Nature in Transcendentalism
Those Transcendentalists sure loved taking long walks, hugging trees, and sniffing flowers. Like, they really loved nature. They felt that industrialization—which was sweeping through the country at the time that they started writing, with Mac products close behind—was taking people away from nature. And that was a bad thing. Even if your 6 has a really sweet camera.
For the Transcendentalists, nature is the place where we not only find ourselves, but where we can be ourselves. Unlike mean ole society, nature doesn't put any pressure on us to behave in a certain way or conform to social standards. If we run naked through a field, the grass isn't going to tell us "Put on some clothes!" Whereas our neighbors in the city would probably say that. Even if you're going streaking through the quad Old School style.
Nature doesn't judge us the way people do. And for that reason it's where we can be most free.
Plus, the Transcendentalists believed that nature gives us access to God. It's by contemplating the wonder of nature that we can connect to God. Nature's power, in other words, reflects God's power. So whether you're in it for God or for streaking through the meadows, Transcendentalism can show you where it's at.
Chew on This
Ahh…the joys of a soft breeze on a bright, bright sunshiny day. Henry David Thoreau tells us all about that sorta thing all over his book Walden. Though he wasn't much for streaking.
Ralph Waldo Emerson takes a leaf off the same tree and says we should all take the time to look up at the stars at night. Staring at nature always does us good (see quote# 9). Don't be a doubter!