The Lasting Influence of Emerson

Ralph Waldo Emerson was an American scholar and leader in the early creation of what is now known as the Unitarian Universalist Church. He championed the transcendentalist movement which encouraged people to think outside the box of organized Christian religions and, in his words, “Build … your own world” (Emerson). In 1844, Emerson published Nature, An Essay. And Lectures on the Times. This was a cutting-edge publication that still has reverberations in the 21st century regarding the importance of recognizing what the natural world has to offer human beings. This essay is more than just a manifesto or “call to arms.” Nature is a thought-provoking treatise, highly specific and detailed which is why many of its ideas have and will continue to influence countless environmentalists and nature advocates - as depicted in the modern writings of John Muir's Stickeen.

During the 19th and 20th centuries, America was mostly involved with using the natural world for resources which it could indiscriminately extract. Then, in the mid-half of the 20th century, people began to notice the devastation left behind by strip-mining, clear-cutting and dangerous particulates that infused air and water. One writer who was quite vocal about all of this devastation was Edward Abbey. An atheist and radical environmentalist, Abbey’s books and quotes were startlingly similar in tone to Emerson’s, including this quote:

But love of the wilderness is more than a hunger for what is always beyond reach; it is also an expression of loyalty to the earth which bore us and sustains us, the only home we shall ever know, the only paradise we ever need - if only we had eyes to see (Abbey 208).

This simple quote seems to embody at least three of the points that Emerson emphasized in his essay, Nature. In Nature, Emerson observes that 1.) One should approach nature with reverence; 2.) that man can and does use nature as a commodity;

Nature, in its ministry to man, is not only the material, but is also the process and the result. All the parts incessantly work into each other's hands for the profit of man (Emerson Chap. 2). and 3.) that nature is endowed with such incredible beauty that we must be made cognizant of it because it enriches our lives and opens our hearts.

Edward Abbey was just one of many environmentalists who can trace their belief systems back to a credible, primary source. In this case, the primary source and one who created an indelible precedent is Ralph Waldo Emerson.

Works Cited

Abbey, Edward. Desert Solitaire: A Season in the Wilderness. New York. McGraw-Hill. 1968. 208. Print.

Emerson, Ralph Waldo. Nature. London. H.G. Clarke & CO. 1844. Chap. 1-4. Print.