Question

via braden: Carlson seems to imply that for each setting there is a "right" mindset to have and way to view the landscape/ flower/ summer afternoon. Is this true? Or is it possible that there are multiple "right" ways to view a natural environment? Or is there no "right" way and perhaps only shades of appreciation? 

I think there is a vague "right way" to view a natural environment. It's possible, but implausible, that someone would totally misdirect their attention when in a natural environment. However, I think there are probably a lot of ways to appreciate nature, and people tend to appreciate different aspects more than others. Maybe Carlson is  saying that we shouldn't focus in on one thing, but allow ourselves to absorb all of nature as a full experience. He quotes Yi-Fu Tuan on the ideal way to view nature, saying: 

"An adult must learn to be yielding and careless like a child if he were to enjoy nature polymorphously... feel free to stretch out on the hay beside the brook and bathe in a meld of physical sensations... Such an environment might break all the formal rules of euphony and aesthetics, substituting confusion for order, and yet be wholly satisfying." (543)