Ralph Waldo Emerson's Strange Things

Nature by Ralph Waldo Emerson has a lot to teach about how to respect the earth because it is a mighty force but Nature also teaches what it means to be connected with nature and the feelings that are associated with connection. During my close read of Nature I faced challenges, successes, and a greater appreciation for the writing from a world that is drastically different from the one I live in. One of my biggest struggles while annotating the piece was looking at the big picture and what the paragraph as a whole was telling me. While I am annotating I tend to focus more on the smaller pieces such as the meaning of words and decoding what a sentence is saying. It’s hard to pull back from that and connect the bigger pieces to find what the

She knew there was better ways to live and decided that she could never achieve this way

"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."

she had an independent life with No one to take care of her. Although she was

The bird represented Mrs. Wright. She loved to sing and was a beautiful women who loved to dress up, but her liveliness was destroyed after twenty years. Because Mr. Wright had killed the bird, or in other words Mrs. Wright’s enthusiasm for life and song, Mrs. Wright could not take it any longer and decided to take matters into her own

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.

Should we listen to other people’s ideas? Ralph Waldo Emerson argues that we should rely on ourselves, on our own philosophies, and that we believe that what is true for us is true for all (Emerson 88). David Bohm, on the other hand argues that we should instead be open to other people’s ideass, as “communication can lead to the creation of something new only if people are able freely to listen to one another, without prejudice, and without trying to influence each other” (Bohm 13). I personally believe that Emerson is correct. I believe that if we do not stay true to our own ideas, but instead open up and take note of other ideas, our own principles will become convoluted.

The definition of a school according to Merriam-Webster’s dictionary is “an organization that provides instruction.” This definition does not define what a good school is though. In order to determine what a good school is you must have a standard for comparison. In the eyes of Emerson I imagine a good school would be defined by having a copious amount of both free will and free thought, individuality, involvement of nature, and the incorporation of becoming self-reliant. Emerson would wish for his students to be eleutheromaniac, to be able to use teleology, and to not be fully reliant upon technology. Using Emerson’s beliefs to create a school causes me to address many topics; sports, extracurricular activities, classes, organizations, where the power is held, days off of school, disciplinary actions, the rules, the daily structure, a grading scale, and even what food/drinks would be offered within the school.

In paragraph 1, the overall synopsis is that people need to view themselves as important, and they have to have the mindset that no two people are the same. They have to believe that their all-time lows will become highs again, but it takes time and effort. What Emerson is means by saying “that divine idea which each of us represents” is that people are too afraid to share their thoughts and opinions when in front of people they aren’t close to. He is saying that people in our world today are too worried about being judged by others. A majority of people can’t even openly and honestly share what they have to say about something without breaking into a sweat or asking others if what they are about to say is correct. We sometimes face situations

She struggled with disabilities, the tragic loss of her daughter, and what felt like a never-ending battle to find safe shelter.

But it was no use. The parrot hopped from shoulder to shoulder until it finally landed on Ms. Arlington's shoulder.

Only free-thinkers can exercise volition and self-determination, although, the choices we make take place within the greater context of Life, which is replete with opportunities, challenges, consequences, and circumstances that are not of our choosing. Consequently, we are confronted with options, most of which are not so much a choice as they are the struggle to navigate life when one does not choose wisely. Ralph Waldo Emerson described our situation, in his essay on Spiritual Laws: “Each man has his own vocation. The talent is the call. There is one direction in which all space is open to him. He has faculties silently inviting him thither to endless exertion. He is like a ship in a river; he runs against obstructions on every side but one,

Emerson defines the correct way to read, what he calls “Man Thinking,” as a practice in which man does not become a “parrot of other men’s thinking” but creates his own ideas. This is vastly different from what Emerson believes to be the wrong kind of reading in which men simply parrot back ideas that they read in books “believing it their duty to accept the views, which Cicero, which Locke, which Bacon, have given.” I agree with Emerson’s points because if one is not questioning what they read, then, they are not really thinking.

It is with a rather interesting statement that Nature, Emerson's first essay, opens. In the introduction, Emerson asserts that " we have no questions to ask which are unanswerable. " Then, if we take wonder to mean a perpetual questioning of the world and our place in it, this statement either denies the existence of wonder or redefines the notion. Nature, therefore might become a new narrative of wonder with its own form and own complexities. The use of the word nature is also in itself interesting. In this brief presentation I shall turn to show how does Emerson define wonder and what is the nature of wonder ?

You never know how strong you are until being strong is the only choice you have.