Back to photostream

Walking the Dog in Red, A View during an Amble along the Grote Aa, Heeze, Noord Brabant, The Netherlands

The heavily autumnal trees with their drooping branches, the low mists, the browns and last greens of Fall, the earthy smells of the water: all of nature seemed very material on this early Sunday morning. I couldn't help but think of Paul-Henry Thiry, Baron d'Holbach (1723-1789). Great French philosopher of the Enlightenment and one of the Encycopedists, he devised a system of philosophy based upon or perhaps deriving from atheism and in particular materialism. D'Holbach in the middle of the eighteenth century owned Heeze Castle, just beyond the tree horizon in the distance. Dinner there last night was quite deliciously material!

I don't know whether the famous humanist Erasmus (1466-1536) was much given to walks in nature; and I don't imagine Theodoricus Hezius (c.1485-1555), originaly from here, would've contemplated much in these natural environs. But perhaps if they'd taken time to traipse these cowpaths and 'd made light conversation, they might have ironed out their violent antagonisms.

I wandered back to the village and soon found myself again with the small beauties of very material nature: late Campions, autumnal mushrooms, colorful fallen leaves, and some deer on the forest's edge.

3,447 views
28 faves
95 comments
Uploaded on November 20, 2011
Taken on November 20, 2011