This week’s reading of The American Scholar by Ralph Waldo Emerson was particularly insightful. Emerson’s take of the first impression on the mind, nature, is reminiscent of the romantic era in literature. Emerson believes it is a necessity to open the mind’s-eye to nature: “What is nature to him? There is never a beginning, there is never an end, to the inexplicable this web of God, but always circular power returning into itself. Therein it resembles his own spirit, whose beginning, whose ending, he never can find,— so entire, so boundless” (Emerson). Emerson’s describes this interconnectedness as a circle, it’s significance being that nature and knowledge are inexhaustible. A core characteristic of romanticism is the fixation on nature as a healing power. Similarly, Emerson treats nature as a moral guide; natural beauty is accompanied by moments of reflection and truth.

Emerson’s continues in this excerpt with vivid imagery: “ “Far, too, as her splendors shine, system on system shooting like rays, upward, downward, without centre, without circumference,— in the mass and in the particle, nature hastens to render account of herself to the mind.” Like neurons firing in the brain, nature is constantly having a dialogue with itself. Pieces of information transcends time and space and we are but at it’s mercy. Later on he says, “So much of nature as he is ignorant of, so much of his own mind does he not yet possess.” In other words, the invitation of nature as a source of knowledge can bring forth self-discovery. From a more contemporary standpoint this can also encourage us to reach beyond our own borders. Cultures around the world are subjects of their landscapes, understanding it’s citizens can help us create a more unified version of society and ourselves.