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Show 216. He argued, in "The Genteel Tradition in American Philosophy," When you transform Nature to your uses, when you experiment with her forces, and reduce them to industrial agents, you cannot feel that nature was made by you or for you, for then these adjustments would have been pre-established. Much less can you feel it when she destroys your labor of years in a momentary spasm. You must feel, rather, that you are an offshoot of her life; one brave little force among her immense forces. This was very much what Muir wished to say to Emerson, the genteel philosopher, and in addition he wanted to say that humans must transcend the selfish perspective which kept them from hearing harmonies not made for human ears. Santayana said that he met a Californian who observed that "if philosophers had lived among your mountains their systems would have been different from what they are." Since Muir's message to Emerson was precisely of this kind, it would be nice to think that the Californian was Muir. But California was not ready, in 1872, in 1906, and may still not be ready for such a view. GOOD WEATHER Fortunately Muir could turn to the wonderful outpouring of waters the previous December and develop his favorite stormy themes using a slightly more moderate vehicle. Though he aptly called his essay "Jubilee of Waters," Overland chose |
