"I went to the woods because I wished to live deliberately, to front only the essential facts of life, and see if I could not learn what it had to teach, and not, when I came to die, discover that I had not lived." This quote is from Thoreau's book Life in the Woods. These very words were uttered from his lips to explain why he ventured out into the woods to get more in tune with himself. Writing this book helped to describe what he was exposed to during his time alone in the woods. Thoreau was trying to figure out what was necessary in life and what you could survive without. That exposure to nature gave him a new outlook on the world of outdoors.
My great nature encounter was when I went out into the woods one particular day during school. We were going to find ourselves and get spiritual insight on our lives. Going into the woods we were led by a long trail that brought us to a ropes course. The course kind of got us off track of what the original purpose of what our going there was for. The mustiness of the air made my breaths seem condensed. I began to make my way onto the ropes course. Looking out onto the treetops the bright rays of the sun shined through. The trees looked as if they were gazing into the heavens. Walking down the trails tree limbs pricked me at my side. Trash came out of every direction as I was walking down the pathway. Garbage lay there in the distance just wanting to be picked up and put into its correct place. This experience did not seem to have an extraordinary effect on me. Although this experience did not help me a lot, it really felt good to be outdoors and to encounter other parts of the world.
When Emerson and Thoreau had these encounters they found themselves and got spiritual insight from God. Emerson came up with the idea of Transcendentalism. He was a Transcendentalist who believed in being nonconformed to the ways of the world and was self-reliant because if he was trying to get something done, he would do just that. His ideas were also based on confidence, free thought, and the importance of nature. Ralph Waldo Emerson was born May 25, 1803. At the young age of eight, father died from tuberculosis. Emerson graduated from Harvard University. When he was twenty-five, he married seventeen year old Anne Tucker. She later died of tuberculosis. His second wife was Lydia Jackson. They had a son named Waldo, who at the age of five, died of tuberculosis. Through all of this hardship, he still made it through life. This is the way that he showed self-reliance because he relied on himself to make his life better. He was interested in the importance of nature and how it made life better for individuals. Emerson says, "To speak truly, few adult persons can see nature. Most persons do not see the sun. At least they have a very superficial seeing. The sun only illuminates the eye of the sun, but shines into the eye of the man and the heart of the child. The lover of nature is he whose inward and outward senses are still truly adjusted to each other; who has retained the spirit of infancy into the era of manhood." What Emerson is saying is that adults don't recognize nature as they should, but children are always in the eye of nature and recognize it more. He's saying that the lover of nature not only honors the outside world when they are a child, but also through their life of adulthood. Most people don't like being in the outdoors for long, but Thoreau was the man who recognized these ideas which Emerson had thought up and put them into play.
Henry David Thoreau was an American essayist, poet, and practical philosopher. He followed in the footsteps of Emerson. He not only followed the ideas of Emerson, but put those principles into action. Thoreau went into the woods for two long years to discover what nature was all about and to get spiritual insight from God. When I first went out into the woods with Markeshia and Danyetta, I was not very in tune with the outdoors, but once I laid ontop of the ropes course, I began to think about the beautiful creations that God had made. Why not love nature for what it is? Thoreau said, "Shall I not have intelligence with the earth? Am I not partly leaves and vegetable mould myself." Thoreau is trying to ask why shouldn't we get in tune with nature and love it for what brings to you. He's asking are you not part of the earth too. The thing about Thoreau was that he loved nature just because of what it showed. It showed the beautiful creations of God, and how he loved us so much that he gave us a beautiful world to live in.
Emerson and Thoreau were the two greatest Transcendentalists of the 1800s. They believed in being nonconformed, self-reliant, confident, having free thoughts about ideas, and they felt that nature should be important to the individuals of this earth. They loved nature and the great ideas that their brains thought up.
My great nature encounter was when I went out into the woods one particular day during school. We were going to find ourselves and get spiritual insight on our lives. Going into the woods we were led by a long trail that brought us to a ropes course. The course kind of got us off track of what the original purpose of what our going there was for. The mustiness of the air made my breaths seem condensed. I began to make my way onto the ropes course. Looking out onto the treetops the bright rays of the sun shined through. The trees looked as if they were gazing into the heavens. Walking down the trails tree limbs pricked me at my side. Trash came out of every direction as I was walking down the pathway. Garbage lay there in the distance just wanting to be picked up and put into its correct place. This experience did not seem to have an extraordinary effect on me. Although this experience did not help me a lot, it really felt good to be outdoors and to encounter other parts of the world.
When Emerson and Thoreau had these encounters they found themselves and got spiritual insight from God. Emerson came up with the idea of Transcendentalism. He was a Transcendentalist who believed in being nonconformed to the ways of the world and was self-reliant because if he was trying to get something done, he would do just that. His ideas were also based on confidence, free thought, and the importance of nature. Ralph Waldo Emerson was born May 25, 1803. At the young age of eight, father died from tuberculosis. Emerson graduated from Harvard University. When he was twenty-five, he married seventeen year old Anne Tucker. She later died of tuberculosis. His second wife was Lydia Jackson. They had a son named Waldo, who at the age of five, died of tuberculosis. Through all of this hardship, he still made it through life. This is the way that he showed self-reliance because he relied on himself to make his life better. He was interested in the importance of nature and how it made life better for individuals. Emerson says, "To speak truly, few adult persons can see nature. Most persons do not see the sun. At least they have a very superficial seeing. The sun only illuminates the eye of the sun, but shines into the eye of the man and the heart of the child. The lover of nature is he whose inward and outward senses are still truly adjusted to each other; who has retained the spirit of infancy into the era of manhood." What Emerson is saying is that adults don't recognize nature as they should, but children are always in the eye of nature and recognize it more. He's saying that the lover of nature not only honors the outside world when they are a child, but also through their life of adulthood. Most people don't like being in the outdoors for long, but Thoreau was the man who recognized these ideas which Emerson had thought up and put them into play.
Henry David Thoreau was an American essayist, poet, and practical philosopher. He followed in the footsteps of Emerson. He not only followed the ideas of Emerson, but put those principles into action. Thoreau went into the woods for two long years to discover what nature was all about and to get spiritual insight from God. When I first went out into the woods with Markeshia and Danyetta, I was not very in tune with the outdoors, but once I laid ontop of the ropes course, I began to think about the beautiful creations that God had made. Why not love nature for what it is? Thoreau said, "Shall I not have intelligence with the earth? Am I not partly leaves and vegetable mould myself." Thoreau is trying to ask why shouldn't we get in tune with nature and love it for what brings to you. He's asking are you not part of the earth too. The thing about Thoreau was that he loved nature just because of what it showed. It showed the beautiful creations of God, and how he loved us so much that he gave us a beautiful world to live in.
Emerson and Thoreau were the two greatest Transcendentalists of the 1800s. They believed in being nonconformed, self-reliant, confident, having free thoughts about ideas, and they felt that nature should be important to the individuals of this earth. They loved nature and the great ideas that their brains thought up.
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