Emerson's first book, Nature, published in 1896, is perhaps one of his best on transcendentalism. He believed that everything in our world, even something as small as a dew drop, was a microcosm of the universe. His vision of the higher soul, which in his eyes is a supreme and superior spirit shared by every man and woman, allowed the transcendentalists to discard the notion of external authority and to rely henceforth on personal experience . With his Nature Book, he made the universal accessible. understanding. This shows Emerson's belief that each person must, on their own, create an understanding, a personal understanding of the universe. In his introduction, he believes that not all men should rely on second-hand information, inherited information. He believes that we should have an original relationship with the universe, as our ancestors did when they saw God and nature face to face. Emerson believes that the past allowed people to have an immediate and intimate relationship with God; they were allowed to conclude their own understanding of the universe. But he wants to “require our own works, our own laws and our worship”. His rejection of learned wisdom is repeated throughout nature because he believes that the importance of the present moment, the possibilities of the here and now make the patterns and observations of the past irrelevant. In "Language" he believes that the relationships between spirit and matter are not considered a poet's type, but are the will of God and are therefore free to be learned and known to all men. In Nature, Emerson wants a vision of the universe that embraces man, nature, matter, and spirit as expressions of God. This type of unity is called a higher soul in Emerson's other writings. A new and direct understanding of nature is the understanding of the entire universe. He f...... middle of paper ......age' he details language and uses it as a mechanism of thought through his symbolism, a person according to Emerson expresses himself through nature. Emerson's transcendentalist ideas about matter and mind are evident in nature. Nature functions as a representation of the divine, to promote human understanding of universal laws. Spirit is the universal organ through which the world is perceived. It speaks to the individual. In “Idealism” he takes a philosophical route by questioning whether nature exists separately or whether it is just an image created by God in the mind of man. He believes that science, religion, philosophy and poetry account for the higher truth. But he admits that idealism is difficult to accept for those who trust rationality over intuition. Emerson concluded his essay by asking us, as readers, to open ourselves to spiritual reality by trusting intuitive reason..