Aleena Norris - Following the Uncharted Way

 Our assigned reading, "Following the Uncharted Way," provides an intriguing conversation about the contemplation of beauty. Redick writes that "phenomenology, in attempting to return to the things themselves, sets conceptualizations aside in order to discover an experience of the uncharted." I reflect on my own experiences, moving to Tennessee for college in search of new experiences and oneness with nature, and then moving back desiring to be closer to home. I think that my decision to come home felt like a journey back to the past, like I would come home and everything would be and feel exactly as it had before I left. What I instead found was that my return was not a return, but another discovery of an experience of the uncharted. Just as phenomenology attempts. I also related to the description of Teresa's sublime experience, and how that experience is found inward, in "the wilderness of her own soul." My creative thoughts and spiritual experiences are often found in nature, but I realize that the thoughts do not come from nature, but are simply inspired by nature. My spiritual experiences are already found internally, inside of my soul, it is my environment that brings them to the surface. When I am "in communion with nature and God," I am able to experience that supreme awe at the natural world around me