xvi INTRODUCTION 



In this process all will depend upon the mood. 

 If we are not in the mood for it, we are unreceptive 

 of Nature's impressions, and we are irresponsive. 

 We do not come into touch with Nature. Conse- 

 quently we see no Beauty. But if we are in a 

 sensitive and receptive mood, if our minds are not 

 preoccupied, and if our soul is open to the impres- 

 sions which Nature is ever raining on it, then we 

 respond to Nature's appeal. We feel ourselves in 

 tune with her. We come into communion with her, 

 and we see Beauty. 



If we are ourselves feeling sad and sorrowful 

 when we look out on Nature, and there all should 

 happen to be bright and gay, we shall feel out of 

 harmony with Nature, we shall not feel in touch 

 with her, and we shall not see Beauty. 



On the other hand, when we are in a glad 

 and overflowing mood we shall be extraordinarily 

 responsive to Nature's appeal, and see Beauty in 

 a rugged, leafless oak tree or a poor old woman at 

 the corner of some mean street. And if when we 

 are in such a mood Nature happens to be at her 

 best and brightest, as on some spring morning, the 

 Beauty we shall then see will be overpowering, and 

 we shall scarcely be able to contain ourselves for 

 ecstasy of joy. 



We shall have discovered an identity between 

 what is in Nature and what is in us. In looking 

 on Nature, we shall have been introduced into a 

 Presence, greater than ourselves but like ourselves, 

 which stirs in us this which we feel. When we see 

 Beauty in Nature we are discovering that Nature is 

 not merely a body, but has or is a soul. And the 



