Questions over the role and treatment of nature have remained important aspects of modern literature because they are present, directly and indirectly, in so many different issues in everyone's life. It is truly imprudent to underestimate the distant boundaries of nature. In his novel, The Once and Future King, T.H. White depicts the wise Merlin teaching the young and uncrowned Arthur the responsibility and challenges of leadership through magical first hand accounts of nature. Although fantastic, in this example Merlin creates a world for Arthur that translates nature into a moral code. This, in turn, relates to the ideals of nature of Ralph Waldo Emerson and the focus of my paper. "Sensible objects conform to the premonitions of reason and reflect the conscience. All things are moral; and in their boundless change have an unceasing reference to spiritual..." (58). In both of these instances, nature becomes a metaphor for morality, and thus the questions over the relationship between nature and religion, or nature as its own separate religion, arise. Although Emerson's work can be read as inventive and unorthodox, and the understanding of them can be valuable for one's success, his essay truly represents his own search for ethics. In his belief in nature's ability to transcend religion, Emerson searches for the same answers to religious questions that society has sought throughout time .
Emerson strongly believes that ethics should be the foundation of one's life and the foundation of these ethics can only be found in nature. In this way the ethics become a religion in themselves. This is best described relative to Emerson's feelings on the differences between ethics and religion: "Ethics and religion differ herein; the one is the system of human duties commencing from man, the other, from God..." (69). All societies have sought some kind of religion to provide reassurance and to attempt to find answers to the questions in their lives; Emerson understands that all men need this, but he believes that it is found in one's natural surroundings, that the entire natural world is moral. This point is best illustrated by expanding it with beliefs on the creation of beauty by humanity. Emerson believes that a work of man-made art, in whatever form, is simply a representation of nature: "The production of a work of art throws a light upon the mystery of humanity. A work of art is an abstract or epitome of the world. It is the result or expression of nature, in miniature. For although the works of nature are innumerable and all different, the result or the expression of them all is similar and single..." (47). Even though Emerson believes that nature exists only for man's use, he does not at all shy away from his natural power underpinnings. In this case, his "natural religion" is very similar to a more traditional one, it is based upon its own self expression. It, in it self, is moral. Emerson's belief that natural morals transcend nature and religion clearly contrasts with Matthew Arnold's poem ,"Dover Beach", which depicts nature in a more realistic sense. Arnold believes that one cannot find morals in nature because it in itself is so "natural"; it is not the work of a spirit, it is simply life in itself. "...for the world, which seems / To lie before us like a land of dreams, / so various, so beautiful, so new, / Hath really neither joy, nor love, nor light, / Nor certitude, nor peace, nor help for pain..." ( Perrine, Laurence ed.. Sound and Sense. p.156). While Emerson strives to live his life through the values he finds in nature, Arnold believes in a separation of values, not only in the natural world, but also throughout the physical universe.
Today nature is definitely an issue splitting the nation down the middle, but it is interesting to compare the modern arguments with Emerson's views. Although many who fight in the name of nature do so only in the context of a self-serving political agenda, both Emerson and the honest environmentalist firmly believe the preservation of nature to be essential. However, finding morality in nature is no longer emphasized. The modern naturalist does not find morals within his surroundings, but within himself. He does not strive to protect nature in order to protect the morals found in nature, but strives to protect nature simply for the sake of morals. And thus, even as Merlin taught Arthur through the different aspects of nature, the morals of the people and society were truly the lesson. As Emerson strives to glorify nature in a religious sense, Arnold knows that nature is truly "ignorant armies, clashing by night", for morals can only be found within one's soul.
Emerson's teaching stressed that one should have a very intimate relationship with nature; he believed that nature, itself, existed for the betterment of mankind and that man could only find his true morals and beauties within nature. Although in Emerson's lifetime, technology was not as entrenched in society as it is today, he still basically saw it as a short-term pleasure, a threat to a purer life shared only with nature. Emerson believes that the only way for a man to become morally enlightened is for him to revert, in a way, to his more natural instincts, and, in doing so, become better able to recognize the morals which he believes are found in nature: "...if the single man plant himself indomitably upon his instincts, and there abide, the huge world will come around to him..." . For Emerson, technology could never be a human advancement, because he looks at it in the strict point of view that, as man expands his own physical world, he must simultaneously abandon the natural one, thereby also abandoning his natural morals.
William Wordsworth's poetry passionately illustrates the natural world as something both very simple and beautiful, but, most importantly, as something completely different than modern society. Although he does not directly hold technology in contempt, it is interesting to expand Wordsworth's doctrine of a separation between nature and society, as nature is truly an escape from physical society. Similar to Emerson, Wordsworth believed in the value of understanding and utilizing one's own pure instincts and that it was this that allowed one to escape into the natural world: "For oft, when on my couch I lie / In vacant or in pensive mood, / They flash upon that inward eye / which is the bliss of solitude; / And then my heart with pleasure fills, And Dances with the Daffodils." . To Wordsworth, nature is pristinely beautiful, and it is the only escape from a world which is controlled by a physical reality that has lost touch with the beauty of nature.
Although there is no doubt that the "Unabomber" is a heartless and ruthless terrorist, ironically, there is also evidence that he is educated and actually rationalizes his violence by means of his political views against the growth of modern technology. In his article for the New York Times, the Unabomber explained his reason for the senseless deaths as his attempt to create a new world order which rejects the technology that is an integral part of our society. Similar to Emerson, the Unabomber calls for a reversion back to one's instincts; however, he is not advocating the moral sense that Emerson and Wordsworth suggest, but a more physical and direct approach, actually living in a primitive manner, without society: "There is good reason to believe that primitive man suffered from less stress and frustration and was better satisfied with his way of life than modern man.". It is safe to say that the Unabomber truly feels stressed and unsatisfied with his own life and, unwilling to accept responsibility for his shortcomings, blames it on technology. Of course, the struggle of surviving in a cave and being attacked by Mammoth and Wooleyburgers could put stress and dissatisfaction in the minds of the best of them. Still, reading all three authors creates a sense of returning to one's natural origins, although it is those natural origins that make a man want to create civilization and society, a paradox indeed. Inside his soul one can discover his own natural origins, and this truly, is the only place to find them. Emerson, Wordsworth, and even the Unabomber love nature, but they simply lose touch with themselves.