For some reason I have a fascination with delicate, ephemeral spheres of air. As Emerson wrote in his essay “Circles”: […]
Tag Archive for ‘emerson’
Twenty Years with Thoreau
Twenty years have passed since Wilderness Press published my little book of “meditations” in 2002: Meditations of Henry David Thoreau: […]
If Death is the End
Preparing to teach the final session of my Emerson class, I came across this line from his biographer, Robert Richardson: […]
Suicidal Beliefs
This seems to have a timeless wisdom, wouldn’t you say? “The Religion that is afraid of science dishonors God and […]
Art of the Wild
A sneak peek at this week’s “Highland Views” column. Look for it Saturday in the Asheville Citizen-Times. Elegant Incognito and […]
Religion, or Life?
In 1832, the year he left the ministry, Emerson wrote these words in his journal: “Religion in the mind is […]
Faith in Nature?
What does it mean to have faith in nature? This is not about worship or a “religion of nature.”
Hard Words
As I am preparing to teach a class on Ralph Waldo Emerson, one of those major thinkers I’ve admired for […]
Books & Beliefs
A fairly simple rule of thumb that proves its wisdom in any age: “When I find in people narrow religion, […]
Sunrise
We Don’t Need a Candle to See the Sun Rise In October 1832, several years before he gained fame as […]
God and Atheists
In his eulogy for Henry Thoreau in May 1862, Emerson quotes his friend as saying: “Nothing is so much to […]
Self-reliance
Self-reliance and the sacred/secular life In his still-reliable and still-relevant essay from 1839, “Self-Reliance,” Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803-1882) preaches the […]
Friendly Freethinker 