Walking With Thoreau

Summary

The website content reflects a personal yearning to walk with the transcendentalist author Henry David Thoreau, known for his deep connection with nature and the philosophical musings captured in his seminal work, Walden.

Abstract

The author of the web content expresses a profound desire to accompany Henry David Thoreau on a walk through nature, drawn by Thoreau's deliberate lifestyle and profound observance of the natural world. Despite recognizing the improbability of this wish due to the passage of time and Thoreau's preference for solitude, the author imagines such a walk, immersing themselves in the sensory richness of the environment and the silent communion that Thoreau cherished. The piece underscores Thoreau's foresight on environmental conservation and his exceptional ability to capture the essence of nature in his writing, inviting readers to experience life through the lens of someone who lived "awake in dreams."

Opinions

The author admires Thoreau's ability to live deliberately and acknowledges their own struggle to achieve this level of mindfulness.
Thoreau's deep appreciation for and poetic expression of nature are seen as unparalleled, with the author aspiring to but not expecting to match his observational prowess.
Thoreau's environmental awareness is highlighted as being ahead of his time, emphasizing the importance of a healthy planet.
The author values the serenity of not feeling compelled to converse, appreciating the tranquility that Thoreau's solitary walks embodied.
Thoreau's writing is celebrated for its ability to convey the truest experience of life, as if one were living in an awakened dream state.

In a waking dream

Image by Benjamin D. Maxham (Wikipedia Commons)

I’d love to take a walk with Henry David Thoreau, the writer of Walden.That wonderful classic of nature writing begins, “I went to the woods because I wished to live deliberately…”

It’s a very difficult thing to do, living deliberately. I doubt that I will ever fully master it, or even get to the apprentice level, although I keep trying every day.

But I would be happy to take a walk with Thoreau.

Not just because he found a way to “live deliberately”, at least while he was at Walden cottage in Concord, Massachusetts. But because he was so truly absorbed in the natural world.

Live in each season as it passes, “ he wrote. “breathe the air, drink the drink, taste the fruit, and resign yourself to the influence of the earth.”

I am passionate about nature, but if I live to be 100, I will never be as observant or poetical about it as Thoreau.

He noticed everything. A small insect. A timid bird. The formation of ice on a pond.

Thoreau knew about the importance of protecting the earth, long before environmentalism was a “thing”.

“What is the use of a house if you haven’t got a tolerable planet to put it on?” Henry David Thoreau wrote presciently in his book Cape Cod, published posthumously, 1865.

Yes, I would love to take a walk with Thoreau, but it isn’t just the distance of more than a 150 years that prevents me from fulfilling this wish.

From all I have read, although Thoreau had several good friends, he wasn’t especially interested in socializing. When rambling in the woods or countryside, absorbing the sights, sounds, and scents of the natural world, he usually preferred to be alone.

I can understand that. I often feel that way myself.

But I can use my imagination. And in my imagination I am walking with Thoreau, listening to the birds, wading through knee-deep ferns, stopping by a swiftly running stream, free of pollution and rippling with life.

A wood thrush calls. We would both pause to listen to the enchantment of nature’s flute, embodied in a song bird.

But I won’t start any conversation, because there will not be any need for it. In a way it can be immensely restful not to talk.

But, oh, how Thoreau could write! Read Walden. Or Walking.

As Thoreau said “Our truest life is when we are in dreams awake.”