Nature Today
...r seen before, and which shall never be seen again.” (15-16). Most people have experienced a ‘breathtaking’ view or some other aspect of nature that affects them in a physical manner; perhaps a sunset, or even a natural disaster, anything that is awe inspiring. Nature not only stimulates the physical body, it also physically stimulates and repairs the mind. “To the body and mind which have been cramped by noxious work or company, nature is medicinal and restores tone.” (14). Emerson encourages us to stop and take in the world around us to see how much it affects our daily lives. If we do not, we could miss out on something spectacular. “The presence of a higher, namely, of the spiritual element is essential to its perfection.” (17). Emerson sees nature as a gateway to spiritual enlightenment. Can we experience the same spiritual effects today that Emerson could in the mid 1800s? In some ways we can but others are lost to industrialization. For instance, many people would have to drive a long way to get to a secluded place free from the light pollution of the city just to see the beauty of the night sky, while Emerson could just walk out his front door. However, we can experience some things in nature that Emerson never could have imagined. Emerson didn’t have the chance to enjoy the scenery go by on a sixty mile an hour car ride, but most of us would take that for granted. Most spiritual moments occur in nature. We have the opportunity to enjoy the spiritual effects of nature. Sometimes they are just more difficult to find than they used to be. Anyone who has ever been on a walk in the woods and looked around to see nature in all its majesty knows how nature can have spiritual effects. Yet, we have to be careful to be mentally where we are physically or we have wasted our time wandering in the woods. Many religious groups take retreats into areas where there are no distractions of the modern world in order to have time alone in nature with their Creator and away from the outside world. Spiritual moments can be experienced anywhere in nature, not just among the trees and rivers. Some people are inspired by the rush of nonstop life in big cities. The never ceasing climate speaks to them and they can have spiritual moments in the middle of traffic jams. “Nature stretcheth out her arms to embrace man, only let his thoughts be of equal greatness.” (19). Nature can also affect us intellectually. “The intellect searches out the absolute order of things as they stand in the mind of God, and without colors of affection.” (19). When people are intellectually affected by nature the results are science and art. Scientists are continually inspired by the world around them. “All science has one aim, namely, to find a theory of nature.” (4). By asking and finding out how and why things occur in the way they do, scientists make important discoveries about the world around them. These discoveries are a direct result of the intellectual effects of nature. Art is another result of the intellectual effects of nature. Emerson writes “This love of beauty is Taste. Others have the same love in such excess, that, not content with admiring, they seek to embody it [nature] in new forms. The creation of beauty is Art.” “[Art] is the result or expression of nature in miniature.” (20). Scientists and artists today are still inspired by nature. Artists still see things in nature and then try to recreate them. The difference now is more opportunity. Art is not limited as it once was to a few mediums such as paint and ...