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Emerson argues that “Nature suffers nothing to remain in her kingdom which cannot help itself.” I'm having trouble figuring out how he uses nature to address self reliance in individual lives? I've read, looked up and researched but to no avail. can anyone assist?

2007-12-17 12:12:01 · 2 answers · asked by Anonymous in Arts & Humanities Poetry

2 answers

Man is timid and apologetic; he is no longer upright; he dares not say 'I think,' 'I am,' but quotes some saint or sage. He is ashamed before the blade of grass or the blowing rose. These roses under my window make no reference to former roses or to better ones; they are for what they are; they exist with God to-day. There is no time to them. There is simply the rose; it is perfect in every moment of its existence. Before a leaf-bud has burst, its whole life acts; in the full-blown flower there is no more; in the leafless root there is no less. Its nature is satisfied, and it satisfies nature, in all moments alike. But man postpones or remembers; he does not live in the present, but with reverted eye laments the past, or, heedless of the riches that surround him, stands on tiptoe to foresee the future. He cannot be happy and strong until he too lives with nature in the present, above time.

This should be plain enough. Yet see what strong intellects dare not yet hear God himself, unless he speak the phraseology of I know not what David, or Jeremiah, or Paul. We shall not always set so great a price on a few texts, on a few lives. We are like children who repeat by rote the sentences of grandames and tutors, and, as they grow older, of the men of talents and character they chance to see, ?painfully recollecting the exact words they spoke; afterwards, when they come into the point of view which those had who uttered these sayings, they understand them, and are willing to let the words go; for, at any time, they can use words as good when occasion comes. If we live truly, we shall see truly. It is as easy for the strong man to be strong, as it is for the weak to be weak. When we have new perception, we shall gladly disburden the memory of its hoarded treasures as old rubbish. When a man lives with God, his voice shall be as sweet as the murmur of the brook and the rustle of the corn.

Refer to the link below for further explanation.
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2007-12-17 20:52:31 · answer #1 · answered by ari-pup 7 · 0 0

Nature does what it wants, when it wants, the way it wants. It cannot be controlled or predicted with accuracy. It cannot be any other way than the way it is. It cannot be anything other than itself, such that " it cannot help itself".

2007-12-17 13:14:47 · answer #2 · answered by ? 6 · 0 1

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