Oneness in Walden, Nature and American Scholar Some of the most important works that express a relationship between the individual and nature are undoubtedly Walden by Henry David Thoreau and the essays written by Ralph Waldo Emerson, in particular Nature and The American Scholar. In each of these works an idea of ​​totality, "unity" with nature is expressed. Both Thoreau and Emerson believe that man, to live a full and happy life, must live in harmony with nature. Both writers share different ideas about how this unity with nature can be achieved and what it means. Emerson, in his scholarly speech, states that nature is the most important influence on man and his thinking. Since there is no beginning or end in nature, it is circular or whole. In this, nature is like God and like the spirit of man, because it has neither beginning nor end, but only a circular movement that creates a whole. We also see this idea of ​​totality in man. Emerson describes men not as many singular entities, but as parts of a single man. God created man as a whole, but with different aspects and abilities so that he could function better. As God created man as a whole, so He created nature as a whole and man as one with nature so that he could function better spiritually. In Walden we are given Thoreau's perspective of A Man and Nature. Thoreau believes he can better understand society as a whole by living outside of it, living in the simplicity that nature offers. Thoreau and Emerson both believe that to transcend and achieve this unity with nature, man must educate himself mentally and spiritually. Although both writers recognize the importance of books and reading as precursors to spiritual growth, both also believe that a ca......middle of paper......nscendentalists, through their theoretical essays and their literature, have created strong reasons for man to recognize the importance of nature in his life. Emerson felt that men who did not achieve this oneness with nature could not experience God or the Divine, and therefore their lives were not fulfilling or spiritually complete. In Walden, Thoreau's main purpose is to celebrate life and help men recognize the potential fullness and exhilaration of life by making them aware of their own capacity for spiritual growth. To achieve spiritual growth, or transcend it, Thoreau feels that one must first evaluate one's life and be willing to change it. Other artists of this period echoed the sentiments of Thoreau and Emerson in their own creativity, in their own journey to spiritual fulfillment, which only reinforced the premise that man and nature were one and that man without nature was not whole..