Nature Mysticism

Springs, storms and the open sky provide John Edward Mercer with the materials for a study of human kinship with nature. Published in 1913, this philosophical work examines the intuitions and emotions that arise from encounters with the physical world. Mercer accepts evolution as part of his starting point and treats sensory experience as the foundation of these responses. Water, air and fire receive particular attention, alongside discussions of reason, imagination and the development of intuition.

Poetry and mythology give the argument its concrete examples. In the discussion of underground waters, Coleridge and Wordsworth appear beside Greek accounts of the underworld and the northern myth of Yggdrasil, whose roots reach into subterranean fountains. Mercer follows the changing ways people have understood such phenomena across generations. Readers interested in the meeting of philosophy, literature and spiritual feeling will find a sustained attempt to explain why natural places can carry such emotional force.