If art is an experience, not just an object (here I stand with John Dewey) then your experience of the juniper is an experience of art (beauty) and so, too, is your essay seeking to understand your reaction to the tree.
But as Dewey would say (I think, I am a student of this, not a master) as soon as we introduce the idea of an external force (THE force, a la Star Wars?), the juniper is no longer art, but a greatly reduced , out-of-context object that may as well have been winked into existence the moment before you saw it. And that is not natural.
If art is an experience, not just an object (here I stand with John Dewey) then your experience of the juniper is an experience of art (beauty) and so, too, is your essay seeking to understand your reaction to the tree.
But as Dewey would say (I think, I am a student of this, not a master) as soon as we introduce the idea of an external force (THE force, a la Star Wars?), the juniper is no longer art, but a greatly reduced , out-of-context object that may as well have been winked into existence the moment before you saw it. And that is not natural.
OK! I will defer to you on Dewey, whom I've never studied. My best teachers are my subscribers: Manuel, Beaudin, and you! :)
I am curious about what everyone else thinks.
And the important thing, IMO, is to enjoy the art nature offers us, regardless of how you philosophize about it.