I love this stanza from canto four of Byron's Childe Harold's Pilgrimage, which many may remember from the movie Into The Wild, which I adore, but it often worries me how much this quote describes who I am. I mean, we all remember how the movie ends, right?
But I can't help it. Each mile driven really does lessen the weight in my chest (Donald Miller). And I'm never happier than when in Nature. But there's a time and place right?
Yeah, walking through the garden with God having long talks with Him was a slice of heaven for Adam, but at the end of the day, he was still lonely. Even in paradise.
I just really wish I could look deep enough into myself to know if I love the solitude in nature a bit too much. But even if I found out I did, what would I actually do about it?
These thoughts worry me often. Nonetheless, this stanza is beautiful, and seemingly perfect. Enjoy! In the correct proportions of course. We are indeed relational beings. Maybe I just need to find a helpmate to enjoy nature with...that would be nice.
There is pleasure in the pathless woods,
There is a rapture on the lonely shore,
There is society, where none intrudes,
By the deep sea, and music in its roar:
I love not man the less, but Nature more,
From these our interviews, in which I steal
From all I may be, or have been before,
To mingle with the Universe, and feel
What I can ne'er express, yet cannot all conceal.
LORD BYRON, Childe Harold
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