; I am a part or particle of God. The name of the nearest friend sounds then foreign and accidental” (______). This form of vision represents the primary benefit of Nature, a form of ultimate transcendency where there is a spiritual real of reason beyond material understanding. Humanistic delight in the landscapes, which is made up of many forms, provides an example of this integrated vision in which the universal entity transmits itself into one’s consciousness and makes one sense oneness with God. Nature, is thereby a metaphor of the mind in Emerson’s eyes.

Ralph Waldo Emerson							I am writing this essay on the beliefs and thoughts of Ralph Waldo Emerson on the subjects of individuality, society, government, technology, and spirituality.

This poem by Ralph Waldo Emerson is an exceptional work of his. Entirely characteristic of his poetic approach, it captures the full meaning behind the appreciation of nature, and it does so in a simple yet effective style. The poem is also, in my opinion, an effective rebuttal to the Puritan critique of the Emersonian lifestyle.

According to the Emerson and Walt, nature was ideally fitted for human beings. Both writers considered nature to be an object that entails happiness, simplicity, and wisdom. They both saw nature as something that is alive, surrounds men, and is always at the service of men. They also thought that there is an important link between nature and man.

Emerson and Hawthorne both focused on nature and how humans affected it, but Emerson wrote more about being optimistic than Hawthorne, whom was more of a dark romanticism writer. In the essay "Nature", Ralph Waldo says, " But if a man would be alone, let him look at the stars. The rays that come from those heavenly worlds, will separate between him and what he touches. One might think the atmosphere was made transparent with this design, to give a man, in the heavenly bodies, the perpetual presence of the sublime"(Emerson 11). This quote demonstrates how Emerson focuses on the feel of nature to oneself being one with nature. Previously he talks about how nature offers solitude and how we should take advantage of it instead of ignoring what the world has to offer.

Thus saying, there is a certain connection between man and nature, it is always present, but the mind of the man has to be open to connecting with nature, but everyone is different. Throughout Nature, Emerson calls for a vision of the universe as an all-encompassing whole,

“It is not the length of life, but the depth of life” -Ralph Waldo Emerson