A River Runs Through It
"In the woods, we return to reason and faith. There nothing can befall me in life-no disgrace, no calamity, which nature cannot repair. Standing on the bear ground; my head bathed by blithe air, and uplifted into infinite space, all mean egotism vanish." To each man there are places to forget, places to ignore worries, troublesome thoughts, and lost ideals. For father and sons that place comes to be the Big Black Foot River. Rev. Maclean, Norman, and Paul find solace in the river; discover simpler standards for life, structure, and religion. The rhythmic, methodical current of the waters provide reason and faith, a return to gods green earth, a return how life was meant to be in the eyes of a transcendental. The author, the brothers, and the father; and the quest for purity. The beauty in the strength of mere words and the immense impact they have on the soul of man has been the inspiration to many of the greatest poets and writers. The ability to combine elegance with knowledge and thereupon affect the thoughts of others using only paper and pen has intrigued men for centuries. Henry David Thoreau proved to be the voice of his people and thus changed history by expressing the ideals he believed to be correct, thoug
Transcendentalism arose partly as a reaction to society's growing love for material possessions and the dehumanization of man's emotions. Too it was a response to what some felt was a spiritual lack of established religion. In nature comes God. God is in the river, God teaches us differently in the natural world. He is not book or a word, nothing but a feeling. In nature God is the source of revival. For Rev. Maclean God had a place in nature, God was nature. He chooses to live his life by the lord, do things structured and according to the word of God. For Rev. Maclean the word of God encompassed nature and all its glory like no other. He, though structured, itself was lost. A sense of wonder and possibility which could only be found in the Montana river of his childhood had been forgotten. Throughout life Norman had lived a life of structure. Although in realization of the fact, he feared the societal consequences of freedom. The necessary lack of resistance danced around Norman more than anything else. He needed to return to reason and faith, to learn the natural side of God's order and how to follow the word of God. Norman required necessity, what was right for himself would guide him to self actualization. He would find the essentials in sprit and nature, not society, not the structure which pinned him down. conventional thought from societies clouded eyes. Man must increase his understanding of himself to understand the outside world. Had the brothers realized what that trickling flow did individually, would they have stayed? Had they known the wisdom, escape and relaxation gained from the waters would Paul and Norman been plagued with disco
Some common words found in the essay are:
Foot Beneath, David Thoreau, Norman Paul, Rev Maclean, Freedom Schultz-3, , Paul Norman, God God, God Norman, Maclean God, rev maclean, father sons, word god, reason faith, return reason faith, source revival, lived life, life structure, black foot, natural god's, green earth,
Approximate Word count = 1123
Approximate Pages = 4 (250 words per page double spaced)
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