Nature Mysticism — Reading Notes

The Modern Mystic's Stance

Mercer's preface declares that his nature mystic is 'essentially a modern,' one who has 'accepted the fundamentals of the hypothesis of evolution.' This is not a retreat into pre-scientific wonder but an attempt to reconcile mystical intuition with contemporary science and critical thought. He acknowledges the difficulties of writing in Tasmania and publishing 'at the antipodes,' a detail that subtly grounds his perspective in a specific colonial locale. The introductory chapter further warns against 'vague speculative driftings,' positioning his project as a reasoned, not merely emotional, exploration of nature's spiritual dimensions.

Waters as Living Movement

Mercer devotes several chapters to water in its various forms—subterranean springs, brooks, rivers, the ocean, still waters. He treats the Teutonic myths of Urd's fountain and Mimur's well not as elaborate symbols but as 'primitive intuitions embodied to form a primitive philosophy of life.' The key insight is that these myths arose from direct encounter with the circulation of waters, leading to a vision of the universe as 'living movement.' He contrasts this with classical myths and draws a line from Thales to the Teutonic child of nature, arguing that 'the Reality is ultimately the same for both.'

From Myth to Psalm: The Jordan's Source

A striking example of Mercer's method is his treatment of the Jordan's source near Banias. He describes the waters 'pouring out of the ground in sufficient volume to form at once a river,' the roar and tumult 'strikingly impressive.' He moves from the primitive worship at a temple of Dan, where the gushing waters were a manifestation of divine life, to the more advanced stage represented by Psalm 42, which Peters argued was originally a liturgical hymn sung at that shrine. The phrase 'One deep calleth another' becomes, in this context, not a vague metaphor but a concrete echo of a specific place and its acoustic experience.

The Charge of Anthropomorphism

Mercer devotes an entire chapter to the charge of anthropomorphism, a central objection to nature mysticism. He does not dismiss it but engages seriously, arguing that the immanent idea—the sense of a presence or life within natural phenomena—need not be a naive projection of human traits. He distinguishes between primitive animism, which 'genuinely believed' in spirits, and a more refined intuition that perceives will and consciousness in nature without reducing it to the human. This chapter reveals his philosophical sophistication and his effort to carve out a defensible middle ground between materialism and supernaturalism.

Mercer's study is best approached as a series of meditations rather than a systematic argument. The reader may find it useful to follow the elemental sequence—from waters to air, fire, light, and earth—noting how each chapter builds on the previous one's insights. The book rewards those willing to engage with its mythological digressions and its careful distinctions between symbol, intuition, and belief. It is a work that asks to be read slowly, with attention to the specific landscapes and texts Mercer invokes.

Reading about waters and winds as living presences, I remembered a still afternoon on a grey lake. That quiet knowing—not something argued, but felt—returned years later in On the Improvement of the Understanding — Context and Discussion, where the mind itself becomes a landscape to be inhabited rather than solved. Both books left me, not instructed, but slightly more at home.