" (815). Not only was an experience in nature a religious one, it was an awareness of being "part or particle of God." The previous quote exemplifies a very different view of God than the one in the Bible. In the Bible, God is an omnipotent being, the creator of the universe, and an entity existing outside of us. For Emerson, humans were a direct piece of God, and the Spirit could be seen and felt from within if humans sought harmony betwixt themselves and nature. Humans can be wiser and better if they transcend the self to become a part of nature. For Emerson, to become one with nature is to take a step toward perfection. .
Emerson proposed that a lover of nature would need intercourse with heaven and earth each day. It would be as necessary to him as food. "In the presence of nature, a wild delight runs through the man, in spite of real sorrows" (815). The greatest delight would not be found in a church; it would be found in the fields or woods. "Yet it is certain that the power to produce this delight, does not reside in nature, but in man, or in a harmony of both" (815). Nature does not simply supply the experience; man has to feel the experience from within. This was an obvious revision of the traditional Christian belief that man must communicate with God through prayer and worship. The transcendental view that man would find a religious experience in nature replaced the old view that man would find a religious experience in the church, through prayer, or as a result of devoted worship.
"The reason why the world lacks unity, and lies broken and in heaps, is, because man is disunited with himself. He cannot be a naturalist, until he satisfies all the demands of the spirit" (839). According to Emerson, any destruction in nature is in our own eye. If humans seek the redemption of their soul, they will restore the world to its original, external beauty. This view is quite a revision of traditional Christian beliefs.
