Monday, January 16, 2012
Walden Journey # 4
The crux of this book is explained in the following the passage: "I went to the woods because I wished to live deliberately,...and to see if I could not learn what it had to teach, and not, when I came to die, discover that I had not lived." Why do you think Thoreau believes that living in nature is the only way to truely "live"? (response must be a minimum of 16 sentences)
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I think Thoreau believes that living in nature is the only way to truely lives because thats what we are surrounded by. Nature is part of the earth and for people not to know how it is in nature is like not knowing life at all. By living in the natural environment, you'll get the feel of how it is to live free and natural like the animals. You'll get more in touch with mother nature and father time. When you live in the city, all you know about is making money, spending money and getting more money which isn't a natural resource. Nature lets you see life through a different persepctive rather than the common cityville view. In other words, living outside the city and with the wild gives you more experience and lets you see how it really is to live in life.
ReplyDeleteI think Thoreau thinks living in nature is to truely live is because everything in the world originated from nature. Before cities were developed, the only law was survival of the fittess. This rule to this day still applies to us as human beings. However, the city life has taken us away from that. Living in the city makes us only think about materialistic needs. Some of these needs include clothing, shelter, and money. By living in nature, you see a perspective that is untouched by human society. This perspective is similar to an animal's viewpoint as well, since animals also originated from nature. Unlike humans though, animals don't rely on cooking, cleaning, and abiding by a set of rules set by society. By living in nature, you are basically free to do as you please. Living by your own rules and way of life must be better than going by someone else's laws, so living in nature must be better than living in a city enviorment. By living in nature, you are also living how was intened to be. When the world was created, streets, houses, and buildings wren't here. Only trees and water were around, which provided the bare neccisities to survive. If you relate being true to be pure, then it's like making a pure enviroment unpure. Thoreau is trying to say that life would be more simplier if we lived like animals, because our laws and rules set by society has caused problems that could've been avoided. Some of these problems of course include war, poverty, and economic decline.-Shaun
ReplyDeleteThe philosophical belief of Thoreau’s attempt is expressed in his frank acknowledgement that he is trying an idea,rather than proving a past conclusion. The distinguish mystical side of Thoreau that makes him often appear more of a visionary than a philosopher,is evident in his famous phrase “to live deliberately.” On a literal level,he wishes to choose his path of life independently and thoughtfully,subject to his own deliberation and no one else’s.Thoreau here forces us to contemplate the transcendent meaning of human life even while we think he is simply referring to a cabin in the woods.
ReplyDeleteI think that Thoreau believes that nature is the only true way to live because in nature everything around you is calm and stress free. In our world there are multiple things that will drive a person crazy such as bills, work, family, even a persons home. However, when living in nature none of these things apply to your life anymore. Thoreau mentioned in his book how "stuff" acquired down from generation to generation is nothing but extra stress and more debt to be paid but when living in nature none of these things matter anymore by getting away from things in our world like "stuff" it helps a person live to be stress free. By worrying about when and how you are going to pay your bills it makes stress build up which is unhealthy for any human being. Also I think that Thoreau believes that nature is the true way to live because people will not appreciate things until they really pay attention to it. For instance, everyone in the world watches the sun rise and fall but not that many people really notice the essence of it or even how luminous it looks. However, by living with nature you will notice these things and learn to appreciate the beauty of it. Also by living in nature you learn to forget many economic problems that are occurring in society. For example, the recession that is occurring many people are being fired from work which disables them to pay their bills and take care of their homes. But by living with nature things like this will not bother you because you will no longer have to deal with it. Lastly I think that Thoreau believes that nature is the way to live because nature is where the human society was originated. Because people originated from nature by living with it it helps them get closer to there inner selves. By studying yourself more you learn who you really are as a person. By Thoreau living with nature he learns about himself and society more than what he would have if he would have been living inside of society. Because things become more vivid when your are on the inside looking out you will notice more things and learn that their is a better way to life which is why Thoreau believes that living is nature is truly the best way to live.
ReplyDeleteI think Thoreau believes that living in nature is the only way to truely live because he is surrounded by nothing but nature. If he had neighbors, his life would have been a little bit more stressful. Thoreau is a loner and he likes doing things on his own. He doens't have to worry about anyone else but himself. Living in nature is a peaceful place because you don't even have to worry about criminals, sirens, etc. In the city, and even a suburban place, these things can be a distraction towards someone's life. No one wants to be stressed out. Therefore, Thoreau believes that the easiest way to stay away from stress is to move away from it all.
ReplyDeleteThoreau expresses his view in living in nature because of his transcendental philosophy. In the transcendental philosophy it is required that the following person return to nature because the government in which the person is currently residing in is corrupt.Thoreau's ideals, in an aspect reflects his feelings towards the very representation of the reason why he wrote Walden which was to record the events and outcomes that followed living in the forest where he was free to live life as simply as he saw fit. The fact that Thoreau talks about learning what nature has to teach only to discover that he has died is referring to how Thoreau thinks that if he can't learn what nature has to offer he would then realize that his former self was no more that he had transcended into another being stated that he had died and had become resurrected in the eyes of someone who truly understands nature as a whole.
ReplyDeleteThoreau believes nature is the only place to lead a good life because it is where all other organisms live. We as a species have isolated ourselves from the rest of the animal kingdom [biologically speaking, we are still animals] to the point of not return. But Thoreau believed that people in his time could still go back. Life in the woods for him was very close to the life of other forest creatures. All his basic needs were met: food, water, shelter, warmth, etc. After he finished fulfilling his needs, he still had ample free time to observe the natural beauty of the woods, read, write, have visitors, and do other leisure activities. Thoreau believed this is how life should be; there were no bills or debts to pay, no troublesome neighbors, no strict rules or governments [this worked out since Thoreau was generally a respectable person]. All of those things are human inventions and make life stressful. Thoreau's idea for making life easier is to cut away this dead weight and life like the humble woodland creatures.
ReplyDeleteThoreau believes surrounded by nature, we become aware of what has real value and substance,that nature could bring humans to a deep spritiual state. He also thought that all knowledge was intrinsic to humans, we know everything we will ever need to know we just need to discover it within ourselves.Everything humans have needed to survive, and thrive, was provided by the natural world around us: food, water, medicine, materials for shelter, and even natural cycles such as climate and nutrients.Yet we have so disconnected ourselves from the natural world that it is easy and often convenient to forget that nature remains as giving as ever, even as it vanishes bit-by-bit. Most of what we use and consume on a daily basis remains the product of multitudes of interactions within nature, and many of those interactions are imperiled. Beyond such physical goods, the natural world provides less tangible, but just as important, gifts in terms of beauty, art, and spirituality.
ReplyDelete-Aphnie
Thoreau is a strange man and living in the wood for two years and two months is stranger. Honestly, when I read Walden, in the first few chapters, I thought that Thoreau went to live in the woods for attention. He spoke about people questioning him on how he survived and lived, but before he entered the woods, he was an irrelevant figure that held numerous jobs. He had no say in the town council, and he really didn't become famous until he went into the woods. Thoreau doesn't believe that living in nature is the only true way to live, I think he wanted to make a statement of his importance in his community. Although there may have been some true naturalist during the Transcendentalism time period, his word choice and diction lead me to believe otherwise about Thoreau. And if I did feed into the facade Thoreau is displaying, I would say that he thinks living in nature is the one true way mainly because he is a naturalist. Naturalist are all about being one with nature and being fruitful and just, don't cut down trees, etc. The materialistic items are turning men into savage beasts, thirsty for irreplaceable resources the Earth produces, which, in return, damages her. If still alive today, I think he would completely adore the movie Avatar and how the people are one with "Eywa". I think there is more to Thoreau then some guy that randomly entered the woods just because.
ReplyDeleteThoreau feels that life would be netter if you learned of its purpose through experience. If you base life off of the more complex things, such as having expensive items, and living in lixuriance, you will not have a great understanding of what life is in fact meant to be. Thoreau lived near a pond; meaning the human population there was lower than that of the city, and urban area. This was an opportunity for him to live according to how he wanted to live. He did not care for the opinion of others, when it came to his lifestyle; simplicity and the comfortableness of living alone was the only thing that mattered. Living in nature allows you to expand your mind, and imagine the things that you could do, for instance, with something as simple as a stick and string( fishing). Nature allows you to develop a closer relationship with yourself, as you spend most of your time alone. This way you do not compete with other people on who has the most expensive slacks; who has the bigger house, the better vehicle, and so on, so forth. In nature, you are able to get in touch with your spiritual side. You will be at peace , and live calmly, as well as out of the social reforms and judgments of other people. Thoreau was one of the most important people during the Transcendentalism movement, so it's only through transcendence that he believe naturally should be the only way to live. Through self experience, naturally of course, someone's life lesson can be learned in the simplest of ways; that is without luxury things, and judgements of people who are struggling to comprehend life themselves.
ReplyDelete` I think the quote means that people are so used to being defined by their useless materials, that they can't see what truly defines them. When he lives by nature, it's because he wants to grasp the whole enthusiasm of it. He didn't want to be attached by things that were irrelevant towards life. He wanted to find a reason to live without having materials to possess and define him. When people judged and questioned him for living by himself in the woods and other activities he does in his everyday life, he merely gives them a response that they would have to think about. In addition unlike the citizens that are bound by loans and such, he wasn't bound by anything because everything he had was around him. He lived in peace, nothing disturbed him, he had nothing to hold him back. From the beginning of the book, even though he was talking about himself and his experiences, living on the pond had benefits towards him. He was able to think more clearly and find out possibilities of what nature does to you. Of course there were struggles in there that we as humans don't accept, like loneliness for example, but he made things work out. What Thoreau way of living in/by nature would be to acknowledge what you have and put it to good use.
ReplyDelete` Melissa T .
Essentially, Thoreau argues that the outcomes of a working process is much more gratifying when the process is fully undergone rather than cheated or curtailed. Let's say for example, we have two students, Bob and Gina. Bob has a cheat sheet on a test and he studies that for the entire night. Gina on the other hand studies the study sheet the exam and she really puts an effort. When they get their test back, they have the same score but Gina feels much better about her score because she earned it. This example ties back to the quote above. When you endure a hard life, relaxation will be enhanced opposed to a lazy work who finds the easy way out. I still think Thoreau is a phony and this book symbolizes his life in a different way besides the one that he is currently perceived as.
ReplyDeleteSorry, wrong blog. Lol
DeleteThoreau expresses in Walden, the simple answer for living in solitude, with Nature being his only companion. He states that most men remain uncertain about life and the true, pure meanings of it. The only way one can learn to understand and appreciate nature, is if they muster the attitude and courage to reside there. Think of it in this way; we can get a clear view and insight on something only if we have experienced or scrutinize it to some extent. Thoreau believes living in Nature is the only way to truly live because he took it upon himself to experience the simplicity of nature; places most tend to neglect and strive to forget. To live in nature is somewhat of a challenge and a joyous experience in the same. If one has yet to resolute to growing his own food, building and maintaining his dwelling, with his own hands,dared to decrease his meals and affairs to ones and twos, then they aren't truly living. People are merely living for others ,we rationalize or lifestyle with factitious excuses, all derived from complex societies.We are so wrapped up with financial issue, clothing issues, and selfish matters. Thoreau tells us how beautiful and impressive nature is. The things he describe, he could have never conjure in his head without the assistance of nature. He decided to live TRULY, so he turned to nature, the purest form of anything lies in nature. Essentially, humans come from nature, we once lived by nature, and thus,we were prosperous. But as we evolved into complex societies, we became more blind to the meaning and beauty of life. If we don't live by nature , we aren't truly living a fulfilled life.
ReplyDelete-Casia
When you live in a complex society, your life is, ultimately, more complex. Time goes by faster, people are busier, laughter is more scarce. Colors are dimmer (but only to some, because that's a matter of perception). The truth is, society has a big impact on the way we live our lives. What "society" views to be important becomes important to us, how society tells us to act, we act, what society tells us to say, we say. We're puppets controlled by an invisible puppeteer, and i think it's safe to say that we like it. If I'm talking Thoreau times, progress was beginning to change the way people had lived for centuries. Factories, construction, and developing technology now allowed people to live more extravagantly than they ever had before. Hunting was now an option, wells were unnecessary, and hot water was no longer a wasteful luxury. It was a prividlidge. To say the least, the age of "nature" was drawing to a close(and i mean that both figuratively and literally). Thus began our obsession with materialism, our need for more more MORE, and our infinite search for something something, anything. We were- are insatiable. That, Thoreau believes, is the price of complexity.It's wanting more than what you have and wanting more when you receive it. It's having a lot of "things" that you don't even enjoy. It's walking through life and not taking time to see it or smell it or taste it or touch it or feel it. It's not being able to recognize true beauty when we see it, or true evil when it's standing right in front of us. Thoreau, who lives a simple life is able to truly live because there are no distractions to hinder him from doing so. Being in tune with nature is being in tune with creation. You can see so much clearly and sounds as well as colors become so much more vibrant. The taste of a freshly killed deer tastes so much sweeter to the hunter who caught it than to the person who just goes to the supermarket and buys it. Water is so much more refreshing to the person who had to pull it up from the well than to the person who pays 99 cents for it and drinks it from a bottle. vegetables are so much crispier and tastier to the one who grew it then to the person who weights it on a scale, puts it in a bag, and then pays for it at the register.A life of complexity meas that everything is less..everything. When you're in tune with nature, you're in tune with all of its living and nonliving things. You are able to take everything in. You have time to think. in nature you're aware that everything has purpose and that your life has a purpose beyond waking up, going to work, going to sleep and then repeating the same cycle over again. Nature fulfills you while society only stifles you.
ReplyDelete