This passage stood out to me because I believed that it did a good job summarizing the piece. Emerson believes that people are influenced greatly by there environment he also believes that the environment is one of the only true ways to get a question answered as it is one of the only things that can answer a question at all. In the above quote he asserts that we are distracted by thinking of science and theories when truly all science should be to prove nature theories. He believes that we have little tendency to use nature because are minds have become so cluttered with other thoughts and other ways to have our questions answered.
Tuesday, April 7, 2009
Nature: Emerson
In his essay "Nature", Ralph Waldo Emerson assesses the idea that what we need to know and learn is provided by the environment that surrounds us. My favorite lines come in the second paragraph of the text, " Undoubtedly we have no questions to ask which are unanswerable. We must trust the perfection of the creation so far, as to believe whatever curiosity the order of things has awakened in our minds, the order of things can satisfy."
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
Your interpretation of the lines you chose helps me understand how similar Eustace and Emerson are. Although they don't hold nature to the same spiritual value they do see the common people to be disrespecting in similar manners. Eustace sees the issue of materialism and recognizes that his life will on be focused on becoming a man of destiny if he lives off of nature and educates others that they should too, while Emerson sees the same flaw but chooses to be philosophical about it and develop the idea that all theories should not be analyzed and that nature is the ultimate answer. I tend to see Eustace's perspective more clearly because he is actually do what he said, it is hard to agree with Emerson simply because he is being hypocritical in his lifestyle and in his writing.
ReplyDelete