The Long-Standing Search For Solace: A Reflection On Nature

Nothing attests greater to the significance of simplicity than nature. Often, nature is viewed as the gateway through which we can escape from our innate troubles, for we have experienced its peacefulness time and time again; this sort of indescribable feeling which triumphs above our preexisting emotions. Retreating to nature is to become one with this primordial environment which will never betray us, but only accept our presence so graciously. Philosophers — so absorbed in their thoughts — have questioned the basis of this conception; namely, why nature is fundamentally tantalizing. Although considered for centuries from Emerson’s Nature to Thoreau and his dearest Walden Pond, many have concluded that the absence of humanity is what grants us such peace. However, our ideas of nature are shallow and superficial; to peer deep into nature’s contents requires patience, attentiveness, and some degree of admiration for simple pleasures. Indeed, the beauty of nature is best left untouched and only gazed into with unsuspecting eyes. Yet, the qualities of nature are remarkably individual: some will lay on its floor and peer deep into its heavens; others may find it a stimulant which harbors deep, insightful thoughts on the world…

Regardless, it would be foolish to disregard these wondrous things which it proffers to us, but it is more foolish to disregard that which we’ve done to it. Although humanity may not be innately bad or deplorable (although some cynical philosophers beyond the realm of Emerson and Thoreau may disagree), we have taken for granted these worldly delights that have proved as our long-standing sanctuaries. However, it only requires reflection — to expand the horizons of our thinking to thereby expand the horizons of the universe — and mustn’t we neglect a great deal of curiosity. The beauty which surrounds us is immeasurable, but only if we are willing to look to it, for beyond its great depths lays the purest form of authenticity. Thus, we ought to shift this unequal dynamic and transform such into one aimed toward the betterment of nature —for when we do, the world transforms into that which it was always meant to be.