Notes on wilderness # 7
The problem with transcendentalism is that it teaches men to look for what is not there. It says, “Look here is a rock, but do not look at the rock. Look beyond the rock. Look to what the rock symbolizes”
Wilderness has plenty to show us without having to look beyond it. A rock is a rock. If you wish to look beyond the rock you may do so, thought most likely what you will find is another rock — probably of the same make up. Maybe there are a lot of rocks of the same type and perhaps you will notice they form a canyon. And perhaps if you wander up into that canyon you will find the rock is from an outcropping or a sedimentary layer that tells where we are standing used to be a lake teaming with wildlife.
Or. Perhaps as you wander up the canyon you realize that the rock was just that, a stone big enough to hold in your hand and weighty enough to send you on your present journey… ultimately and simply a rock.