We often associate the beauty of nature with a majestic sunset, or an awe-inspiring mountain. However, by focusing on the more dramatic aspects of nature, we are only scratching the surface on the sheer extent of beauty which lies within the natural world. By immersing ourselves more intimately with our surroundings, we can find beauty in places we would usually overlook, writes Arnold Berleant.

In our high-tech world, there is little we do that is not mediated by some machine or device.  Our days are dominated by cell phones and computers, even when we’re eating or on the move. Like Charlie Chaplin in Modern Times, who was taken over by the machine he was operating, we have, in our times, become apps of our smartphones.

But despite the domination of technology, nature still intrudes. Natural beauty seems to have an immediate and unlearned attraction. From little children picking the first spring flowers in thoughtless fascination, to a driver pulling off the road to gaze out over a spreading landscape, and a city dweller searching up through surrounding buildings to look in silent wonder at the moon; there is gratification in these acts, the satisfaction of a primal need. To call these an appreciation of beauty recognizes the resemblance that such unlearned behaviour has to the more deliberate acts of self-fulfilling appreciation in nature and art.