Thoreau had the uncanny ability to begin with close observations on a mundane incident or the minutiae of nature then develop his observations into profound ruminations on the most fundamental human concerns. Credited with influencing Tolstoy, Ghandi, and other thinkers, Walden remains a masterpiece of philosophical reflection. Here, Thoreau is comparing his observations of an “ant battle” to the legendary Greek army of Achilles, the Myrmidons (Walden, Dover Thrift ed.) When you are doing your nature journal this week, try to find an everyday, “mundane” incident of nature and enlarge it to comment on another historical human event.
“Nature will bear the closest inspection. She invites us to lay our eye level with her smallest leaf and take an insect’s view of its plain.”
—Thoreau
“I love to think of nature as an unlimited broadcasting station, through which God speaks to us every hour, if we will only tune in.”
—George Washington Carver
From Angelica’s Journal: Angelica’s poem (pdf)