Accepting the universe
 "To see things as they are, and to love them — that is the highest wisdom." |
The core question :
Burroughs opens with a famous remark by Margaret Fuller: "I accept the universe." To which Thomas Carlyle dryly replied: "Gad, she'd better!"
Burroughs takes this challenge seriously — asking: should we truly accept the universe, with all its storms, suffering, and indifference? His answer is a resolute: Yes — but with our eyes wide open.
His Philosophy
- Nature Is Enough
He rejects the idea of a human-like God watching over us. Instead, he finds divinity within nature itself. The universe is not personal — it doesn't love us, but it doesn't hate us either. It simply is, and we are part of it
Beauty Includes the Storm
He refuses to sugarcoat nature. Tornadoes, disease, predation, waste — these are not "flaws." They are part of the whole. You cannot have the sunrise without the storm; you cannot have life without death
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Evolution Is the Story
Struggle and pain are not mistakes — they are how life evolves and strengthens. The universe is not designed for us — we are part of its ongoing unfolding
Acceptance,Not Resignation —
He doesn't say "give up." He says: see things as they are, and love them anyway. Trust the larger whole even when the parts seem harsh
📖 Key Chapters
- Shall We Accept the Universe? — the central question
- Each for Its Own Sake — nothing exists solely for human use
- The Universal Beneficence — the good vastly outweighs the hardship
- Man a Part of Nature — we are not above nature; we belong to it
From introduction :
A wheel may have many spokes but can have but one hub. So I may say of this volume that there are many themes and chapter headings, but there is but one central thought into which they all converge: that the universe is good and that it is our rare good fortune to form a part of it. As this collection of essays does not aim to be a systematic treatise on any one theme, but rather a series of sallies, excursions, into the world of semi-philosophical speculation, there is inevitably much repetition; there may even be some contradiction.
But I have concluded to let them stand, as I find myself an interested spectator of the workings of my own mind when, in following different roads, it arrives at the same truth.
As all roads lead to Rome, so in the realm in which my mind works in this volume, all roads lead to the conclusion that this is the best possible world, and these people in it are the best possible people.
the book details : Author: John Burroughs Publication date: 1920 Company: Houghton Mifflin Company
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The heart of Nature is sound. I feel toward the great Mother somewhat as a man who takes out a policy in an insurance company: he believes the company is solvent and will meet its obligations.
I look upon the universe as a solvent and worthy of trust. In other words, this is a book of radical optimism. It might be described as an attempt to justify the ways of God to man on natural grounds. My reader need hardly be told that theological grounds do not count with me.
I want nothing less than a faith founded upon a rock, faith in the constitution of things. The various man-made creeds are fictitious, like the constellations — Orion, Cassiopeia's Chair, the Big Dipper; the only thing real in them is the stars, and the only thing real in the creeds is the soul's aspiration toward the Infinite. This abides, though creeds and dogmas change or vanish,
Some contents :
I Shall we Accept the Universe? 3
II. Manifold Nature 19
III. Each for its Own Sake 30
IV. The Universal Beneficence 54
V. The Good Devils 73
VI. The Natural Providence 90
VII. The Faith of a Naturalist 112
VIII. A Fallacy made in Germany 134
IX. The Price of Development 138
X. Tooth and Claw 158
XI. Men and Trees 173
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