, or the pleasure in contemplation of form and color" (10). There is a direct relationship between nature and people insofar as they both express emotions and stages of development. Moods can, as does nature, brighten and fade as they seek change and identity. The Transcendental emphasis on the unity of individual souls both with nature and with God instills dignity and significance into human endeavors. Everything found in the soul of the world can be found in the soul of the individual, moreover, contact with the truth, goodness and beauty embodied in nature originates the Over-Soul (www.cl.utoledo.edu/canaday/thortran.html). Alfred Kazin states that Emerson felt that those who "...had found God in himself was always happy, confident of his wisdom about everything that came to his attention" (52). Such an emphasis establishes a belief in the power to effect social change in harmony with God's purposes. In Nature, Emerson proclaims that "the reason why the world lacks unity, and lies broken and in heaps, is because man is disunited with himself" (www.jjnet.com/emerson/prospects.htm). Only when people identify themselves with nature and its inherent power and beauty will they fully recognize those qualities within themselves. They will discover peace within their souls and eventually peace with one another.Emerson's Nature also advocates a lifestyle free of superfluous material possessions. He explains that the natural and organic are vastly superior to manufactured products. As he states "In the wilderness, I find something more dear and connate than in streets or villages. In the tranquil landscape, and especially in the distant line of the horizon, man beholds somewhat as beautiful as his own nature" (www.jjnet.com/emerson/nature1.htm). Emerson insists that the necessities for survival reside in nature, at no expense, in their purist form:Nature, in its ministry to man, is not only the material, but is also the process and t...
