Arboretum Diary

"Nature never wears a mean appearance. Neither does the wisest man extort her secret, and lose his curiosity by finding out all her perfection. Nature never became a toy to a wise spirit. The flowers, the animals, the mountains, reflected the wisdom of his best hour, as much as they had delighted the simplicity of his childhood." – Emerson, from Nature











10/5

Emerson was the great pioneer of all modern nature writing; it was only after him, and from his influence that Thoreau and Whitman found the courage to set down on paper what they had no doubt already considered themselves, but didn't have the philosophical permission, as set out by Emerson.  Emerson, fortunately, was right in his most elemental assumptions, that man, nature, and spirit are a connection; that, when the man becomes, as he called it, the "transparent eyeball," then it was at that

moment where not merely the intellect could comprehend that connection, but it could be felt.  Thoreau certainly went out to prove that an elongated engagement with nature (approx. 3 years) was a worthwhile project and that here we might find man in accordance to his own divine wisdom, as projected by both spirit and nature, and found his place in things.  It was also always the contrast to these things that Emerson and Thoreau (not so much Whitman, who also found his scenes in the city),  found in the more mechanical pursuits associated with 'town' that did not allow for the same type of

true insight.  At this moment, it is Thoreau that seems to be finding the most applicable credit of the big three American nature writers, as we see very real examples of young folks going off grid, or owning small farms for the sake of the process and real nourishment or to seek some form of spiritual insight by living small.  Emerson's more romantic tendencies does not strike as many converts in a time in culture when data and identity form culture itself and the small farmer is but a practical run away.  To wax poetic over the view above at the Wingra Creek freshwater spring leaking from the main Arboretum grounds into the marshes at Lake Wingra, is subject to too much analysis and data, information and signage, to be captivating in a religious sense; and yet what a classroom it is.  To set out tree stumps as desks, to rid the wall clocks and exchange those for the distractions of the looming

owl in the branch above the inlet or the autumn duck quack for the headphones would be enough to replace empty distractions with wisdom of observation.  The mere notion of such a classroom, however, will be unheard of until Emerson again finds some more popular sway with readers.  To regain wisdom and insight in the face of information can only be cultivated by sheer time spent walking... the Wingra or Galistel Woods. The curiosity to link the species tag of a particular tree at Longenecker Woods to the 'feel' of the forest, its benefits, and final transferal to others is the good work of only a small contingent of people.  As the green of the woods is shown to the child it carries over in the mind of the adult.  The child who sees only pixels will see and seek out only pixels.