On Wiliderness, or, True American Existentialism

As Andrew Feenberg once noted, Henry Bugbee’s The Inward Mornings is “the only truly original American existentialism.” Here are two great quotes from the book:

“This theme of reality as wilderness is the theme that unifies my life. It enfolds and simplifies, comprehends and completes. Whenever I awaken, I awaken to it. It carries with it the gift of life.” (128)

“Philosophy is not a making of a home for the mind out of reality. It is more like learning to leave things to be: restoration in the wilderness, here and now.” (155)