10/17 Ralph Waldo Emerson

The provided text is an extended excerpt from Ralph Waldo Emerson's foundational work, Nature, published in 1836. This philosophical treatise systematically explores the various "uses" of nature for humanity, dividing them into four primary categories: Commodity, Beauty, Language, and Discipline. Emerson argues that contemporary society is too reliant on past traditions, urging readers to seek an "original relation to the universe" by engaging directly with nature to discover spiritual and intellectual truths. The text asserts that nature is not merely a collection of resources (Commodity) or a source of aesthetic pleasure (Beauty), but a profound Language through which spiritual facts are revealed, ultimately serving as a rigorous Discipline for the soul and the mind. The later chapters advance the theory of Idealism, suggesting that the material world is a phenomenon meant to educate the human spirit, leading to the ultimate conclusion that Spirit is the final cause of the universe.

A man is fed, not that he may be

fed, but that he may work.

N A T U R E | 1 8 5

. God is the all-fair. Truth, and

goodness, and beauty, are but different faces of the same All. But beauty

in nature is not ultimate. It is the herald of inward and eternal beauty, and

is not alone a solid and satisfactory good. It must therefore stand as a part

and not as yet the last or highest expression of the Snal cause of Nature 189

Philosophically considered, the universe is composed of Nature and the

Soul. Strictly speaking, therefore, all that is separate from us, all which

Philosophy distinguishes as the ()/ .#,4 that is, both nature and art, all

other men and my own body, must be ranked under this name, N%/2"#. In

enumerating the values of nature and casting up their sum, I shall use the

word in both senses;—in its common and in its philosophical import. In

inquiries so general as our present one, the inaccuracy is not material; no

confusion of thought will occur. Nature, in the common sense, refers to

essences unchanged by man; space, the air, the river, the leaf. Art is applied

to the mixture of his will with the same things, as in a house, a canal, a

statue, a picture. But his operations taken together are so insigniScant, a lit-

tle chipping, baking, patching, and washing, that in an impression so grand

as that of the world on the human mind, they do not vary the result = add cannot chnage nature beyond us dosent

• To go into solitude, a man needs to retire as much from his chamber as from

  society. I am not solitary whilst I read and write, though nobody is with me.= feels the presenc eof the sublime doesnt feel alone when he reads and writers / read someone elses work=never alone join convo with writer/ writing invoking a muse trying to produce never lonely because of production

  But if a man would be alone, let him look at the stars.=comapny of stars something bigger than your= nature

• poetic nature when trying to explain

• reach adulthood feel blinded by nature ignore it / child’s nature realtion to nature=happy children’s innocnece to appreaciate nature

• adults forget essential way to appreciate nature/ inward outward expansion of someone who apperiates nature= harmony what he feels inside more insink more consistent inward and outward

• To speak truly, few adult persons can see nature. Most persons do not see

  the sun. At least they have a very superScial seeing. The sun illuminates

  only the eye of the man, but shines into the eye and the heart of the child.

  The lover of nature is he whose inward and outward senses are still truly

  adjusted to each other; who has retained the spirit of infancy even into the

  era of manhood.5 His intercourse with heaven and earth, becomes part of

  his daily food. In the presence of nature, a wild delight runs through the

  man, in spite of real sorrows. Nature says,—he is my creature, and maugre 6

  all his impertinent griefs, he shall be glad with me. Not the sun or the sum-

  mer alone, but every hour and season yields its tribute of delight; for every

  hour and change corresponds to and authorizes a different state of the

  mind, from breathless noon to grimmest midnight. Nature is a setting that

  Sts equally well a comic or a mourning piece. In good health, the air is a

  cordial of incredible virtue. Crossing a bare common, in snow puddles, at

  twilight, under a clouded sky, without having in my thoughts any occur-

  rence of special good fortune, I have enjoyed a perfect exhilaration. Almost

  I fear to think how glad I am. In the woods too, a man casts off his years,

  as the snake his slough, and at what period soever of life, is always a child.

  In the woods, is perpetual youth.

“Standing on

the bare ground,—my head bathed by the blithe air, and uplifted into inS-

nite space,— all mean egotism vanishes. I become a transparent eye-ball.

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(never alone w/ nature) . To be brothers, to be acquaintances,—master or servant, is then a tri^e and a disturbance. I am the lover of uncontained and

immortal beauty.”= lover of nature reach balance btw mind and physical truth= invisible eye ball

• romanticism nature is a phenomeon not just idea

• no one owns the horizon man owns this land= “The charming landscape which

  I saw this morning, is indubitably made up of some twenty or thirty farms.

  Miller owns this Seld, Locke that, and Manning the woodland beyond. But

  none of them owns the landscape. There is a property in the horizon which

  no man has but he whose eye can integrate all the parts, that is, the poet.

  This is the best part of these men’s farms, yet to this their land-deeds give

  them no title.” poet=shoould be invisble eyeball landcape(nature depends on man to appericate/ everyone owns) vs land (physically own)

• Yet it is certain that the power to produce this delight, does not reside in
  nature, but in man, or in a harmony of both. = delight in nature can come from connection btw you and nature

• nature reflect color of spirit

• Nature, in its ministry to man, is not only the material, but is also the

  process and the result = idelaims ideas above us nature phenomenon ministry to man not just materialsim but also process and result conception ofn idea and what you get at the end = dimensons

• chapter beauty=the simple perception of natural forms is a delight/ we like to see something we are familar with To the body

  and mind which have been cramped by noxious work or company, nature is

  medicinal and restores their tone. The tradesman, the attorney comes out of

  the din and craft5 of the street, and sees the sky and the woods, and is a man

  again. In their eternal calm, he Snds himself. The health of the eye seems to

  demand a horizon. We are never tired, so long as we can see far enough

• The presence of a higher, namely, of the spiritual element is essential

  to its perfection.=high and divine nature above us spiritual divine beautyBeauty is the mark God sets upon virtue

• puritan back to reasoning layers from contemporary philosophy nature bring comfort delight, religous aspect

• , beauty of the world may be viewed, namely, as it becomes an object of the intellect.= relation to thought

• All men are in some degree impressed by the face of the world. Some men

  even to delight. This love of beauty is Taste. Others have the same love in

  such excess, that, not content with admiring, they seek to embody it in new

  forms. The creation of beauty is Art= have to use mind to expeience beauty = language is convaluded poetic = Nature is a sea of forms radically alike and even unique.

  A leaf, a sun-beam, a landscape, the ocean, make an analogous impression

  on the mind. What is common to them all,—that perfectness and harmony,

  is beauty. Therefore the standard of beauty, is the entire circuit of natural

  forms,— the totality of nature; which the Italians expressed by deSning

  beauty “il piu nell’ uno.” 8 Nothing is quite beautiful alone: nothing but is

  beautiful in the whole. everything outside of you leaves mark on you

• language chapter A third use which Nature subserves to man is that of Language. Nature is

  the vehicle of thought, and in a simple, double, and threefold degree.

  1. Words are signs of natural facts.

  2. Par ticular natural facts are symbols of par ticular spiritual facts.

  N A T U R E | 1 8 9

• idealism overemphasized should be above bigger than = remain balance btw idealism and pragmaticism = ecletic idea = have idea exp phenoemon outside of you/ pragmaticism= defines the meaning of a concept by its practical consequences, focusing on how the concept would affect one's conduct

• Let us proceed to indicate the effects of culture. 1. “Our first institution4

  in the Ideal philosophy is a hint from nature herself”.mind above other ideas more important than materialsm result of nature

• ideal hint from nature itself/ phenoemon and pragmaticism itself = emancipation from mind over body / emerson says the reach balance “Certain mechan-

  ical changes, a small alteration in our local position apprizes us of a dualism.

  We are strangely affected by seeing the shore from a moving ship, from a

  balloon, or through the tints of an unusual sky. The least change in our point

  of view, gives the whole world a pictorial air.” see wolrd around you change reality chnage how u see world

shakespear reality change how u percieve phenonemon use mind to control reality P")0;#"). The strong based promontory
Have I made shake, and by the spurs plucked up
The pine and cedar.4
Prospero calls for music to sooth the frantic Alonzo, and his companions;
A solemn air, and the best comforter
To an unsettled fancy, cure thy brains
Now useless, boiled within thy skull.= The perception of real afSnities between events, (that is to say, of ideal

afSnities, for those only are real,) enables the poet thus to make free with the most imposing forms and phenomena of the world, and to assert the

predominance of the soul equal weight to percieve beauty

A Synthesis of "Nature": Core Themes and Philosophical Arguments

Executive Summary

This document synthesizes the central arguments presented in the excerpts from "Nature," a philosophical treatise that calls for humanity to abandon its retrospective reliance on historical tradition and forge an "original relation to the universe." The work posits that the universe, composed of Nature and the Soul, is designed to be intelligible, and that a true theory of nature will explain all phenomena.

The analysis of nature is structured around a hierarchy of four primary uses, each serving a progressively higher purpose for the human soul:

1. Commodity: The most basic use, where nature provides for the material support and convenience of human life.

2. Beauty: A nobler use that delights the senses, combines with human virtue to create moral grace, and becomes an object of intellectual contemplation, leading to Art.

3. Language: The process by which nature serves as the vehicle for human thought, with words deriving from natural facts, natural facts symbolizing spiritual facts, and the whole of nature acting as a metaphor for the human mind.

4. Discipline: The ultimate use, wherein nature educates both the Understanding in intellectual truths and the Reason in moral laws, revealing the fundamental "Unity in Variety" that pervades creation.

This progression leads to an idealist perspective, which questions the absolute, external existence of nature, suggesting it is a phenomenon or "apocalypse of the mind" projected by Spirit. While Idealism is a crucial step in liberating the mind from the despotism of the senses, it is an introductory hypothesis. The ultimate reality is Spirit—the Supreme Being—which does not build nature around humanity, but "puts it forth through us."

The document concludes with a vision of human potential. Humanity is currently a "god in ruins," using only a fraction of its force (the understanding) to interact with the world. The key to restoring the "original and eternal beauty" of the world lies in the redemption of the individual soul. By conforming one's life to the "pure idea" in the mind, an individual can trigger a "correspondent revolution in things," becoming a co-creator in a world that is fluid, obedient, and transparent to the divine.

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I. Foundational Concepts and a Call for Original Insight

The work's introduction establishes a critical stance against the contemporary age, arguing it is "retrospective," content to experience God and nature through the eyes of past generations. It challenges this tradition-bound perspective, advocating for a direct, personal, and original relationship with the universe.

Core Arguments:

• Critique of Tradition: The prevailing culture "builds the sepulchres of the fathers," focusing on biographies, histories, and criticism rather than direct insight. The central question posed is, "Why should not we also enjoy an original relation to the universe?"

• The Intelligibility of Creation: The text asserts a fundamental trust in "the perfection of the creation." It posits that any curiosity awakened by the order of things can be satisfied by that same order.

• The Philosophical Universe: The universe is defined as being composed of two fundamental components: Natureand the Soul.

• Defining "Nature": The term is used in two distinct senses:

  • Common Sense: Essences that remain unchanged by human will, such as "space, the air, the river, the leaf."

  • Philosophical Sense: All that is separate from the individual soul, or the "NOT ME." This comprehensive category includes nature, art, other people, and one's own body. Human operations on nature ("a little chipping, baking, patching, and washing") are deemed insignificant in comparison to the grand impression of the world.

II. The Fourfold Use of Nature

The text systematically categorizes the value of the world into four ascending classes of use that serve humanity: Commodity, Beauty, Language, and Discipline.

1. Commodity: The Foundational Use

This is the most universally apprehended use of nature, encompassing all advantages that the physical senses derive from the world.

• Function: Commodity is a "temporary and mediate" benefit that provides for human support, sustenance, and delight. It includes elements such as beasts, fire, water, stones, and corn.

• Process: Nature is not only the material but also "the process and the result." Its parts work in "endless circulations of the divine charity" for human benefit (e.g., wind sows seed, the sun evaporates the sea, rain feeds the plant).

• Human Augmentation: The "useful arts" are defined as "reproductions or new combinations" of natural elements, such as using steam to power boats or iron bars to create roads.

• Purpose: This use is not an end in itself but serves a "farther good." As stated, "A man is fed, not that he may be fed, but that he may work."

2. Beauty: A Nobler Want

Nature serves a higher human need through the love of Beauty, which is analyzed in a threefold manner.

• Aspect 1: Simple Perception: The simple perception of natural forms—sky, mountains, trees—is an intrinsic delight. Nature is "medicinal" to a mind and body "cramped by noxious work or company." This beauty is dynamic and ever-present, with each moment of the year offering a unique picture. However, if this beauty is "too eagerly hunted," it becomes a superficial "show" that mocks the observer.

• Aspect 2: The Spiritual Element: The highest form of beauty is that which is combined with "the human will" and virtue. The text declares, "Beauty is the mark God sets upon virtue." Heroic and noble acts are seen as inseparable from the natural landscape in which they occur, with nature stretching "out her arms to embrace man, only let his thoughts be of equal greatness."

• Aspect 3: The Object of the Intellect: Beauty can be an object of intellectual pursuit, reforming itself in the mind "not for barren contemplation, but for new creation." This leads to:

  • Taste: The love of beauty.

  • Art: The creation of beauty, defined as "a nature passed through the alembic of man." A work of art is an "abstract or epitome of the world."

3. Language: The Vehicle of Thought

Nature's third use is to serve as the foundation and medium for human language and thought, operating in three distinct degrees.

• Degree 1: Words are Signs of Natural Facts: Every word used to express a moral or intellectual fact can be traced back to a "material appearance." For example, right derives from straight, and spirit from wind.

• Degree 2: Natural Facts are Symbols of Spiritual Facts: Every appearance in nature corresponds to a state of the human mind. An enraged man is a lion, a firm man is a rock, and the sky is a "type of Reason." This correspondence is not coincidental but "constant, and pervade[s] nature."

• Degree 3: Nature is the Symbol of Spirit: The entirety of the natural world is a metaphor for the human mind. The laws of physics are direct translations of the laws of ethics (e.g., "reaction is equal to action"). This principle is embedded in the proverbs of nations, which use trivial natural facts to illustrate moral truths. The corruption of human character leads to the corruption of language, as words become detached from their natural, visible origins.

4. Discipline: The Synthesis of Uses

This final, all-encompassing use posits that nature is a grand system of education for humanity. It includes all previous uses and trains both the Understanding and Reason.

• Discipline of the Understanding: Nature provides constant lessons in intellectual truths through the properties of matter (solidity, inertia, extension) and human systems like property and debt. It teaches difference, order, and gradation, instructing that "good thoughts are no better than good dreams, unless they be executed!"

• Discipline of Reason: Sensible objects and natural processes "conform to the premonitions of Reason and re^ect the conscience." Every natural process is a version of a moral sentence; "a farm but a mute gospel." This moral character of nature reveals a fundamental principle:

• The Unity of Nature: All the "endless variety of things" in nature make a "unique, an identical impression." Each part is related to the whole, and "each particle is a microcosm." This intimate unity pervades all things, from architecture ('frozen music') to biology and physics, and its source is found in "universal Spirit."

III. From Material Reality to Idealism

The contemplation of nature as Discipline leads to a "noble doubt": whether nature has an independent, external existence or is purely a mental phenomenon.

The Ideal Theory

The text argues that whether nature exists substantially or is an "apocalypse of the mind," it is "alike useful and alike venerable." The core argument of idealism is to regard nature as a "phenomenon, not a substance," and to attribute necessary existence to spirit. Culture itself leads the mind toward this conclusion through several avenues:

The advantage of this view is that it "sees the world in God," beholding it not as an accumulation of past events but as "one vast picture, which God paints on the instant eternity, for the contemplation of the soul."

IV. The Doctrine of Spirit

While a crucial step, idealism is presented as an "introductory hypothesis." It answers the question "What is matter?" but fails to address "Whence is it? and Whereto?" A complete theory must account for the creative force behind nature.

• Spirit as Creator: The text asserts that "spirit creates." The Supreme Being does not construct nature around humanity from the outside, but "puts it forth through us, as the life of the tree puts forth new branches and leaves."

• Man as Co-Creator: By understanding this principle, humanity learns it has "access to the entire mind of the Creator, is himself the creator in the Snite."

• The World as Incarnation: The world is a "remoter and inferior incarnation of God, a projection of God in the unconscious." Unlike the human body, its serene order is currently inviolable by the human will, serving as a fixed point to measure our spiritual state.

• The Current Discord: Humanity's alienation from God has created a "discord... between man and nature." Humans no longer understand the language of animals or the uses of plants because they are "strangers in nature."

V. Prospects: Restoring Humanity and the World

The final section outlines a path toward restoring both humanity and nature to a state of original beauty and unity. This requires a shift away from a purely empirical and fragmented view of the world.

• Critique of Empirical Science: A purely empirical approach, with its "minuteness in details," is criticized for bereaving the student of the "manly contemplation of the whole." True insight comes from "untaught sallies of the spirit," where "a guess is often more fruitful than an indisputable afSrmation."

• Man as a "God in Ruins": An "Orphic poet" is quoted to describe humanity's fallen state. Man was once "permeated and dissolved by spirit," but his powers have retreated, leaving him a "dwarf of himself." His remaining power is unconscious, known as Instinct.

• Reason over Understanding: At present, man uses only "half his force"—the understanding—to master nature through practical, economic means. A full restoration requires using Reason as well, examples of which are seen in miracles, prayer, eloquence, and religious revolutions.

• The Redemption of the Soul: The ultimate solution is internal. "The ruin or the blank, that we see when we look at nature, is in our own eye." The world appears broken because "man is disunited with himself."

• The Final Directive: The concluding call to action is to "Build, therefore your own world." By conforming one's life to the "pure idea in your mind," an individual can initiate a "correspondent revolution in things." As the spirit advances, nature will become "^uid, it is volatile, it is obedient," and disagreeable appearances will vanish, restoring the kingdom of man over nature.

VI. Key Quotations

lecture notes

idealism ideas=what is nature romanticism william mind can be inutive and creative at same time/ believe poetry is overflow of inspiration inspiration come to you= feeling and being in sink with yourself identity

school for boys=adpative to students needs and talents/ not physically punish students = father of the author of little women

transcendentalist philosophical movement= go back to platou mix of idealism believe in your mind can transcend boundries of limitation europe. philosophy +romantisicim = identity to yourlself

self reliance=western easten ideas combine/ belief in yourself use your mind everyone has full potential

nature published anoymously

Nathaniel Hawthorne’s “Young Goodman Brown” (1835)

Absolutely — here’s a clear, detailed summary and analysis of Nathaniel Hawthorne’s “Young Goodman Brown” (1835) — one of his most famous short stories exploring faith, sin, and the dark side of human nature.

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## 🧭 Summary

Setting: Salem Village, Massachusetts — a Puritan community in the late 1600s.

Plot Overview:

The story begins with *Goodman Brown**, a young Puritan newly married to Faith, leaving his wife one evening to undertake a mysterious journey into the forest. Faith begs him to stay, saying she feels uneasy, but Goodman insists he must go just this once.

As he travels deeper into the *dark forest**, Goodman meets a stranger who looks eerily like him — except older, with a serpent-shaped staff that seems to move like a living snake. The stranger hints that he knows Goodman’s family well and that many respected people in the community — ministers, deacons, and even Goodman’s father and grandfather — have followed the same dark path.

Goodman is shocked and insists he wants to turn back to Faith. But as he goes on, he witnesses townspeople — including his catechism teacher, Goody Cloyse — heading to a *sinister gathering** in the woods.

He hides but hears *Faith’s voice**, realizing that she, too, may be joining this satanic ceremony. Terrified, he rushes forward and finds himself in a clearing full of the townspeople, all gathered for a witches’ Sabbath presided over by the devil. Among them are church leaders and virtuous villagers — even Faith herself.

* Just as Goodman and Faith are about to be “baptized” into sin, Goodman cries out to resist — “Look up to heaven, and resist the wicked one!” — and the scene suddenly vanishes. He finds himself alone in the forest.

When he returns to Salem the next morning, Goodman cannot tell whether his experience was a dream or real. But he is *forever changed** — distrustful, joyless, and alienated from everyone, including his wife. He lives the rest of his life in gloom and dies a bitter, hopeless man.

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## 🔍 Analysis

### 1. Themes

a. Faith and Doubt:

* “Faith” represents both Goodman’s wife and his spiritual belief.

* His journey into the forest symbolizes his loss of innocence and growing doubt about the purity of human nature and his own faith.

By the end, whether the experience was real or imagined doesn’t matter — Goodman’s *faith is destroyed**.

b. The Nature of Evil:

Hawthorne suggests that evil is *not external** but inherent in all people.

* Even the most “pious” Puritans secretly harbor sin — a critique of the rigid moralism and hypocrisy of Puritanism.

The devil doesn’t force Goodman to sin; he simply reveals the *truth about human corruption**.

c. Isolation and Moral Perfectionism:

Goodman’s tragedy is not that he sees evil, but that he *cannot forgive it** or accept human imperfection.

His refusal to reconcile faith with human frailty leads to his *spiritual isolation** and despair.

* Hawthorne critiques moral absolutism — Goodman’s loss of faith in others destroys his ability to love and trust.

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### 2. Symbols

| Symbol | Meaning |

| --------------------- | ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- |

| Faith (the wife) | Goodman’s spiritual faith; her pink ribbons symbolize innocence and fragility. |

| The Forest | The unknown, temptation, and the unconscious — a space where moral boundaries collapse. |

| The Serpent Staff | The devil’s power and biblical symbol of temptation (the Garden of Eden). |

| The Gathering | The revelation that all humanity is tainted by sin; an inversion of church ritual. |

| The Pink Ribbons | The fleeting nature of purity; when Faith’s ribbon falls from the sky, it signals Goodman’s loss of belief. |

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### 3. Style and Tone

* Dark Romanticism: Hawthorne explores sin, guilt, and the hidden darkness within human nature — key traits of American Gothic literature.

* Ambiguity: The story blurs dream and reality, leaving readers uncertain — did Goodman actually witness the ceremony, or was it all in his imagination?

* Moral Allegory: The tale functions like a fable — a moral lesson about the dangers of fanaticism, hypocrisy, and the loss of faith in humanity.

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### 4. Key Quote

> “Evil is the nature of mankind. Evil must be your only happiness.”

This line, spoken at the forest gathering, encapsulates Goodman’s revelation — that human beings are inherently sinful. Yet Hawthorne leaves open the question: is this truth or temptation? Goodman’s inability to decide drives his despair.

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## 💭 Conclusion

In “Young Goodman Brown,” Hawthorne reveals how the discovery of human imperfection can destroy faith if it’s based on idealism rather than understanding. Goodman’s moral rigidity turns revelation into ruin — instead of gaining wisdom, he loses hope. Hawthorne ultimately warns that moral absolutism and suspicion can be as destructive as sin itself.

The provided text contains excerpts from Nathaniel Hawthorne's short story, "Young Goodman Brown," which details the protagonist's perilous journey into the forest for a secret and sinister purpose. Initially hesitant to leave his wife, Faith, the main character meets a mysterious, older man who seems to be an incarnation of evil or the Devilhimself and who attempts to lure him deeper into a gathering. As Goodman Brown progresses, he is shocked to discover that respected, pious members of his Puritan community, including his catechism teacher, minister, and deacon, are attending a wicked communion in the wilderness. The story culminates in a scene where Goodman Brown witnesses his wife, Faith, seemingly about to be initiated into this unholy assembly, which shatters his perception of morality and community, leaving him forever cynical and distrustful, whether the event was a reality or a nightmare.