The beauty in Nature and City-life

Painting by Thomas Kinkade

Romanticism truly does shape the way we see ourselves and the world around us. I feel that romanticism is most commonly found in nature because it is something that is seen everyday by nearly everyone. Nature is a beautiful thing and does make the hearts of some leap whereas it makes the hearts of some hurt drastically. Either way, there is romanticism in it that makes us view the world the way we do. The romantic to nature is that it paints a visual for us; it paints a visual for what and how we see life and what can come of it. 

A simple picture painted by Thomas Kinkade does extreme cultural work; it gave the society as a whole a new outlook on what the country life and what nature truly is. It pains a beautiful image to what and how we see nature. The romantic to his artwork is that it is inviting. It puts a discourse into society, it makes nature and its simplicity and purity an ideology. Society as a whole does not simply know where we had gotten the opinion that nature is simply beautiful. It was placed into our subconscious mind with the help of artists such as Thomas Kinkade. The romantic to this painting leaves us thinking that the nature we have now is sacred and beautiful. It allows us to want to go to places such as the one painted, to get away from the chaos in the everyday life, to get away from the new state of nature that man has created. 

“A human being is a part of the whole called by us universe, a part limited in time and space. He experiences himself, his thoughts and feeling as something separated from the rest, a kind of optical delusion of his consciousness. This delusion is a kind of prison for us, restricting us to our personal desires and to affection for a few persons nearest to us. Our task must be to free ourselves from this prison by widening our circle of compassion to embrace all living creatures and the whole of nature in its beauty.” 
― Albert Einstein

I feel that what Mr. Einstein means is that mankind needs to accept what we have created but we cannot forget about where we have come from. We have come from urbanized homes to industrialization. We need to escape what man has created every now and then to rediscover the beauty in nature such as sunsets and fishing on a lake. The romantic to this is that it paints the visual that nature is pure. We cannot forget the emotions that we feel, we can escape the classicism and rebel against what society portrays us to what is right for the world (industrialization) and regain the purity of what we once had. We need to go back to the state of nature, to what Jean Jacques Rousseau had said. 

In Jean Jacques Rousseau’s Discourse, he mentions that humans are at their most natural state when closest with nature. The state of nature, being that in which the care for our own preservation is the least prejudicial to that of others, was consequently the best calculated to promote peace, and the most suitable for mankind. Savages make use of their reason and prevents him from abusing his faculties so it may be said that savages are not bad merely because they do not know what it is to be good: for it is neither the development of the understanding nor the restraint of law that hinders them from doing ill; but the peacefulness of their passions and their ignorance of vice. The state of nature promotes peace  and purity because man shows compassion and respect for others. With Rousseau, I agree that mankind needs to see the romanticism in everyday life and to stop competing and pitying others, and to turn society around back towards the state of nature where everyone was pure and their souls undisturbed. Yes, the skyline of Minneapolis is beautiful and makes us think of the many opportunities that are awaiting us, but we cannot forget where our true happiness comes from. The romantics in nature is that there is equality awaiting mankind, whereas in the city, it is simply comparison of man to man. This comparison drives man to seek domination over their fellow human beings. Seeing the beauty in nature and the world around us makes mankind realize where we have come from, what we want in life, and how lucky we are to be here on such a beautiful planet that we are able to call home. 

My Heart Leaps Up

My heart leaps up when I behold
A rainbow in the sky:

So was it when my life began;

So is it now I am a man;

So be it when I shall grow old,

Or let me die!

The Child is father of the Man;

And I could wish my days to be 

Bound each to each by natural piety.

-William Wordsworth. 

Wordsworth mentions in his poem “My heart leaps up” that he wishes his days to be bound each to each by natural piety. By this he means that he wishes to be bound again to the innocence he had in his childhood. Everything was easier, more pure, and more beautiful and stupendous. Wordsworth is trying to say that in the action of it all and the chaos of new industrialization and urbanization in the cities, one needs to escape to become closer to the natural piety. One needs to be closer with nature, to the state of nature agreeing with what Rousseau has to say. By being closer with nature, one is more pure and undisturbed.

 I feel that both philosophers are true to what they have to say about nature. The closer one is with nature, the more pure the thought processes are. However, on the other side of the argument, the city life can also be beautiful too. It can portray an amazing life. The romantics behind the big city life is that people will have more things to do, more opportunities, more freedom to be whomever they want to be. In the country life, people are only free to think what they want and not have to satisfy society; in the city, people have to be appropriate and are able to do what they want with their career and choose their proper path of their future.

Romanticism creates a reaction in everyone. Whether it be positive or negative. Yes, there is an anti-romanticism to the city life that technology is what is driving us to industrialize and continues to make life happen, but it gives us the romantic to appreciate what we still have yet in our world that is pure and undisturbed. The city and skylines helps mankind appreciate what we have. It motivates us to become better but still not forget where we have come from. This is why Thomas Kinkades paintings are so popular; they make us retreat to the state of nature of purity and happiness. The paintings and nature in general cause a reaction in everyone; it moves people. That is why everyone is so awestruck with nature and its beauty. The romantics to nature make us appreciate life and the world around us, it excites us for our future, reminds us of our past, and teaches us to never forget how much beauty and purity surrounds us.