Emerson’s Science of the Spirit: A Visual Interpretation of Emerson’s Natural History of Intellect

At the end of the first third of the 19th Century there arose in Concord, Massachusetts a uniquely American voice, a voice that changed the face of American intellectual life and inaugurated a new understanding of both man and Nature. At the same time as Ralph Waldo Emerson was beginning to transform the American literary world, the great environmentalist and nature writer John Muir was born in Scotland. Muir would eventually settle in California where he would become one of the main personalities involved in the preservation of Yosemite Valley. The synthesis of Emerson’s transcendentalism and Muir’s natural theology was not destined to occur during their lifetimes. This book is a step toward that synthesis. It brings together the 1899 text of Emerson’s last great work, the Natural History of Intellect, with photographs from Muir’s beloved Sierra Nevada mountains. Quotes from the Natural History are matched with photographs to illuminate Emerson’s deeper meaning. Muir speaks through Nature, Emerson through thought. A commentary on Emerson’s text helps bring his thought into a contemporary context. We need the wisdom of these great men more than ever as we face enormous environmental and spiritual challenges.