Transcendentalism

Sorry this is late.. anyways, I'm thinking that after all the editing is done, my paper needs a lot of organizing, it will involve the idea that conformity is a type of illusion. Emerson says that nature is the only form of escape from todays society, and to be free, you have to release yourself from all form of work and burdens. I don't believe this is true at all. Nature can be a form of relaxation, but its not the only form. I have been juggling so many ideas around in my head and talking to a few of my peers, what I have learned is that an individuals escape can be anything. It can be nature, music, sports, company, shopping, sleeping, art, even in some cases it can be work. Some people like to always be productive, its not bad, its just who they are. Also, it could be religion. In Emerson's Harvard Divinity School Address, he told the graduates there that they had wasted their time by studying religion and many were insulted resulting in his banishment from the campus. I can better understand their offense since beginning this paper. Religion can be an escape for people too. Knowing that there is always something out there that is perfect, in a sense its almost like nature.. I hope to re-do my paper and fit in somewhere that even if you try avoid conforming to the social norm.. you are still conforming to some sort of group. Being an individual is smudged by our society because people are influenced so easily by the media. For years those who fit the criteria of the "norm" will buy anything the entertainment business tries to sell. The newest weight loss scam, sex scandals, fashion statements, who's new and whats hot. Although those who oppose todays brainless following, they too were influenced by someone who was probably involved in the media. A protester, indie musician, any sort of rebel throughout history. Those are my ideas and it will happen.. hopefully in a more organized in flowing manner.

Transcendentalist Essay approach

What has really caught my eye for a topic is Emerson's thoughts on nature's way of embellishing our earth. Nature is what "designs" all in our world and I believe that we humans are bound to nature as well as any other living thing, but with intention to explore and prosper from the fruits of Mother Earth. These fruits are gifts that nature designs for humans and all other creatures that roam our planet. This is one way that nature binds us to our earth, and I think that this in general is a beautiful embellishment of Mother Nature.

"The stars awaken a certain reverence, because though always present, they are inaccessible; but all natural objects make a kindred impression, when the mind is open to their influence."

-Ralph Waldo Emerson

The second half of this quote makes me think of us humans being placed on the earth to live our lives amongst the embellishments of mother nature, but only if we truly respect and appreciate all that we are given.

Your Inner Child.

Many of my peers have written about how nature-centric Emerson is, and are writing about how flawed our society, especially our schools, are. My topic is similar, yet completely different. I am focusing on how professional and almost inhuman our society has come. We don't see it as much here, but the world, especially America, has become so centered around maturity and being serious and robots all the time. As Emerson encourages us to embrace nature, I say we break free of this humorless charade and embrace our inner child. Be immature. Of course we should practice moderation in all things, but the work till you die course of our society (as Mason said), is so bleak and void of just plain, unadulterated fun. It should be okay for us to drift around Clark's with the tiny shopping carts and to play tackle football in Wal-Mart (true story). But we are taught to "Grow Up", to tie and beat our inner child, to shove them so far back into our subconscious that we forget they're there. I get told to "Grow Up" and to be mature every day, simply because I strive to make otherwise boring tasks more enjoyable for myself and everyone around me. Yet, for some reason, we have been raised to resist a joy and shun those who spread it. I feel pity for those who tell me I'm immature almost as if it's an insult, because they are never going to get as much enjoyment out of life as I do, even if they conquer this materialistic society and own every physical possession there is to own. We have lost sight of what is really important, that being happiness, and (at least as I see it) having a sense of humor is by far the fastest way to get there. I wholly embrace the saying that if you have fun wasting time, your not wasting time. Lift yourself up from the monotonous seriousness you have been born into. Don't conform to the miserable people that tell you to "Grow Up". Live a little bit.

Conformist

I think I am going to pull from two of Emerson's quotes, "Imitation is suicide" & "The sun shines today also"

I'm going to write about the challenge of keeping true to yourself as you grow up and move to different places, as cliche as that is. I think the hardest part of moving is staying yourself without trying to relive the life you had set up before. It's important to remember that everyplace is different but different can be good, it's just a matter of rebuilding your life with what you're given and not trying to recreate anything just because it's already been figured out. I'm also going to discuss how whether it's okay to adjust parts of yourself to relate to a new place.  Adaptation is a survival instinct, but the difficulty is in finding that balance between compromising with your surroundings and giving up the best parts of yourself to fit in. As Emerson says "Imitation is suicide" the worst thing you can do is come into a new place as someone you're not.

ideas

i think that i will write my essay on self discovery. im not sure if it is ok to write about what i got out of emmersons work and what i want to do with it in my life. but i feel like after reading others' posts this topic will be good. i want to think about emmerson's ideas and then write a reflection. i feel like there is work that i do in my life that is in strong alignment with emmerson. i love what he has to say and i would like to share what i feel happens in a more realistic context.

emmerson wrote a long time ago and he was facing a different reality. now we have so many issues to and extreem. to live the life emmerson wants you to live you would have to put yourself through extreem discomfort. also every person in socioty today has to maintain a life and a job and other things. complete solitude isn't really an option. i want to write about self discovery and some of emmerson's other ideas in a modern doable approach.

nature and life

For my essay topic, I am going for a journalistic approach. while reading old journal entries of mine and noticed that naturally people are born, people live, then like every life story it ends. No matter how hard we try, a life always ends in death. It's just the natural path. Nature and life are dependent to each other. Hopefully by taking some of the things I've written in the past I can construct an essay describing live and nature and how they work together.

essay topic

For my essay i was thinking about writing about how Emerson got inspired by nature, and how i am inspired by cheerleading. the motivation, inpiration, and the love of the sport drives me. Emerson wanted to understand nature and take as much part in it as he could. i understand cheerleading but there is still much more i can take in and learn from others and myself. this sport helps me realize who i am and how i deal with situations.

Transcendentalist Essay

I know I have already elaborated on Emerson’s idea “Imitation is suicide,” but I cannot seem to get these words out of my mind. So many ideas are sparked by this very sentence. I think about the pressure of today’s society to conform into the idealistic person. Whether watching the news, reading magazines, or simply walking among others we are told to “look like this, buy this, and eat this.” Money, status, appearance, are these the things that we should be striving for? Society teaches us to judge, mentally abusing each other for being different. And the lengths people will go to just to “fit in;” surgery to alter appearances and dieting to the point where it’s a struggle not to faint are more common than ever in today’s culture.

Then I look at all the people, in history and in present, who have broken the band of conformity. Some cases those individuals are ridiculed (or even worse) and abused until they step down and blend in. But those who have the immense strength to go against the mold despite the constant ridicule, become the new leaders of the pack. They are the ones who change the world and do the things we thought never possible. If it wasn’t for Benjamin Franklin, would we be an independent society? Without the Wright Brothers, would we have flight?

So what if I’m not part of a “clique” and don’t follow the alpha. I’d much rather be myself than a puppet of someone else. Like Emerson says, imitation means you will only ever be a lesser secondary version of the individual. Every person is born unique and I believe that is the biggest power we possess. Like I said earlier, conformity is like giving up your soul- everything you are.


My ideas are all over the place…

ideassssss

My essay will consist of 3 parts. In the first I will talk about how Emerson believes first hand learning to be the best and that teachers can only tell you about thing they can’t make you understand of experience these things on your own just from them telling you about it. In the second I will discus how school sucks and it’s not us learning anything. It’s simply us being told about the experiences of others. To really learn and understand we must experience things for ourselves. Sitting in a plastic chair is not learning, being outside, and firsthand learning will teach kids everything they need to know. The third part will be about authentic learning. How first hand experiences will benefit children and they will understand things so much more because it will be their own experiences they know about and not that of another.

I want to use Emmerson quote about the baubles and how little kids can learn more by not going to school essentially. I want to have a guy come back as the reincarnation of Emmerson, and he comes back and tells people not to go to school, and that we should all go into the woods and become one with the woods. It 's going to be a story on what would happen if Emmerson came back to life.

News and Gossip

“To a philosopher all news, as it is called, is gossip…”
----One of my ideas for the essay-----

As I over hear the daily news, blasting through my TV and being intently watched by my parents, I feel incredibly uncomfortable. I think that not only is the TV obnoxiously loud but all the gossip and crap they are talking about has no meaning. Why is the biggest news channel getting into other peoples problems? Who cares about Kate Gosslin and her fake boobs? Only people who have no life and would rather pick on someone else then face their own problems and fears. People should focus on what’s true and noble their heart not someone else’s.

My Idea

Im thinking about ripping on the way of life for most of America Today. You know, go through high school, go to college, do good then you can get a good job. Like Thoreau said," The universe constantly and obediently answers to our conceptions; whether we travel fast or slow, the track is laid for us". I disagree with this statement. Nothing is laid out for you, you have to take it for it to be your life. The way the western world works right now is by that form of a cart on a track, being guided. Its bullONEY. People should have the choice to do whatever they want, screw the track.

Transcendentaist Essay!

For my essay i want to write about how our generation has lost the appreciation for the natural beauty around us everyday and night. We don't see the qualities of life like we use to the first time we saw it, nothing is new and exciting. I'm going to use quotes from Emerson, Walden and Mr. Lavender. The quotes will start off my paper and then I'm going to spin off on my own story/topic to get my generation to appreciate the scenery around us.

Transcendentalist Essay

For the essay I want to talk about imagination. In Walden, Thorough briefly brings up imagination. "My imagination carried me so far that I even had the refusal of several farms,-the refusal was all I wanted,-but I never got my fingers burned by actual possession." Thorough was a grown man, yet he was still talking about the powers of his imagination. He walked through land and thought about what it could be, if he bought it. His imagination would go wild, but he never actually got the land. I believe that currently, people have less imagination. Toddlers and kids have tons of imagination, about Santa Claus or becoming a millionaire. But, as they get older their imagination becomes weaker. Teenagers have imagination about weird things. But as they become adults, it goes away. They fall into the routine of regular life. After graduating high school you go to college. After college you move somewhere and get a job. Monday through Friday you work 9-5 with the holidays off. After work you go home, take care of your pets, clean the house, cook dinner, and watch TV. Then you wake up and do it all over again. Imagination disappears when reality becomes evident. People can't dream about having more money then they can handle, travelling wherever they want to, and having the perfect material life they wanted when they were younger. They accpted the fact that they won't get that, and if they keep letting their imagination go wherever it wants, they will only get led to more disappointment. The point of the essay would be how over time imagination has went from being in everyone, to only being in kids.

Essay Topic

The topic I have picked is about our society. I feel that we are trapped in an unlocked cage but waiting outside is the unknown (nature), we can leave but the unknown is our largest fear and the cage (society) protects us. So we give up our freedom to be protected and kept away from the unknown so we can stay alive but really we are not living at all. If there is a god, creator than it wouldn't want us to destroy nature but rather be one with nautre and embrace nature. We need to break through the cage and face the unknown head on not be afraid but curious. That's my topic.

Writing as a person in nature, their journal as they are out in the wild/nature on their own for 2 weeks. "To go into solitude, a man needs to retire as much from his chamber as from his society"
Start with my description of nature verse Emersons and Thoreaus.
Then about what nature is. What it means. Its purpose and why it's here. How it affects life. How it affects a person mentally, physically, and spirtually. Also how it transfers into a society, life in a city and life in a smaller town so compare me in Arizona vs me in Telluride. I want to put my reader IN nature (maybe describe a special place I like) and then SHOW them the effect Nature has on me and, by extendion, on others.

my introduction.. life with the writerss....

A dock stretched over the mirrored lake that spread 270 degrees around us. The mountains cascaded into bigger more valid peaks in the distance and the sun squeezed itself through two prominent summits miles to the west. It was extravagant, the clouds glowed orange and pink. The sun’s rays seemed to pull us in, to make us gravitate towards them. It danced and sank slowly away, reaching to say goodbye till tomorrow and greeting the other side of the world with a warm hello.

We were a group of fourty-five exchange students gathered from every corner of the earth. Every one of us had adventured out of our comfortable life styles with our friends, families, hobbies and languages to learn, experience, see an unknown culture and develop into the young adults an experience like this promised. We became quiet, curious about the surrounding actions and quickly gathered informational pieces that we could chunk together to use in our circumstance to grow, succeed and make a difference.

Eight days previously I was at my comfort level encompassed by my closest friends, my supportive family and the setting that I had learned to love and desire. Now, I sat on a dock with three young men. They were there for the same reasons, to live and experience but also they were some of the most unique people I have encountered. The three consisted of a boy by the name of Ralph Emerson, one who went by Walden Thoreau as well as a matured adolescent called Walt Whitman. We connected immediately because of our mere language of English. None of us spoke much german yet, but in three months time that would evolve into something none of us could ever even envision.

simplicity and awe

I am going to write about how the simplicity Thoreau talks about is totally wrong. The more I write more I realize that this is kind of a combination of talking about what my draft will be and the draft itself. One of his main ideas is about how people should just go out and live in the woods, and how society is totally useless. Why should everyone go out into the woods and just sit there their whole lives? Then nothing would get accomplished and people would get bored. Everyone wants something to occupy their time. If I were to sit in the woods for my entire life I would totally get bored. One of the quotes I am thinking about using is "Why should we live with such a hurry and waste of life?" In this quote Thoreau is saying that we should not waste our lives by doing things in society but really, why should we waste our lives sitting in a shack in nature doing nothing. That truly is a waste of life. One of my other ideas is that of being like a child and being fascinated by everything like you have just seen it for the first time. The quotes are from Emerson's Nature and say "In the presence of nature a wild delight runs through the man" and "The sun illuminates only the eye of the man, but shine in the eye and the heart of the child." The idea of seeing everything as if it was the first time is simply ridiculous. Sure, someone can still be awed by something after they have seen it once, nothing matches that first time. This is similar to living in Telluride. Sure, every time I come into town I can say "Wow, that is beautiful", but it will never be the same as that very first time. That's what I am thinking about writing about.

Be Different! (Like Everyone Else)

"These are hard times for individuality. If you do any of the small eccentricities, then you've got to know that at least a zillion people do the same." (Be Different! Like Everyone Else) I disagree with Luc Sante. I think this is the best time to express our individuality. The little things that we do, like carry a special bag everywhere, always have a little shivering dog, wear the bracelets on one hand in particular, etc. everybody else may be doing. But it is the combination of familiar eccentrics that give us something entirley new and unique.
I used to always where my bracelets on my right hand, I would have a stack going up to the middle of my forearm. And though every other child in the second grade may have been into the same style, I used those bracelets to tell my left and rights apart, so to this day I can not wear anything on my left hand because it confuses me. No child in my class had this specific trait for bracelets. Nor do they get confused by accesories on their left hand because I learned differently then they did. But that doesn't mean I am the only one wiht different traits. A student in my preschool class would always sing out loud. Especially when the teacher gave us the activity of singing in our heads. It was just what she did and no one else would even think of doing.
There are also more ways to express our individualtity then the way we learn in the classroom. Our market today gives us a wide variety of clothing, jewlery, tatoos, hair styles, and so on. Many people shop at the same store, the more popular brands like Holister, American Eagle, Urban Outfitters, JC Penny, Vanity, and the list keeps going. But everyone can picka specific shirt or dress or pair of pants that they like above the rest. They choose clothing that matches a style that they set in their heads. Many people share the characteristics of certain styles, like a group poeople may not like ruffles. But then in that group are people who also don't like pink, and that sets them apart from the rest. Then in that group that doesn't like pink, maybe two people love writing on their shirts. One of those people love inspirational writing, the other like humor. This is what sets us apart in our clothing aspect, the little things we like vs the big things we don't. We end up coming out with our own style that no one else can copy.

A Day in the Life

My idea is to take everything that Emerson said and apply it to my everyday life. I want to rip on secondhand learning, material things, and complexity of modern day life. Everything I do during a daily routine should be defined by Emerson's ideas, I want to be able to criticize the 21st century and the ridiculousness of how everything we do is just so incredibly complicated. Life now is impossible to live without drama or insecurities and that is because we have separated so far away from our original nature and true soul. I want to cover a whole range of issues and address them very honestly.

Imitation

I think my essay is going to be on how imitation is the best form of flattery. In the perspective of the person who is being copied, it feels really good to have someone be like you. We need people to have role models, so that people try to be better and greater than others. Eventually, brilliant people are formed and accomplish amazing things. It doesn't matter that poeple are the same, because they will transform into better people and go beyond their desires. Imitation is not suicide, and to survive we all have to be one team.

simplicity

Our lives are so overcomplicated. If only life was simpler than maybe life would be better. Whitman says

"have you practis'd so long to read?
have you felt so proud to get at the meaning of a poem?"

All the time we spend learning things that wont matter when we are older just overcomplicated things. we must remember things for tests only to forget them. in Waldon Thoreau says "keep your accounts on your thumb nail" meaning keep only what is really necessary. Forget about all the details, they just complicate every thing. Emerson says "He acts it as life before he apprehends it as truth." We don't need to understand every thing because it will happen any way. Why must we know every thing, if we are only to die.

Essay idea

"Imitation is suicide"

Society shows people since birth how they're supposed to act and dress. We lose originality when get caught up in this, we lose character, imagination, and the power to think for ourselves. Emerson and Thoreau both say how thinking for ourselves and figuring out truths for ourselves is the only way to find our own genius.

American Romanticism

for my essay i am going to write about simplicity and questioning authority.
Thoreau said "simplicity, simplicity, simplicity." Is this a good thing? if it is, why aren't we living that way? every day i hear people say they need this , and they want that, but is that true, is it really necessary? Being simple is almost only using nature. if you are simple you won't need the makeup, the fancy water bottle, or the shoe shiner. Simple is, taking what is given to you and you dealing with that. you are not complaining that you need more. you can do a lot with a little and keep it simple.
Questions always make things complicated. There is no such thing as a simple question, because there is always that 'What if' statement. You could ask a question like 'what is a pencil?' and get a direct answer, but what if you say it has no lid? Any question can turn complicated in a snap. Teachers always say that there are no stupid questions except one not asked. however Luc Sante said " Are you a unique individual? What a stupid question!" WHAT. I thought that there were no such thing as a stupid question. Now i am a little confused. And any way that could be a very complicated question. there are many answers that will vary from each person. In a way he could be right that there is a stupid question. if someone asked" How do you spell CAT" the class would call him/her stupid. but yet that is a very simple question.
now some might be saying that i am contradicting myself, and i would agree, but is that bad. maybe i will end up changing my mind in the new phrase. at least i am not afraid to say it. as Lavender said what if Mitchell said that he hated Lady Gaga, and then the next day he hears another song and completely changes his mind. He will be to ashamed to say it because of he thought before.
Besides non-conformity, integrity, and other values i would like to do simplicity.

THIS ONE'S ACTUALLY FROM CECILIA

(BEAUTIFUL, BUT DAZED AND CONFUSED)


“I am the lover of uncontained and immortal beauty”



I am tired of people talking about beauty.

I can’t stand those freaks (is freaks the right word?) on TV who claim the last pill which will make you fitter in one week or magazines full of teenagers who sell their self like food at the grocery store. Beauty in not necessary, beauty is not the only chance you have to be successful, beauty is not the only talent that matters. Beauty beauty beauty. It’s a non-sense word: how can you define something changing every year, which is different for each person or culture all over the world?.

Emerson got wrong saying that. And this is not because times have changed and he couldn’t realize how the society would have grown and developed. He says that everyone should have his own interpretation of Nature, which is beauty, and then beauty is God, and God is, well God is what he is. But hang on for a minute: how can you talk about beauty if is something that nobody can understand if not by his own thoughts? It’s useless to talk to someone about something that he can get just if he doesn’t listen to you. And what if your interpretation of Nature goes against the fact that you are the only one who can be “face to face” with God? What if you have the same idea of someone else? What if you realize that you have the essence of Nature its self in your body and your egotism doesn’t have to vanish at all? Then do you have to follow your mind or Emerson’s belief (which say to follow your mind!) ?. The word beauty is too difficult to use with such a great meaning as Emerson and we do: we pretend that it gives an instant and clear message of what we want to say but it depends to who’s listening to us and the time and the place where we are.

I can’t understand why we keep on following desperately the change of beauty and why Emerson uses such a confusing word to describe Nature (maybe because is a indescribable concept?).

If his goal was to perplex people, well, I can say that he actually dazed me.

Blog Quote from Nature: “The sun illuminates only the eye of the man, but shines into the eye and the heart of the child.”

I really like this quote because it sparked a thought in my mind that it is true. The quote almost makes me sad because I want to be someone who is forever young at heart because always holding on to that innocence and purity that children have can bring out the true beauty in people. The child’s mind is very innocent and open to the new and unknown. Nature, beauty, and new things drag them in. So you see more of a light in their eyes. Everything makes them sparkle from within al the way to their core. That’s why when people see children they see the future and see pure beauty. As you get older you go through so much more and all your experiences form you and create you as a person. As a child you are young and you have your whole life to start therefore they explore the sun and new things with more deep perception. It isn’t something that you have seen throughout your whole life. I think that adults should continue to be like children are. They should let the sun shine into their eyes and their heart and embrace the beauty and the need we have for the sun.

The Sun Shines Today Also

"Why should we not also enjoy an original relation to the universe? Why should not we have the poetry and philosophy of insight and not the tradition, and a religion by revelation to us, and not the history of theirs?"

I love the point Emerson is making in his introduction to Nature. The beautiful thing about new generations is that we come with new ideas built on the same foundation as the last. This idea comes up in a lot of his works, that as long as we are following the path laid out by the "foregoing generations" and striving to live up to their preset laws, we won't be able to achieve the same intesity of life that we would if we were to rediscover it for ourselves. Trying to"grope among the dry bones of the past, or put the living generations to maswuerade out of it's faded wardrobe" only leaves room for things to be lost and distorted, not created and discovered as they should. In Emerson's address to the Harvard Divinity School he is adamant throughout his speech that religion should not be something taught, but instead discovered independantly. If faith is here to be found, let each person find it for what he sees it, feels it as. Through this each person would be able to have their own conviction instead of trying to mock the devotion of their teachers. This isn't saying that it's wrong to be preached to, or to devote yourself to the bible. Only that these things should derive from something you've found in yourself, instead of being told that this is what is right, and this is how it should be believed because somebody else had found it that way.

Transparent Eyeball

"...all mean egotism vanishes. I become a transparent eyeball; I am nothing; I see all."
This quote, I think, sums up the overall meaning of Ralph Waldo Emerson's, Nature. It is true that when surrounded by nature takes away the ego in everybody. There is nothing to compete with or be greater than in nature. He is one with nature--a part of nature. All a person can do is sit there and stare. Emerson said he is a transparent eyeball, meaning he sees everything for what it really is and should be seen as. He could look at the birds and not think about how obnoxious their chirping is, but how their songs are so beautiful. He is nothing. Emerson is still and silent while admiring the natural surroundings. He is not thinking about anything except the beauty. He sees everything for its true value and not what it has evolved to be known as. I really cannot think of any words to describe this, but I can see it in my mind. I see that Emerson sitting in the most random part of the woods, staring with no emotion on his face but his wide eyes are taking in everything with out any thought. As hard as it is to explain in words, it is so easy to be that transparent eyeball Emerson wrote about.

Today

"The sun shines today also." Introduction to Nature By: Ralph Waldo Emerson

This quote was one of my favorites and definitely stuck most in my mind through all the reading. It is inspirational, uplifiting and very encouraging. The sun shines today also.. to me this means there is no end to the possiblities that can flow from your mind to your hands. The light is yours, you can do anything because the world is your oyster. Do not look back, only look forward. Every day there are new opportunites that are created and conquered. Innovation should be peoples strongest weapon in todays society and this quote promotes free thinking and independence and that is what I love about it.

Emerson Nature Quote.

" The foregoing generations beheld God and nature face to face; we, through their eyes".- Ralph waldo Emerson from his piece Nature

While reading Nature there was many quotes that stood out to me. However over all my favorite quote was “The foregoing generations beheld God and nature face to face; we, through their eyes". This quote really makes me think that people before were just living day by day. They constantly had a strong relationship with nature. Now people don't have a relationship with it like they use to. I think we should consider nature and its wonders. Take it in everyday, even if it’s for a minuet go outside and look at your surroundings. Often times it can be a calming release from society. It’s a part of our everyday life, and can be the answer to some of life's questions. So why not embrace it like the foregoing generations did?

"He who puts off impurity, thereby puts on purity."

"He who puts off impurity, thereby puts on purity." -Ralph Waldo Emerson, The Divinity School Address pg 104

I really liked this quote. I feel like this really shows what it takes to be pure and good. Instead of making that seem like a huge unconquerable task, which is how i feel most people look at it as, he makes doing whats right, easy. I think that in this quote he might be saying that man as he or she is created is pure and the things that make man impure are his or her own wrong doings, conscious bad decisions and fighting intuition. I think Emerson is saying that the natural creation of man is good and pure. If there is a man who grows up outside of civilization in nature will know what is good and will do things that are right. Also like i was saying in the beginning the way that Emerson words this particular quote there is such ease and flow. What it is telling you to do all of the sudden doesn't seem so bad. It seems like everything is right and good you just have to not be bad. Most people have a pretty strong sense of what is wrong. All you have to do to be right or good is not be bad. That is a pretty simple concept and i can really appreciate this quote.

Emy's quote!

In the piece about nature that Emerson wrote I loved the part when he said,” But every night come out these envoys of beauty, and light the universe with their admonishing smile.” I like the way he described the stars in that sentence. In general I love the stars and just the concept of space, its very interesting so just the way he explained it made me like it even more! It gave me a whole new image of the stars in my head and it reminded me of when I was little and my dad would always tell me when it was lightening and thundering not to be scared because every flash was the sky taking your picture and then the boom was them loving the picture. Now if anyone is afraid of the stars you can tell them that they are the light of the universe smiling at you.

Nature vs. Science

"All science has one aim, namely, to find a theory of nature. We have theories of races and functions, but scarcely yet a remote approach to an idea of creation." This quote stands out to me because Emerson is stating that we as humans ask too much of nature and therefore may not respect it. Personally I look at a tree and think, "Wow, look at those green leaves! so beautiful." But if I look at a tree through a scientist's eyes, I would think, "okay if it rains an "x" amount of precipitation, then the photosynthesis will start to play a roll, etc." He may not have meant this when he wrote it, but to me this quote makes me wonder why does it matter? do we have to know specific scientist facts about EVERYTHING, or can we just leave it how it is, and just live life?

Emerson Quote

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

When I read this my mind went absolutely nuts. I couldn't describe the beauty that was written in these words. My first reaction was very "surfacy" if you will. I was thinking about it such as the tree cutter, rather than the poet. Once I thought about it as a poet, I was blown away. The Sun, the most vital part of our existance, illumantes only the eye of the man, a person who thinks he knows it all. The man no longer sees the need to question anything, he only sees life as the tree cutter, rather than the poet. The tree cutter looks at thing superficially and agrees with what he has been taught and what his mind tells him on first reaction. The Child questions EVERYTHING!!! spend 5 minutes with a kid and you will have been asked over 40 questions. And they aren't being mennacing or anything like that. They are LEARNING!!! and that's the beauty of it. That is why the sunlight goes straight to the heart. They percieve it then they question it, and then they ask another question. Older people think that they all have the answer. They know what's up. That is complete and utter Bulls***. The kid is closer to having all of the answers than the man. One day a kid is going to ask the right question and is going to figure it all out. Another thing is the word choice when talking about the lighting of the eye. The mans eye is only luminated, big woop. The child's eye is SHINING!!! That is so much more epic. These kids are just bursting with light. Their light is so strong that it's giving off it's own. Ahh Emerson is definitely a man that will force you to think. And I think that's what he does in all of his writings. He wants you to think, he wants you to question it. And that is shown very loudly in this particular quote.

"If a man is at heart just, then in so far is he God"

Here Emerson accomplishes a multitude of statements. Firstly, he is expressing his belief that man can achieve perfection, utter gloriousness equaling that of the Creator. He is also showing his optimism towards the human race, in the manner he words the phrase, because he doesn't say "If man could be at heart just." He is suggesting that any man on the Earth could achieve this status, and it is not an impossible task. Yet another thing this could sentence says, if heard by certain people, is that Emerson isn't trying to lift up Man Kind, which could also be seen offensive as nothing should be as good or as glorious as God, but trying to bring God down. While I certainly don't believe that was his intention, the audience originally subjected to Emerson's speech almost certainly would. This is quote is without doubt one of the most controversial throughout the entire address, and while it was very courageous of Emerson to attempt such a wide change of heart, it was also a tad foolish.

Emerson quote

"All I have seen teachs me to trust the Creator for all I have not seen."

This is the truest statement I've heard in a while. Living in Telluride helps expecially. With the unimaginable beauty we have here, I do imagine other places the same way. Since beauty is never always in the same place, whenever I go anywhere else, I know that it will be the same beauty, just in a different setting. If one place is beautiful, then the others are just. The first time I went to Hawaii, even before I landed, I saw the beauty of the ocean, knowing Hawaii was just as nice. One of the trustest statements ive heard, that everyone knows, but no one can express.