Something in common
Existing independently
Aesthetic approaches
Isolating particulars as visual components of a conceptual response, ideas endure continuous change. Natural processes drive the diversity and unity of life.
“What about someone who believes in beautiful things, but doesn’t believe in the beautiful itself…? Don’t you think he is living in a dream rather than a wakened state?” – Plato
Extended existence
Substance essence
Identity attributes
Indivisible temporal episodes must be filled with some real objects or existence. Yet the idea of duration implies a succession of elements over time in an imaginative fixed moment isolated from change.
“I would warn you that I do not attribute to nature either beauty or deformity, order or confusion. Only in relation to our imagination can things be called beautiful or ugly, well-ordered or confused.” – Baruch Spinoza
Expansion experience
Perceptual horizon
Accumulated objects
On the river shore, selectively attending to different environmental contingencies is enlightening. Evidence of flow pattern remnants offer a heightened attainment to the generative process of existence.
“Our proper identity is a kind of change.” – Jeff Morrisey
Primitive elegance
Complex compound
Realistic implications
Like many terms, the word nature encompasses a plurality of meanings. Shifting priorities, styles, moods, and ideologies render concepts fluid through time. The most significant distinction involves humans as being either part of nature or completely separate.
“It is not sufficient that every science be digested into a separate system; – every particular branch ought to be adapted to the whole, and all of them collectively applied to the use and benefit of mankind.” – Friedrich Nicolai
Water droplets
Reflection refraction dispersion
Spectrum of light
Ephemeral rainbows appear suddenly and in their infrequency activate inner feelings of intrinsic enchantment.
“We paused and moved again in languid fits, and it went on like that, advancing and sitting, until the tempests left and the overcast passed us; then the sun appeared, and a rainbow arched behind us.” – Milan Sime Martinic
Fossil beach
Shoreline tree
Coastal estuary
Straddling the brackish water’s edge, this sandy soil station seems an unlikely location for such an isolated tree.
“Their leaves are telling secrets. Their bark sings songs of olden days as it grows around the trunks. And their roots give names to all things.” – Vera Nazarian
Waterfront venue
Historic setting
Perfect locale
Some things persist. The most ancient Live Oak trees in existence on the Outer Banks are estimated to be between several hundred to over a thousand years old. This one is located on the picturesque Whalehead Club grounds along the Currituck Sound in Historic Corolla.
“Visitors stroll among live oaks that are considerably taller and fatter than when the Knights planted them.” – Bryan Mims
Puissance materialization
Atmospheric phenomena
Ethereal expression
A powerful and exhilarating storm rapidly rolls-in from the west with shifting wind and intense ferocity. Emotional, psychological, and spiritual transposition emanate from the imposing cloud formations.
“Of all the things on earth, nature’s disruption is what we know we can depend on, as it is essentially uncontrolled by men.” – Criss Jami
Stretching limbs
Secrets to divulge
Deciduous evergreen
Curious and impressive in appearance, the Outer Banks barrier islands are home to many live oaks. Draping low with twisted limbs and rugged bark, they flourish in the inexorable maritime forest conditions.
“Steadfastly spreading their limbs, they twist and turn to get the most fortuitous sunlight and find their place on this sometimes harsh and unpredictable island.” – Rita Thiel
Distinct ecosystem
Biologically diverse
Hydric soil
A wild and generally inaccessible wetland does an excellent job of biological diversity support, water storage and purification, carbon and nutrient processing, and shoreline stabilization.
“When I would recreate myself, I seek the darkest wood, the thickest and most impenetrable and to the citizen, most dismal, swamp. I enter a swamp as a sacred place, a sanctum sanctorum.” – Henry David Thoreau