John Muir was naturalist, author, philosopher, and a great advocate for preservation in which he took interest in since he was very young. Later in his life, he wrote many letters, essays, and books telling of his adventures in nature which were read by millions. His most powerful quote consisted of few words, “Climb the mountain and get their good tidings, Nature’s peace will flow into you as the sunshine into the trees Although both Gifford Pinchot and John Muir sought the need of nature in humanity, their views greatly differed. Pinchot saw conservation as a means of managing the nation’s natural resources for long-term sustainable commercial use. On the other hand, Muir sided more with preserving the land than conserving (Muir, John).
John Muir is credited with advancing and making a more nuanced philosophy more accessible, and this understanding is that nature is an organism which deserves our empathy. This understanding of nature is clearly opposed to modernism, and is similar to the early criticisms to modernism. Muir regarded civilization as something to be tolerated, and this is affirmed in a line he wrote which was “Going to the woods is going home; for I suppose we came from the woods originally.” This writing reflected his thought that people could only know themselves if they knew their relation to nature. In my opinion Muir saw nature as more valuable or astounding than
“Wilderness” in part four of A Sand County Almanac by Aldo Leopold discusses the evolution of nature at the hands of humans. I choose to write about this essay because of the connection humans have with the wilderness. I have always believed that nature and people have to work together to live harmoniously on this earth. The human race has used nature to survive for as long as they have existed. In today’s world people are using less and less of nature and more technology to industrialize the planet.
Ralph Waldo Emerson and Henry David Thoreau both fond nature to be essential to being a whole person: spiritually and emotionally. Emerson saw nature’s effect on people and their thoughts, whereas Thoreau saw the deliberateness of nature and thought that if people could seize the same decisiveness that they would have more to enjoy in life. Both authors believed that humans needed to enjoy nature to be one with the universal being that is the basis of Transcendentalism. Emerson wrote “When we speak of nature in this manner, we have a distinct but most poetical sense in the mind.” (Nature 693) Emerson was saying that nature is similar to poetry for the mind, in that it is relaxing and wholesome.
From these readings I have found that John Muir and Henry David Thoreau have many of the same notions about nature and the American frontier. Both viewed nature as a defined space, completely separated from civil society, a place in which “a man can be a man.” For Muir it seemed that nature was very much a sacred space and loved to idealize nature as a sort of heaven on earth. I think one of the biggest things I realized through these readings is that Muir and Thoreau both emphasized the difference, physically and mentally, between nature and urbanization. It is this idea that Americans now live on, I believe that people now think of nature and urban areas as entirely separate entities and in doing so, make nature into a sort of place to visit but never stay.
In this section Thoreau makes a conclusion to the book; he stresses the importance of knowing yourself. He stated that “truth means more than love, than money, than fame. He also advised that if you want to travel, you should explore yourself. He stated that “the world of nature is but a means of inspiration for us to know ourselves.” He also believed that “it is the interpretation of nature by man, and what it symbolizes in the higher spiritual world that is important to the transcendentalists.”
Thoreau wanted to ultimately live a very passive and simple life with only him, God, and nature. He really liked one word that he used while doing mostly when thinking, simplify. “Simply, Simply. Instead of three meals a day, if it be necessary eat but one; instead of a hundred dishes, five; and reduce other things in proportion.” (Thoreau 60)
Aldo Leopold and Krakauer both believe that nature is valuable. Krakauer writes, “I fear you will follow this same inclination in the future and thus fail to discover all the wonderful things that God has placed around us to discover” (Krakauer 57). Krakauer provides the thought that nature is valuable and we should embrace and explore it. Additionally, John Muir says, “To those devoid of imagination a blank place on the map is a useless waste; to others, the most valuable part.” (Aldo Leopold, A Sand County Almanac and Sketches Here and There).
In order to be an effective and powerful speaker and to be able to influence your audience, you must be able to think in a more abstract manner. Both Henry David Thoreau and Mahatma Gandhi have mastered this ability to sway their followers and become elite leaders with the use of different grammatical strategies. Mahatma was born in Porbandar, India, which is a coastal town in eastern India. In a different region of the hemisphere, Thoreau was born in Concord Massachusetts. While being born on opposite sides of the world, both of these men had the same goal in mind.
Henry David Thoreau especially supported the interaction between man and nature. With his experiment at Walden, he addresses a modern concept known as minimalism, focusing on the way one must supply for himself with his basic necessities. His intentions were not to isolate himself, but moreso to separate himself from a life dependent upon others. Through his actions, he is able to criticise society and many of their needs.
Consequently, what Thoreau proposed was simplicity rejecting modern civilization to return to nature and let the individual to develop his/her highest possibilities. Thoreau not only made a critique of the modern society as Emerson did, but also he practiced his ideology: he experienced that life is better without crowd, luxuries and complexity. The transcendentalist poet spent two year close to nature. He lived at Walden Pond where he wrote entire journals recounting his experience. Thoreau is well known for his book “Walden” (1854).
This was a common belief amongst transcendentalist because, “they believed that the direct experience of nature united one with God” (329). In contrast Thoreau view of nature where that of a disconnection from society. Thoreau wish to live self-sufficiently and introspectively. Thoreau move to the wood for “twenty-six
In A Passion for Nature: The Life of John Muir, Donald Worster tells the tale of a legendary man beloved by many, now revered as the epitome of the conservation movement: John Muir. Although many stories about Muir have been told before, none have captured his true essence or presented such a comprehensive narrative of Muir’s extraordinary, yet complex life. Worster’s account immerses Muir amidst the political, social, economic, and historical changes that defined that time period. Worster believes that Muir, through his complexity and proximity, personified the American liberal democratic ideals of the time, thereby becoming the figurehead for the environmental movement.
This idea is stated when Thoreau states, “One attraction in coming to the woods to live was that I should have the leisure and opportunity to see the spring come in” (Thoreau 3). The relationship between technology and nature I believe is like a peanut butter and jelly sandwich because they go hand and hand. I cannot focus on what is around me if I am distracted by my phone or laptop. I completely agree with Thoreau on this topic, other themes in his text however are debatable. For instance, the theme of transcendentalism is not necessarily controlled by nature because, in my opinion, I don’t believe that nature completely defines your own inner balance.
In Walden, written by Henry David Thoreau, the author expresses the immense longing that we, as human beings, need to give up our connection to our ever-growing materialism in order to revert back to self-sufficient happiness. In Walden, the reader is able to infer that Thoreau feels as if we are becoming enslaved by our material possessions, as well as believes that the study of nature should replace and oppose our enslavement, and that we are to “open new channels of thought” by turning our eyes inward and studying ourselves. Thoreau feels that we are becoming enslaved by our material possessions. As stated in the chapter “In the Where I Lived, and What I Lived For”, Thoreau states that “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.” (972).
