Noticing Nature’s Beauty: The Trait of Engagement with Natural Beauty

Abstract

The great naturalist John Muir, known as the Father of the National Parks, and was co-founder of the Sierra Club, has written, "Everybody needs beauty as well as bread, places to play in and pray in, where nature may heal and give strength to body and soul alike" (1912, p. 256). Muir sounds like a wise person; and I certainly need bread and beauty to flourish. You too. I also find nature therapy both less expensive and more healing than visiting a psychotherapist. Do you remember in Chap. 2, about philosophy, emphasizing that love and beauty are intimately linked? Everything we love we find beautiful; everything beautiful we love. We live on such a beautiful planet. Which of the many biomes are you in love with? The subtleties of the desert? The undulating prairie grasslands? Calming yet exciting freshwater lakes, rivers, and waterfalls? The awesome sublimity of the ocean? Peaceful but mysterious forests (deciduous forest, or coniferous forest or tropical jungle forest)? The majesty of alpine mountains? My answer is yes, yes, and more yes. But for me, the most engaging beauty is coniferous forest; this is probably due to the influence of my forest-loving father (Diessner, 2018; Kahn, 1999).