One weakness in our appreciation of nature is the emphasis placed upon scenery, which in its exploited aspect is merely a gargantuan curio.
Things are appreciated for size, unusuality, and scarcity more than for their subtleties and emotional relationship to everyday life. Even some of the most sincere proponents of the National Parks speak of `the oldest living thing` or the `highest waterfall` or the `greatest collection of geysers in the world`, unmindful that such extremes are merely coincidental and have little to do with true spiritual and emotional values.
The moon rising beyond a great mountain establishes an emotional actuality which has nothing whatever to do with size, distance, or coincidence. Likewise, common grass growing against stone may be of more poignant beauty than an entire grove of sequoias in their most conventional `tourist` aspect...
