Nature Essay
Mrs. Turner decided we all should try to pursue a higher level of thinking similar to Emerson and Thoreau. In order to accomplish this, we decided to go on a nature walk through the woods. To help keep our train of thought on becoming one with nature, Mrs. Turner set some guidelines. Those guidelines included no talking (not a soul followed this rule), no jumping in the ditch, and try to observe the simplicity of nature. It started off as a good idea. It always helps when you are studying other authors to try to see where they are coming from, but I don't think this idea will ever be able to be used to do this. Arriving in the woods, I found a hot sticky mess. It was very humid under the dense canopy of leaves, and I noticed the dense patch of thorns that seemed to have taken over the woods. The woods did not have a pleasant odor it smelled of rot and leftover traces of food items that were scattered about. My first problem going into the woods was that I was not focused on trying to put myself in the shoes of Emerson and Thoreau, but instead I was bent and determined to find that ditch that she had spoken of. Most of my efforts went toward looking for this mysterious place that was never to be found. Then, despite my efforts I couldn't think like Emerson and Thoreau and admire nature. It was very hard to concentrate past the dozens of beer cans spread about. Apparently this was the JROTC obstacle course, so in the middle of the simplicity of nature we had random objects that the JROTC uses as team building activities. Halfway through trying to achieve our enlightenment, my stomach started growling. With this new concentration stealer, there was no way I was going to focus on nature. Eventually I gave up on my efforts and started following Meredith through the woods. I am about seventy five percent sure this new venture led us through poison ivy, but I no longer cared I just wanted my turkey sandwich. Unfortunately our society has lost the importance and value that Emm
erson and Thoreu one saw in the woods.
Emerson and Thoreau had quite a different view on nature than I did. Emerson stated that "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." Emerson thought that a walk in the woods was very close to a religious experience. This differed from what I experienced because my walk in the woods was almost a punishment. Emerson thought that when you went into nature that you could take yourself out of the picture and become one with the currents of the Universal Being. He even said that he was so deep into thought that the sound of a name of his friend sounded foreign and accidental. When we went through the woods almost all we could focus on were our friends. We never viewed our experience as becoming one with God. Emerson thought that nature was the key that allowed him to be a part or particle of God. Thoreau also had a similar view on this "I went into 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." Thoreau saw the woods as a place of simplicity. When we went into the woods we could not get a true experience nor did any of us want a true experience of simplicity. We could hear the cars rushing by, and I bet that some of the students had pieces of technology on them. Thoreau thought that if we did not go into the woods and try to become one with nature and find a more simplistic life that we would discover we had not lived. I was quite the opposite I am pretty sure I would not be able to live if I tried to live a more simplistic life. The views of Emererson and Thoreau are captivating, but I don't think they are applicable to the twenty first century.
Its a wonderful idea of going to nature and becoming one with it, but I don't think we can easily achieve it. Right now in the time that we live we have cars, cellphones, and other things that we cannot live without. These things will never allow us to return to nature. Emerson and Thoreau were able to lose themselves in the woods and were awestuck by the beauty of nature. Now we have lost this appreciation. We see going into the woods as more of a burden than an enlightening experience. If all of us were able to lose ourselves like Emerson and Thoreau; we would be more able to adjust our values to what's important instead of values based on technology.