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Thoreau in time

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Henry David Thoreau, born July 12, 1817, is today considered to be a major influence in various domains in the United States. His works are widely spread, read and studied in a number of different contexts and he was a source of inspiration for a lot of people. He did multiple things in his lifetime, but he mostly dedicated his life to work. Looking to know more about his life brings a few things to my mind. I might be stating the obvious, but this is what strikes me when learning more about him.

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A Spiritual Awakening: Thoreau

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Excerpt from Henry D. Thoreau, Walden

“It matters not what the clocks say or the attitudes and labors of men.  Morning is when I am awake and there is a dawn in me.  Moral reform is the effort to throw off sleep. . . . We must learn to reawaken and keep ourselves awake, not by mechanical aids, but by an infinite expectation of the dawn, which does not forsake us in our soundest sleep.  I know of no more encouraging fact than the unquestionable ability of man to elevate his life by a conscious endeavor.  It is something to be able to paint a particular picture, or to carve a statue, and so to make a few objects beautiful; but it is far more glorious to carve and paint the very atmosphere and medium through which we look, which morally we can do.  To affect the quality of the day, that is the highest of arts.  Every man is tasked to make his life, even in its details, worthy of the contemplation of his most elevated and critical hour.  If we refused, or rather used up, such paltry information as we get, the oracles would distinctly inform us how this might be done.” Continue reading →

Thoreau’s Still Standing

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Last week we were assigned sections of Henry Thoreau’s Walden. His section on ‘Economy’ was interesting as a whole but there were a few pages and specific passages I thought still greatly apply to the world today. I wanted to take a further look at two of them.

First, Thoreau refers to the laborer as some one with “no time to be anything but a machine”.  This phrase could very well be applied to the working force today in a few different ways.  Although a ‘laborer’ in the time of Thoreau is very different than the ‘laborer’ of the 21st century, there is striking similarity between the lifestyles. Literally it can be applied because the majority of work is now done on/with machines. With the assembly line, laborers skill level is minimal. The laborer is one who is faceless to the consumer society. With the raging capitalism and mass production in corporations like Walmart, laborers are forced into factories where their face is irrelevant and their rate of production is all that matters. They are essentially a “machine”. If they break (get sick, injured, etc.) they can be easily replaced with a new part (employee) as there is no shortage of people entering the work force on a daily basis.

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Connections & Reflection: Man and Nature

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In Emerson’s Nature, the relationship between man and his environment is one of great importance.  Though written in a time before global warming and over-harvesting was a problem, Emerson writes very wise words that reflect the idea that man and nature depend on each other. First off, Emerson states that finding a certain peace with nature is essential to finding delight in the natural world. Man and nature need to find a harmony. This brings me back to the last post I wrote where I stated that the wilderness was a place where a person faces themselves and has to fight and be at peace; for when left to their own accord it is up to man to decided whether he be evil or not.

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Nature, God, or Spirit?

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One of the topics that I found to be most intriguing from our class discussions were our talks about Emerson’s, Nature, piece.  However, I found his spiritual associations with nature a bit confusing.  The “transparent eyeball” piece we analyzed in class addresses this aspect of his perceptions, as do some other areas of the text.

We learned that Nature has come to be thought of as the “manifesto” of transcendentalism.  We also learned that reason versus understanding and finding divinity in nature are interests of transcendentalists too.  To myself, these ideas seem conflicting. Emerson writes, “In the woods, we return to reason and faith.” (29). This seems very foreign.  Reason and faith are very different ways of thinking.  I have always viewed faith as believing in something without needing reasoning, while reason seems like something involving little faith and mostly facts.  So the juxtaposition of the two feels shocking and contradictory. Emerson abandoned his life of organized religion, so I wonder to what kind of faith is he referring?  Especially, since later in the essay he writes that “religion and ethics” have an, “analogous effect with all lower culture, in degrading nature…” (48).  Although Emerson references and makes many comparisons of nature with religious topics, I am led to believe that perhaps he is not directly referencing a religious faith, but rather faith in oneself, or perhaps something else?

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Thoreau

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After reading Thoreau I could not shake this feeling that things would be so much easier if the world was simpler like Thoreau lived for those two years. The simplicity kind of life that he lives and little amount of money he uses is astounding. The sense of community that Thoreau is surrounded with helping him start out, is where I feel that in “Economy” he is expressing the need to get back to nature. Thoreau being able to draw off of his own experience, freely using “I” and describing nature so brilliantly.

“We might try our lives by a thousand simple tests; as, for instance, that the same sun which ripens my beans illumines at once a system of earths like ours. If I had remembered this it would have prevented some mistakes.” (10)

I really like this little quote because it shows the world works together. How everything is all connected and if we remembered that our lives would be a lot easier just like Thoreau’s life was simple when he was connected and surrounded by nature. Everything in his life was simpler. He had to work harder to get what he needed but he didn’t use more than what he needed to survive from nature.

Biocentrism in Emerson’s Nature

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          Ralph Waldo Emerson’s Nature is a very interesting environmental text. He uses writing techniques such as metaphor to describe the relationship between the human mind and Nature. From my understanding, he creates this idea of biocentrism. From Buell’s Glossary of Selected Terms, biocentrism is defined as “the view that all organisms, including humans, are part of a larger biotic web or network or community whose interests must constrain or direct or govern the human interest” (Buell, p.1). For me, this is the main point that Emerson was trying to make in his essay. Emerson’s idea of this connection between humanity and Nature, or the “Me” and the “Not Me”,  is discussed throughout the text and he creates a significant amount of mental imagery to explain how these two things are connected.

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Into the Wild and Emerson

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The novel, Into the Wild by Jon Krakauer, was inspired by the life of Christopher McCandless. McCandless was a young man living in suburbia who was discontent with his way of life. After graduating from college, McCandless decided to travel to Alaska and experience the “Great Frontier”.  While in Alaska McCandless was ecstatic at first. For the first time in his life he feels as if he is connecting with nature and living a meaningful life. One of McCandless favorite pass times was to read transcendental writers such as Emerson and Thoreau. McCandless was interested in how these authors wrote about their connection with nature. His trip to Alaska was driven by the transcendental spirit instilled in him by such authors.

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The Awakening Hour

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“Every morning was a cheerful invitation to make my life of equal simplicity, and I may say innocence, with Nature herself” (Thoreau 63).

In this paragraph, Thoreau describes his early morning bathing ritual in the pond. Referring to this as a religious exercise, he said that bathing in the pond each morning was one of the best things he did while living in Nature.

“Renew thyself completely each day; do it again, and again, and forever again” (Confucius, The Great Learning).

While living in Nature, Thoreau was able to connect with the environment in ways that many people have never or will never experience. After living by the labor of only his hands for two years and two months, Thoreau was able to understand what Confucius meant by “renew thyself completely each day.” This can be interpreted both symbolically and physically. A bath is a physical renewal of oneself each morning. One is washed, clean and ready to start the day. It is also a symbolic renewal of oneself each morning. In this awakening hour one must renew his or herself to prepare for the day that lies ahead.

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The Transparent Eye-Ball: Depicting Wilderness and Innocence

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During the last week, we have dissected and interpreted passages from Nature. Specifically, we have interpreted Emerson’s reference to the transparent eye. I want to take a look further into this passage and reflect my thoughts on to what Emerson means.

“Crossing a bare common, in snow puddles, at twilight, under a clouded sky, without having in my thoughts any occurrence of special good fortune, I have enjoyed a perfect exhilaration. I am glad to the brink of fear. In the woods too, a man casts off his years, as the snake his slough… I become a transparent eye-ball. I am nothing; I see all; the currents of the Universal Being circulate through me; I am part or particle of god.

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