As the leaves hit the ground and we are surrouned by fall this qoute strikes me:

"Listen! the wind is rising, and the air is wild with leaves,
We have had our summer evenings, now for October eves!"
- Humbert Wolfe

"I served my apprenticeship and have since done consierable journeywork in the huckleberry field. Though I never paid for my school and clothing in that way, it was some of the best schooling that I got and paid for itself."

- Henry David Thoreau from Huckleberries

Pantheism is a major theme within environmental texts. I myself have adopted the view that God exists within nature and that deep many deep spiritual experiences occur within the aesthetic elements of mother nature. While reading through Thoreau, I encountered this passage and was drawn to this pantheistic viewpoint. I have practiced mediation in the woods, and I have felt that a strong feeling of being attached to a God like presence. Nature is ultimately larger than life and I believe contains a spiritual presence that cannot be found within any other place of worship.

"My profession is always to be alert, to find God in nature, to know God's lurking places, to attend to all the oratorios and the operas in nature." - Henry David Thoreau

Center Field

A center fielder awaits the pitch, and CRACK! The ball is lined to the center field wall. The center fielder moves back without hesitation into the deep green space and charges toward the wall with his eye aimed at the ball in the air. As the ball begins to drop down, the outfielder approaches the warning track and slows down to avoid crashing into the wall. The fans scream for the ball to stretch, but the outfielder stops in the golden warning track dirt to catch the dying ball. As the ball descends down it hits his glove, and the fans moan in disbelief. The outfielder throws the ball back into the outfield and charges back to his position. Center Field is his and is the only space in time that he must worry about for nine innings.

Country to the City

As he got out of the car and entered out into the big city, his eyes glimmered with excitement and fear. Being from rural Ohio and never before seeing the hustle and bustle of the Windy City, he had no clue how to react. Walking around, he couldn't believe the fast pace of traffic and walking. Everything seemed to move a million miles an hour compared to the quiet countryside of back home. He had never before seen so many people of different races and didn't know how to interpret the lesser fortunate who roamed the street. His mind raced and head spun as he looked above at the towering sky scrapers that surrounded us. It had only been ten minutes and already his life was changed forever.

"Study nature, love nature, stay close to nature. It will never fail you."

- Frank Lloyd Wright