John Muir’s wholeheartedness enabled him to unify the diverse phases of experience that go into the appreciation of natural beauty. We have much to learn from Muir’s achievement. Nevertheless, we can wonder whether he took his achievement to excess. Did he rejoice in beauty so much that he did not acknowledge the ugliness that is … Read more
The Butterfly Hunter, Carl Spitzweg (1808-1885) John Muir’s concrete descriptions often had no need of words like “beauty,” or “divine,” or “God”; but such language is frequent enough to indicate a pervasive dimension in his aesthetic experience. Muir’s expressions of delight in nature, the dominant emotion of his life, convey one thought above all: beauty … Read more
Beloveds, I’ve started to conceive of each sequence on a certain topic (e.g., beauties of nature) as a month-long prototype for a course that I might develop. Most of the content that I present in this weblog comes from my forthcoming book, Values and Virtues: A New Philosophy of Living. As a proper educator, … Read more
Muir’s empathy for all life began with identifying with the mind of the creatures whose intentions and moods he came to know. “We worked with [oxen], sympathized with them in their rest and toil and play, and thus learned to know them far better than we should had we been only trained scientific naturalists. We … Read more
Three quotations from John Muir illustrate advanced perception. After listening to it in all kinds of winds, night and day, season after season, I think I could approximate to my position on the mountain by this pine music alone. If you would catch the tone of separate needles, climb a tree in breezy weather. … Read more
Singing in the rain When beauty touches us, it awakens our aesthetic response, ranging from contentment and satisfaction to delight, rejoicing, and awe: these modes of experience register our recognition of universal beauty. The most common positive emotions are joy, gratitude, serenity, interest, hope, pride (paired with humility), amusement, inspiration, awe, and love.[1] As long … Read more
Walking in beauty heightens the resonance between beauty in our surroundings and beauty in ourselves; and this resonance enhances vitality. Vitality is associated with energy, enthusiasm, zest, and vigor. As psychologists describe it, vitality involves the entire personality, embracing several kinds of value: biological, psychological, social, philosophical, and spiritual. Vitality expresses physical health … Read more
Rising to a full appreciation of the beauties of nature, we engage ourselves on all levels. We could systematically describe these levels, beginning with perception, moving through the intellectual discovery of harmony, and culminating with the spiritual realization of divine beauty. But full experience does not usually come at the conclusion of a systematic process. … Read more