Nature.
Thus far we have been considering the uses to which we may put the
particular things which nature places at our disposal. In addition to
these special uses of particular objects, Nature has a meaning as a
whole. The Infinite Reason in whose image our minds are formed and in
whose thought our thinking, so far as it is true, partakes, has
expressed something of his wisdom, truth, and beauty, in the forms and
laws of the world in which we live. In the study of Nature we are
thinking God's thoughts after him. In contemplation of the glory of the
heavens, in admiration of the beauty of field and stream and forest, we
are beholding a loveliness which it was his delight to create, and which
it is elevating and ennobling for us to look upon. Nature is the larger,
fairer, fuller expression of that same intelligence and love which wells
up in the form of consciousness within our own breasts. Nature and the
soul of man are children of the same Father. Nature is the
interpretation of the longings of our hearts. Hence when we are alone
with Nature in the woods and fields, by the seashore or on the moon-lit
lake, we feel at peace with ourselves, and at home in the world.
THE DUTY.
+The love of nature, like all love, cannot be forced.+--It is not
directly under the control of our will. We cannot set about it in
deliberate fashion, as we set about earning a living. Still it can be
cultivated. We can place ourselves in contact with Nature's more
impressive aspects. We can go away by ourselves; stroll through the
woods, watch the clouds; bask in the sunshine; brave the storm; listen
to the notes of birds; find out the haunts of living creatures; learn
the times and places in which to find the flowers; gaze upon the glowing
sunset, and look up into the starry skies. If we thus keep close to
Nature, she will draw us to herself, and whisper to us more and more of
her hidden meaning.
The eye--it cannot choose but see;
We cannot bid the year be still:
Our bodies feel, where'er they be,
Against or with our will.
Nor less I deem that there are powers
Which of themselves our minds impress;
That we can feed these minds of ours
In a wise passiveness.
THE VIRTUE.
+The more we feel of the beauty and significance of Nature the more we
become capable of feeling.+--And this capacity to feel the influences
which Nature is constantly throwing around us is an indispensable
element in noble and elevated character. Our thoughts, our acts, yes,
our very forms and features reflect the objects which we habitually
welcome to our minds and hearts. And if we will have these expressions
of ourselves noble and pure, we must drink constantly and deeply at
Nature's fountains of beauty and truth. Wordsworth, the greatest
interpreter of Nature, thus describes the effect of Nature's influence
upon a sensitive soul:
She shall be sportive as the fawn
That wild with glee across the lawn
Or up the mountain springs;
And hers shall be the breathing balm,
And hers the silence and the calm
Of mute, insensate things.
The floating clouds their state shall lend
To her; for her the willow bend:
Nor shall she fail to see,
Even in the motions of the storm,
Grace that shall mold the maiden's form
By silent sympathy.
The stars of midnight shall be dear
To her; and she shall lean her ear
In many a secret place
Where rivulets dance their wayward round,
And Beauty born of murmuring sound
Shall pass into her face.
THE REWARD.
+The uplifting and purifying power of nature.+--Through communion with
the grandeur and majesty of Nature, our lives are lifted to loftier and
purer heights than our unaided wills could ever gain. We grow into the
likeness of that we love. We are transformed into the image of that
which we contemplate and adore. We are thus made strong to resist the
base temptations; patient to endure the petty vexations; brave to oppose
the brutal injustices, of daily life. This whole subject of the power of
Nature to uplift and bless has been so exhaustively and beautifully
expressed by Wordsworth, that fidelity to the subject makes continued
quotation necessary:
Nature never did betray
The heart that loved her; 'tis her privilege,
Through all the years of this our life, to lead
From joy to joy: for she can so inform
The mind that is within us, so impress
With quietness and beauty, and so feed
With lofty thoughts, that neither evil tongues,
Rash judgments, nor the sneers of selfish men,
Nor greetings where no kindness is, nor all
The dreary intercourse of daily life,
Shall e'er prevail against us, or disturb
Our cheerful faith, that all which we behold
Is full of blessings.
Therefore am I still
A lover of the meadows and the woods
And mountains; and of all that we behold
From this green earth; well pleased to recognize
In Nature and the language of the sense
The anchor of my purest thoughts, the nurse,
The guide, the guardian of my heart, and soul
Of all my moral being.
THE TEMPTATION.
+The very thoroughness and fidelity with which we fulfill one duty, may
hinder the fulfillment of another.+--We may become so absorbed in
earning a living, and carrying on our business, and getting an
education, that we shall give no time or attention to this communion
with Nature. The fact that business, education, and kindred external and
definite pursuits are directly under the control of our wills, while
this power to appreciate Nature is a slow and gradual growth, only
indirectly under our control, tempts us to give all our time and
strength to these immediate, practical ends, and to neglect that closer
walk with Nature which is essential to a true appreciation of her
loveliness. Someone asks us "What is the use of spending your time with
the birds among the trees, or on the hill-top under the stars?" and we
cannot give him an answer in dollars and cents. And so we are tempted to
take his simple standard of utility in ministering to physical wants as
the standard of all worth. We neglect Nature, and she hides her face
from our preoccupied eyes. In this busy, restless age we need to keep
ever in mind Wordsworth's warning against this fatal temptation:
The world is too much with us; late and soon,
Getting and spending, we lay waste our powers:
Little we see in Nature that is ours;
We have given our hearts away, a sordid boon!
THE VICE OF DEFECT.
This obtuseness does not come upon us suddenly. All children keenly
appreciate the changing moods of Nature. It is from neglect to open our
hearts to Nature, that obtuseness comes. It steals over us
imperceptibly. We can correct it only by giving ourselves more closely
and constantly to Nature, and trusting her to win back to herself our
benumbed and alienated hearts.
THE VICE OF EXCESS.
+Affectation the attempt to work up by our own efforts an enthusiasm for
Nature.+--True love of Nature must be born within us, by the working of
Nature herself upon our hearts. By faith, rather than by works; by
reception, rather than by conquest; by wise passiveness, rather than by
restless haste; by calm and silence, rather than by noise and talk, our
sensitiveness to Nature's charms is deepened and developed. That
enjoyment of Nature which comes spontaneously and unsought is the only
true enjoyment. That which we work up, and plan for, and talk about, is
a poor and feeble imitation. The real lover of Nature is not the one who
can talk glibly about her to everybody, and on all occasions. It is he
who loves to be alone with her, who steals away from men and things to
find solitude with her the best society, who knows not whence cometh nor
whither goeth his delight in her companionship, who waits patiently in
her presence, and is content whether she gives or withholds her special
favors, who cares more for Nature herself than for this or that striking
sensation she may arouse. Affectation is the craving for sensations
regardless of their source. And if Nature is chary of striking scenes
and startling impressions and thrilling experiences, affectation, with
profane haste, proceeds to amuse itself with artificial feelings, and
pretended raptures. This counterfeited appreciation, like all
counterfeits, by its greater cheapness drives out the real enjoyment;
and the person who indulges in affectation soon finds the power of
genuine appreciation entirely gone. Affectation is worse than
obtuseness, for obtuseness is at least honest: it may mend its ways. But
affectation is self-deception. The affected person does not know what
true appreciation of Nature is: he cannot see his error; and
consequently cannot correct it.
THE PENALTY.
+The life of man can be no deeper and richer than the objects and
thoughts on which it feeds.+--Without appreciation and love for Nature
we can eat and drink and sleep and do our work. The horse and ox,
however, can do as much. Obtuseness to the beauty and meaning of Nature
sinks us to the level of the brutes. Cut off from the springs of
inspiration, our lives stagnate, our souls shrivel, our sensibilities
wither. And just as stagnant water soon becomes impure, and swarms with
low forms of vegetable and animal life, so the stagnant soul, which
refuses to reflect the beauty of sun and star and sky, soon becomes
polluted with sordidness and selfishness and sensuality.