Wednesday, September 2, 2009
To What End is Nature?
To simply ask the question is a violation. The beauty of nature is not found in equations that explain exactly how it functions, in books that take it apart to study its individual parts. The beauty of nature is found in its mystery. Why must everything have an express purpose? What good is the journey if its only focus is the destination? The questions that have perpetually obsessed mankind are best left unanswered. Emerson declares, "Let us interrogate the great apparition that shines so peacefully around us." but that is an insult to the apparition's very nature. No one has ever reached the end of the rainbow, it disappears if we draw too near. And by doing that, being always just out of reach, it engrosses us even more. Why can't secrets just be kept secret? For children, everything is new, everything is unknown. Emerson admires this appreciation of nature. "The sun illuminates only the eye of the man, but shines into the eye and the heart of the child." Yet the reason for childish wonder is because of the uncracked enigma of nature. As soon as people begin to think they understand something, their interest in it declines. That is why "few adult persons can see nature". If we are to truly preserve and enjoy the beauty and integrity of nature, as Emerson clearly desires, that is not done by having "no questions to ask which are unanswerable", but marveling at all the mystery in the world, daring to wonder about that which there is no answer to. Nature is too vast to fit in the human mind.
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Emma, though I do not disagree with you I think that here you are simplifying Emerson's views too much. He does not, as you claim, simply wish to interrogate out of nature all her secrets. He instead wishes to use nature as a forum with which to seek the secrets within himself, god, and the world as a whole.
ReplyDeleteNice post, Emma! And I'm not sure your brother has understood your meaning exactly. You seem to be claiming that much of Nature's appeal resides in its very mystery (or, perhaps more accurately, in the sense of 'wonder' it inspires). I think this is a fairly accurate parsing of Emerson's views--but let's wait and see what he has to say in "Divinity School Address."
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