Emerson - Nature
To try to copy Emerson's experiences with nature, I set up my own nature experiment. I went on my balcony at 6:00 when it is dark and looked into the sky and towards the ocean. I did not set any specific rules because I didn't know what I was going to find and I didn't want to hinder my results. I just wanted to see what came to my mind while interacting with nature.
My experiment was a truely soothing and relaxing experience. On my deck, I felt the cool wind blowing and I looked up to see the stars Emerson refered to in his essay. The Moon was also shining bright like the sun ironically. One can really understand what Emerson was experiencing when one experiences it for oneself. Out on the balcony, I could see the stars Emerson described so beautifully. They truely are a symbol with regard to how they are taken for granted as Emerson said. Stars are always there even though they are truely mysterious because of the great divide between them and us. Regarding my immediate surroundings, I took note of the trees and birds around the backyards I was standing above and how they interacted with the rest of the surrounding environment. This whole scene was truely connected; it was almost divine. The Enviroment was all connected, I believe, through the divine power that created it all. Emerson is completely right when he says to look at nature as a whole and not individual parts. Nature is too complicated to split into different parts. The parts themselves don't have the meaning that the finished piece has. For example, a puzzle can have hundreds of pieces but the pieces are meaningless unless they are put together to portray a greater message.
For me personally, the whole experiment was amazing. I could really clear my mind and think about things clearly; whether they were related to school, work, family, friends, etc. Not only that, but I thought about these things reasonably. I thought through examining options and past events instead of on impulse and emotions. Also, when you are alone with nature, your mind cannot help to wander and imagine things that could happen in the future, or could have happened differently in the past. It was an amazing experience for me and I hope to do it again.
Sidenote: Poets are not the only ones who can see nature for what it is
5 comments:
George, I was looking for a nature response article to respond to and yours was the first one I saw. I wasn't sure I was going to respond to it, because I didn't know if I was going to have anything to say. But I do. What you said in your response was really thoughtful and sincere and I can tell you put a whole lot of time into what you were thinking about.
The first point that you brought up about the stars was really well written. It is completely true that the stars are out every single night and that we rarely pay attention to them. Maybe Emerson was right when he said that, it would mean taking them away for a whole year for us to appreciate them. I think that principle applies to a lot of things, especially in nature. We take so much of it for granted and don't realize how beautiful the place we live in and our surrounded by every single day is. I especially liked the part when you mentioned the fact that we are so far separated from the stars, and that is why we don't realize them or feel a connection to them because they are so many millions of miles away.
The second part of your response that I really liked was the part where you talk about how nature needs to be viewed as a whole, not just individual parts. Nature is much too complex to look at the individual parts, and it is necessary to be viewed as a whole in order to have any effect. I believe the creator made nature specifically so that it is viewed as a whole, and not parts.
You did a wonderful job summarizing your nature experience and tying it in to Emerson's work.
Dearest Georgie,
I really liked your post. I think that you and I both went into the nature experiement thinking okay well this is some time I can spend away from my homework just hanging out outside. And I think we both walked away a bit humbled by nature. Not only does nature have this ultimate aesthetic perfection that we as humans will never quite attain, but it has calm and cooling feel to it, that immediatly makes you stop thinking about all the petty things in life.
I think that both of us used this time to clarify all these happenings in our brains. One question that I would like to ask you however, is how do you (or do you) plan on incorporating nature in your life?
Favorite line of the whole piece is the last one: Poets are not the only ones who see nature for what it is. Amen to that brotha'
Love,
Frannie
George,
Your response to your nature is truly rewarding. I love how you connected various ideas that Emerson presented in his essay, to the feelings you felt when you dove head first into the calming scenery. The most profound idea that I found in Emerson's essay was the stars. I too wonder, and am humbled by the amazement of the universe around us. For my nature experiment I went out in the morning, and sat up in a tree, so it was nice to read about someone else who experienced the night time, which I did not get the chance in my experiment to test. Your essay, and your response to the experiment in class, have inspired me to go out one night and watch the stars. My grandfather was a very enthusiastic astronomer, and he always would show me different constellations, and planets in the vast world around us. I believe this idea can relate to the ability to step outside of the crazy and stressful ideas in our minds, and to envelop our thoughts in the free nature of the world. Thanks for sharing such a great experience!
George -
This experience seemed really cool for you. The ability to truly clear your mind away from all of the craziness in our lives is something not a lot of us can do even if we try. Also, I commend you for your recognition of the stars. What Emerson said about stars in his Nature essay really stood out to me, and it makes me happy that it did to someone else too. Even further, I'm jealous that you found time to really appreciate them in their beauty as Emerson describes them to be. Also, I really liked your point about taking Nature as a whole, rather than to divide it into seperate parts. I think this notion will help others reflect upon their Nature experiments, because we too often divide up our lives into sections to begin with. So we need to just put everything in perspective in one big pie that describes our life, and I think your interpretation of Nature symbolizes this concept well.
First I'd like to say I like the Greek Flag. But more importantly second, I really liked the surroundings you put yourself in, and you described it very thorough. I specifically enjoyed your talking of the sky and the stars and moon. Another part I believed was really cool was how you thought that nature was just one whole thing, and how it was divine. The way you described your scenery I can definitely see where you got that. Good job!
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