Nature

Emerson defines nature as anything that is not "me", that is something external to ourselves. We distract ourselves and the nature by theories, histories, and what other people think. What really matters is what we are personally experiencing from the nature, which is a lot accurate than others' accounts. I love the passage where he said that nature's beauty should be viewed as a whole but not as individual parts. I feel that in today busy life, we, as college students, are drown ourselves in the swirl of little different things was too much but forget about how wonderful life and nature really are. Even though Emerson said that only poets like him would be able to integrate nature, I believe that everyone is capable of doing it. It seems not that difficult to fit myself into the pattern of integration if I try to ignore the little and unnecessary emotion and troublesome. He mentioned the cycle analogy a lot: a cycle is simply perfect. Landscape, life, and beauty can all be compared to this perfect cycle. The way I see it is that nature and our lives are ordered and united.

It was such a beautiful day today. Siting outside on stairs near Regents, I read this essay with Bob Dylan playing in the background. I finally understood what DeAne meant when she said "read Whitman again and find the passage that sings to you." This entire essay just sang to me.

"The sun illuminates only the eye of the man, but shines into the eye and the heart of a child."

This is probably my favorite line. It is beautiful. He describe a different and profound way of seeing the nature: like a child. Adults lose a sense of wonder in perceiving the nature. Adults see nature, but they do not truly appreciate the way children do. Remember when you were young and the world was just like a treasure box? Children see with their hearts as well as their eyes. They are full of wonder and have not yet taken the beauty of nature for granted. I am not a child anymore, but I could be one when I see myself as a piece of this whole integration of the world.