Ralph Emerson – Nature

I have always been fascinated by trees. When I was a child, it was not unusual for me to spend the whole day looking at trees. I would often scale them with my eye and trace their lines looking for some hidden symmetry. At times, I told my friends interesting stories that I had gleaned from my daily watching of trees – I told them how each branch, leaf and strata differed from another level by a ratio of 0,1,1,2,3,5,8,13,21,34. By age 13, I could name any tree by just looking at it’s silhouette. Even won many competitions for being able to name and draw trees. But soon, the world lost interest in trees and one day the world knocked on my door and told me that it was time to give up my childish ways – so I dutifully packed all my notes that I had written through the years about my one and only love, trees and consigned them to never seeing them again. But trees are not ordinary things that a man can just set casually aside. They have a way of calling out to those who look at them in the way I do. And so my lovely trees came to me every night. The dream would always be the same, a man walking with his dog sorrounded by gentle swaying palms – there was no color in this dream – no lines – only the gentle sound of rustling leaves. One day I decided to open this old shoe box again and I realized my love of trees had never really diminished and so I worked hard to be a land owner. All I ever wanted in life is to be close to nature. To be part of it in the way a man immerses himself in water. To transform his being into a vessel where he is sorrounded by a sea of green – to work the land and feel the honesty of his muscles as he churns the good earth, to plant and see my seeds germinate, to reap a good harvest. I thank the my friends, the trees in the moment of my youth for showing me this way – the way of the farmer. Thank you trees for being my friend. 

Darkness 2012

Generally known for his leadership in the movement of Transcendentalism, Ralph Waldo Emerson was a gifted lecturer, essayist and poet. He provided inspiration for the transcendentalists of the 1800’s, and even the ones who keep the spirit of transcendentalism alive today. Such followers were Henry David Thoreau, and Walt Whitman. Nature, one of his more famous works, was based on his beliefs about religion, philosophy, and literature. He believed that if man would become one with nature, he would find true happiness with himself. 

An Excerpt from

NATURE

Standing on the bare ground, my head bathed by the blithe air, and uplifted into infinite space, all mean egotism vanishes. I become a transparent eyeball-I am nothing; I see all; the currents of the Universal Being circulate through me-I am part or particle of God.The name of the nearest friend sounds then foreign and accidental: to be brothers, to be acquaintances-master or servant, is then a trifle, and a disturbance. I am a lover of uncontained and immortal beauty. In the wilderness, I have something more connate and dear than in the streets or villages. In the tranquil landscape, and especially in the distant line of the horizon, man beholds somewhat as beautiful as his own nature.

WATER

The water understands
Civilization well;
It wets my foot, but prettily
It chills my life, but wittily,
It is not disconcerted
It is not broken-hearted
Well used, it decketh joy,
Adorneth, doubleth joy:
Ill used, it will destroy,
In perfect time and measure
With a face of golden pleasure
Elegantly destroy.

 

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Farmer: Where am I? I am afraid.

Trees: Shsss farmer. You are home.

This post does not carry a designated e-prom code – it has been sent from the personal message capsule of Darkness 2012 of the Brotherhood under the codex entitled – The Way of the Farmer.