I love this work. The more time I spend in the government, the more it seems to cheat me out of its promises and glory that it instilled in my head as a younger man. I feel more and more like HDT every day.
Big contradiciton between the two titles this essay is known by, “Resistance to Civil Government” and “Civil Disobedience”.
-Is there any true place in the entire essay that advocates peaceful and effective means to resisting the government and the evil things they do? (Other than not paying one poll tax?) I don't think there really is. I think that people like MLK Jr. and Ghandi took from this work what they needed and used it for themselves.
It is interesting to contrast the then and now of the political spectrum that HDT fought for and the fact that what he was then is considered the exact opposite of what it is today.
“If the injustice is part of the necessary friction of the machine of government, let it go, let it go: perchance it will wear smooth, ---certainly the machine will wear out. If the injustice has a spring, or a pulley, or a rope, or a crank, exclusively for itself, then perhaps you may consider whether the remedy will not be worse than the evil; but if it is of such a nature that it requires you to be the agent of injustice to another, then, I say, break the law.”
“Witness the present [Iraq] war, the work of comparatively a few individuals using the standing government which they have.”
What makes this more than just a simple hissy fit because he spent a night in jail?
He is proud of the experience he has received to be able to speak the things he speaks, it was the kick in the pants he needed to put these words on page that influenced some of the most famous rebels of our time. He is simply a person who speaks eloquently about the things he feels cheated on,
He pulls on the thoughts and ideas of many great thinkers.... Christ, Confucius..... even using Copernicus and Luther (265), with some almost verbatim quotes from Emerson..... to make his essay a legitimate, much needed part of our American history.
He knows that everyone that read this is not going to up and go against the state, he knows that it is a hard thing to do when you have no way of coming back from the decision of resistance that you have made. You can see this on 268 because he knows that you can't do it if you aren't willing to give it all for the purpose.
I believe he knew that this would affect the thoughts of many to come. He knew this was something worthy of fame, I really do.
Thursday, October 8, 2009
Emerson - “Self-Reliance”
“As men's prayers are a disease of the will, so are their creeds a disease of the intellect.”
“Their mind being whole, their eye is as yet unconquered, and when we look in their faces, we are disconcerted. Infancy conforms to nobody; all conform to it, so that one babe commonly makes four or five out of the adults who prattle and play to it.”
“Society everywhere is in conspiracy against the manhood of every one of its members.”
Lethe – Forgetfullness, Concealment
Lethal
Aletheia – Un-Forgetfullness, Un-concealment “truth” (Beginning to sound like a Sexson Children's Literature class.... Aletheiometer ;)
The myth, fable of the sot.
When great pressure is put upon you, you go out and become a sot.
“...,let us advance and advance on Chaos and the Dark.”
The sense of obliteration is a feeling we both welcome and fear.
“It seems to be a rule of wisdom never to rely on your memory alone, scarcely even in acts of pure memory, but bring the past for judgment into the thousand-eyed present, and live ever in a new day.”
“A foolish consistency is the hobgoblin of little minds, adored by little statesmen and philosophers and divines.”
What If we were to change it to, “A foolish consistency is the fear of little minds,...” does it make his words more clear or does it change it all together.
Walked in here on a whim. Reading Emerson on a whim. Walking around in a whim. We would never have to think, worry, about our first act, we would just do it.
“Their mind being whole, their eye is as yet unconquered, and when we look in their faces, we are disconcerted. Infancy conforms to nobody; all conform to it, so that one babe commonly makes four or five out of the adults who prattle and play to it.”
“Society everywhere is in conspiracy against the manhood of every one of its members.”
Lethe – Forgetfullness, Concealment
Lethal
Aletheia – Un-Forgetfullness, Un-concealment “truth” (Beginning to sound like a Sexson Children's Literature class.... Aletheiometer ;)
The myth, fable of the sot.
When great pressure is put upon you, you go out and become a sot.
“...,let us advance and advance on Chaos and the Dark.”
The sense of obliteration is a feeling we both welcome and fear.
“It seems to be a rule of wisdom never to rely on your memory alone, scarcely even in acts of pure memory, but bring the past for judgment into the thousand-eyed present, and live ever in a new day.”
“A foolish consistency is the hobgoblin of little minds, adored by little statesmen and philosophers and divines.”
What If we were to change it to, “A foolish consistency is the fear of little minds,...” does it make his words more clear or does it change it all together.
Walked in here on a whim. Reading Emerson on a whim. Walking around in a whim. We would never have to think, worry, about our first act, we would just do it.
Brownson vs. Ripley
Orestes Brownson - “The Laboring Classes”
In a very different direction than Ripley – he wants a drastic, bloody, destructive revolution rather than a peaceful, communitarion union that will come around slowly like Brook Farm.
Brownson wants us to ask ourselves if we are really that much better off by putting ourselves into the slavery of “the man”. He thinks we need to take a step back and do the labor for ourselves.
The Russian Revolution – On the tail end of World War 1, the reds rose up and attempted to abolish hereditary property. Brownson's believes come to light.
A very prophetic work. Amazingly accurate and knowing as to what would need to be done or happen when his thoughts came to light.
Ripley - “Brook Farm”
This very quickly became a plea for funds.... the economy of a union position does seem interesting though.
The fact there becomes more people in one area, you just cause more problems. Walden pond becomes a much more beautiful place when you are living by yourself and doing what you want, instead of whatever is good for the collective whole.
Promise lots of liberty while taking so much freedom.
Nathaniel Hawthorne did live there for the first year of the commune.
They talk about how this system is built to take away competitiveness, but we all know (as did Emerson) that there is always going to be competition.
Emerson and his farmer friend knew that good work would discontinue if the worker were not directly benefited.
- After reading the two, I think that Brownson actually knows more about the “unchanging laws of human nature” that Ripley does, even though Ripley is the one that talks about it. I believe that one of the only actual unchanging laws is that there will always be discourse, or abrasiveness, between any type of party. Thus, it is only human nature to destroy, rather than to live in peace. Brownson comes across as the one to live by, at least in these two readings.
***Walden Pond – July 4th, 1845!!***
In a very different direction than Ripley – he wants a drastic, bloody, destructive revolution rather than a peaceful, communitarion union that will come around slowly like Brook Farm.
Brownson wants us to ask ourselves if we are really that much better off by putting ourselves into the slavery of “the man”. He thinks we need to take a step back and do the labor for ourselves.
The Russian Revolution – On the tail end of World War 1, the reds rose up and attempted to abolish hereditary property. Brownson's believes come to light.
A very prophetic work. Amazingly accurate and knowing as to what would need to be done or happen when his thoughts came to light.
Ripley - “Brook Farm”
This very quickly became a plea for funds.... the economy of a union position does seem interesting though.
The fact there becomes more people in one area, you just cause more problems. Walden pond becomes a much more beautiful place when you are living by yourself and doing what you want, instead of whatever is good for the collective whole.
Promise lots of liberty while taking so much freedom.
Nathaniel Hawthorne did live there for the first year of the commune.
They talk about how this system is built to take away competitiveness, but we all know (as did Emerson) that there is always going to be competition.
Emerson and his farmer friend knew that good work would discontinue if the worker were not directly benefited.
- After reading the two, I think that Brownson actually knows more about the “unchanging laws of human nature” that Ripley does, even though Ripley is the one that talks about it. I believe that one of the only actual unchanging laws is that there will always be discourse, or abrasiveness, between any type of party. Thus, it is only human nature to destroy, rather than to live in peace. Brownson comes across as the one to live by, at least in these two readings.
***Walden Pond – July 4th, 1845!!***
Margaret Fuller Day!
Recollection of Mystical Experiences – She can not go back to having no point in life. She knew that she had great power, now she knows where its going.... how to use it.
Her original mystical experience happened after she left church, touched by God in nature, rather than in the presence of man.
Great Lawsuit – Can not move forward with society, societies gain, growth comes from the development, thinking of individual minds...
How can society move forward if it is holding the the development of half the society (i.e. the feminine mind)?
“Were this done, and a slight temporary fermentation allowed to subside, we believe that the Divine would ascend into nature to a height unknown in the history of past ages, and nature, thus instructed, would regulate the spheres not only so as to avoid collision, but to bring forth ravishing harmony.”
“No, because the position I early was enabled to take, was one of self-reliance.”
I think that he “Self-reliant, self-dependent” religion is a very modern idea. She has to be alone, she knows that the experience and relationship with God is all upon her and her alone, and the thought of by reaching into the all with herself she feels completed.
Even Fuller was criticized, in her day, for being more of a talker in her day than an activist.
American Literature
Calling for a type of independent thinking as a whole, not thoughts and books that imitate English thinking.... copying things that Emerson was saying, and that she was saying in prior works about thinking independently, and putting it towards literature.
Utopia – Emerson? Thoreau? Fuller (perfect ravishing harmony with the sexes without collision)?
Died on a boat 100 yards out to sea with her maybe husband and infant child. He was an Italian Revolutionary supporter.... she was a New York Times correspondent at the time.
Her original mystical experience happened after she left church, touched by God in nature, rather than in the presence of man.
Great Lawsuit – Can not move forward with society, societies gain, growth comes from the development, thinking of individual minds...
How can society move forward if it is holding the the development of half the society (i.e. the feminine mind)?
“Were this done, and a slight temporary fermentation allowed to subside, we believe that the Divine would ascend into nature to a height unknown in the history of past ages, and nature, thus instructed, would regulate the spheres not only so as to avoid collision, but to bring forth ravishing harmony.”
“No, because the position I early was enabled to take, was one of self-reliance.”
I think that he “Self-reliant, self-dependent” religion is a very modern idea. She has to be alone, she knows that the experience and relationship with God is all upon her and her alone, and the thought of by reaching into the all with herself she feels completed.
Even Fuller was criticized, in her day, for being more of a talker in her day than an activist.
American Literature
Calling for a type of independent thinking as a whole, not thoughts and books that imitate English thinking.... copying things that Emerson was saying, and that she was saying in prior works about thinking independently, and putting it towards literature.
Utopia – Emerson? Thoreau? Fuller (perfect ravishing harmony with the sexes without collision)?
Died on a boat 100 yards out to sea with her maybe husband and infant child. He was an Italian Revolutionary supporter.... she was a New York Times correspondent at the time.
The American Scholar - RWE
“It is one of those fables, which, out of an unknown antiquity, convey an unlooked-for wisdom, that the gods, in the beginning, divided Man into men, that he might be more helpful to himself; just as the hand was divided into fingers, the better to answer its end.
The old fable covers a doctrine ever new and sublime; that there is One Man,--present to all particular men only partially, or through one faculty; and that you must take the whole society to find the whole man. Man is not a farmer, or a professor, or an engineer, but he is all. Man is priest, and scholar, and statesman, and producer, and soldier. In the divided or social state, these functions are parceled out to individuals, each of whom aims to do his stint of the joint work, whilst each other performs his. The fable implies, that the individual, to possess himself, must sometimes return from his own labor to embrace all the other laborers. But unfortunately, this original unit, this fountain of power, has been so distributed to multitudes, has been so minutely subdivided and peddled out, that it is spilled into drops, and cannot be gathered. The state of society is one in which the members have suffered amputation from the trunk, and strut about so many walking monsters,--a good finger, a neck, a stomach, an elbow, but never a man. “
“The world is nothing, the man is all; in yourself is the law of all nature, and you know not yet how a globule of sap ascends; in yourself slumbers the whole of Reason; it is for you to know all, it is for you to dare all. “
“Success treads on every right step. For the instinct is sure, that prompts him to tell his brother what he thinks. He then learns, that in going down into the secrets of his own mind, he has descended into the secrets of all minds. He learns that he who has mastered any law in his private thoughts, is master to that extent of all men whose language he speaks, and of all into whose language his own can be translated. “
“Character is higher than intellect...A great soul will be strong to live, as well as strong to think.”
Wordsworth – “We come into the world trailing clouds of glory. “
The Transcendentalists brought the thought of us and everything coming from the perfect existence from the Romantics and on through history.
Everything is a remembrance of what we already know. We do not learn, we remember.
Emerson – He is Man Thinking.
What is Man Thinking?
It is the collaborative learning, thinking, (still individual but working towards the center) and nature and working as a whole where you are working as the hand, eye, or foot of the whole instead of the “parrot of other man's thinking”....
Make a work of art that is timeless. That is why Emerson calls for a book or piece of art that is “pure”.
Why do we rely on this? Why do we need someone to tell us how to think, what to do, even when they tell us not to do so?
I think they know it is better to walk your own path, but know that there are many who will not, so they take into their essays both of these thoughts and thus grapple with contradicting themes throughout what they are talking about.
The old fable covers a doctrine ever new and sublime; that there is One Man,--present to all particular men only partially, or through one faculty; and that you must take the whole society to find the whole man. Man is not a farmer, or a professor, or an engineer, but he is all. Man is priest, and scholar, and statesman, and producer, and soldier. In the divided or social state, these functions are parceled out to individuals, each of whom aims to do his stint of the joint work, whilst each other performs his. The fable implies, that the individual, to possess himself, must sometimes return from his own labor to embrace all the other laborers. But unfortunately, this original unit, this fountain of power, has been so distributed to multitudes, has been so minutely subdivided and peddled out, that it is spilled into drops, and cannot be gathered. The state of society is one in which the members have suffered amputation from the trunk, and strut about so many walking monsters,--a good finger, a neck, a stomach, an elbow, but never a man. “
“The world is nothing, the man is all; in yourself is the law of all nature, and you know not yet how a globule of sap ascends; in yourself slumbers the whole of Reason; it is for you to know all, it is for you to dare all. “
“Success treads on every right step. For the instinct is sure, that prompts him to tell his brother what he thinks. He then learns, that in going down into the secrets of his own mind, he has descended into the secrets of all minds. He learns that he who has mastered any law in his private thoughts, is master to that extent of all men whose language he speaks, and of all into whose language his own can be translated. “
“Character is higher than intellect...A great soul will be strong to live, as well as strong to think.”
Wordsworth – “We come into the world trailing clouds of glory. “
The Transcendentalists brought the thought of us and everything coming from the perfect existence from the Romantics and on through history.
Everything is a remembrance of what we already know. We do not learn, we remember.
Emerson – He is Man Thinking.
What is Man Thinking?
It is the collaborative learning, thinking, (still individual but working towards the center) and nature and working as a whole where you are working as the hand, eye, or foot of the whole instead of the “parrot of other man's thinking”....
Make a work of art that is timeless. That is why Emerson calls for a book or piece of art that is “pure”.
Why do we rely on this? Why do we need someone to tell us how to think, what to do, even when they tell us not to do so?
I think they know it is better to walk your own path, but know that there are many who will not, so they take into their essays both of these thoughts and thus grapple with contradicting themes throughout what they are talking about.
Another rough timeline - This time authorial dates
1836 - “Nature”
1837 - “Am. Scholar”
1839 – The Dial Founded (by RWE)
1841 - “Self-Reliance”
1840-2 – M.Fuller Edits the Dial
1837 - “Am. Scholar”
1839 – The Dial Founded (by RWE)
1841 - “Self-Reliance”
1840-2 – M.Fuller Edits the Dial
Spring, Conclusion – HDT
Looking at pictures of the pond...
Bigger than I thought it would be
Still maintains most of the integrity that it held when HDT lived there
The water looks quite nice
People come to the pond from all over to escape the city life.....
Trains coming through on the train, even seeing the pond for a second or two must enhance their day somehow.
HDT's little cabin replica is quite small..... has a little chimney on it, and the nice woodshed from left over materials..... three chairs, little stove, desk, and bed.
Shop at Walden Pond.... the true HDT fans probably think it's downright despicable.... must be why Ben says he's never been in....must not agree to the fact that there is a shop at the pond
Ben didn't want to go ruin his thought of the pond, and yet when he did he didn't find it as too much of a ruining thing.
The development of the pond could have been a lot worse... it's a compromise that the little bit of it has been developed, but kept as low as possible....
“I left the woods for as good a reason as I went there.”
Thoreau may have been in the audience of the Emerson speech at Harvard while he was giving it. That is something we must keep in mind while we read the novel.
It seems to me that Thoreau is telling us to reach high for our goals, “build a castle in the sky”, but to ensure that it does not come crashing down around us, make sure we build a foundation around these high reaching goals by putting a foot back into the conformity for a while.
You can not move forth from the medium until you have shown that you are its master. It's the same in life as it is in art. Nature mirrors the mind.
Bigger than I thought it would be
Still maintains most of the integrity that it held when HDT lived there
The water looks quite nice
People come to the pond from all over to escape the city life.....
Trains coming through on the train, even seeing the pond for a second or two must enhance their day somehow.
HDT's little cabin replica is quite small..... has a little chimney on it, and the nice woodshed from left over materials..... three chairs, little stove, desk, and bed.
Shop at Walden Pond.... the true HDT fans probably think it's downright despicable.... must be why Ben says he's never been in....must not agree to the fact that there is a shop at the pond
Ben didn't want to go ruin his thought of the pond, and yet when he did he didn't find it as too much of a ruining thing.
The development of the pond could have been a lot worse... it's a compromise that the little bit of it has been developed, but kept as low as possible....
“I left the woods for as good a reason as I went there.”
Thoreau may have been in the audience of the Emerson speech at Harvard while he was giving it. That is something we must keep in mind while we read the novel.
It seems to me that Thoreau is telling us to reach high for our goals, “build a castle in the sky”, but to ensure that it does not come crashing down around us, make sure we build a foundation around these high reaching goals by putting a foot back into the conformity for a while.
You can not move forth from the medium until you have shown that you are its master. It's the same in life as it is in art. Nature mirrors the mind.
The Beanfield and the ponds - HDT
Walden published in 1954
The beans throughout this chapter have to deal with his thought and the way it moves.
Natures expressions and minds expressions mirror each other.
Any sentence in this chapter you can take out and put it into the sense of your mind and it falls in.
He didn't have to do this on purpose, it just happens naturally.
The Ponds
Thoreau always wants to call us back to the humble, down to earth parts of nature... while Emerson is always quite up in the clouds.
We will once again go outside to check it out and talk about it.
Monday I went outside and walked around, listened to construction, went to an apple/ red thing tree, and then went and talked to two guys under a tree.
Now we go out again.
This time we go to the pond, and I am once again dissapointed by this type of nature they try to provide us here. The duck pond has been messed with to many times, its right next to a major road way... I know of many who have hit these ducks in vehicles.
This dissapoints me more than the other day when all I could hear was the sounds of angry machinery... this is a sad way for anything to live, but I suppose they're fat and happy from all the college kids who come feed them. They just don't know any better. I don't think we know any better either.
The beans throughout this chapter have to deal with his thought and the way it moves.
Natures expressions and minds expressions mirror each other.
Any sentence in this chapter you can take out and put it into the sense of your mind and it falls in.
He didn't have to do this on purpose, it just happens naturally.
The Ponds
Thoreau always wants to call us back to the humble, down to earth parts of nature... while Emerson is always quite up in the clouds.
We will once again go outside to check it out and talk about it.
Monday I went outside and walked around, listened to construction, went to an apple/ red thing tree, and then went and talked to two guys under a tree.
Now we go out again.
This time we go to the pond, and I am once again dissapointed by this type of nature they try to provide us here. The duck pond has been messed with to many times, its right next to a major road way... I know of many who have hit these ducks in vehicles.
This dissapoints me more than the other day when all I could hear was the sounds of angry machinery... this is a sad way for anything to live, but I suppose they're fat and happy from all the college kids who come feed them. They just don't know any better. I don't think we know any better either.
Readings, Sounds, Solitude, Visitors - HDT
186 in my book, 197 in theirs
“It is time that we had uncommon schools,.....”
Sounds, 4th Paragraph.....
“My house was on the side of a hill, immediately on the edge of the larger wood,..... {goes on to talk about how nice his furniture looks outside}.”
We will be going outside to pay justice to the chapters we read today. We will Read, listen “deliberately”, sit and think, or visit with each other....
I am going to sit.....
at the end I might read Lolita.....
I did not read Lolita, instead I stood alone and listened.... It made me sad.
The only sounds I could hear were the cars on the street two buildings over, and the construction that seems to never end on a building across the way. This is a land grant school that continues to lose more and more of its actual land and it gets older.
These students around me are trying to enjoy nature, and they are, they are enjoying human nature by talking to each other. But true nature can not be had hear.... this goes against my nature.... I think I'll go participate in human nature, if not participate then observe... for that's the roll given to some of us.... some are to play the fools that live and some are to play the fools that watch the fool live... I would rather be the fool living, so here I go.
“It is time that we had uncommon schools,.....”
Sounds, 4th Paragraph.....
“My house was on the side of a hill, immediately on the edge of the larger wood,..... {goes on to talk about how nice his furniture looks outside}.”
We will be going outside to pay justice to the chapters we read today. We will Read, listen “deliberately”, sit and think, or visit with each other....
I am going to sit.....
at the end I might read Lolita.....
I did not read Lolita, instead I stood alone and listened.... It made me sad.
The only sounds I could hear were the cars on the street two buildings over, and the construction that seems to never end on a building across the way. This is a land grant school that continues to lose more and more of its actual land and it gets older.
These students around me are trying to enjoy nature, and they are, they are enjoying human nature by talking to each other. But true nature can not be had hear.... this goes against my nature.... I think I'll go participate in human nature, if not participate then observe... for that's the roll given to some of us.... some are to play the fools that live and some are to play the fools that watch the fool live... I would rather be the fool living, so here I go.
Where I lived and What I Lived For – Thoreau
“I went to the wood because I wished to live deliberately, to front only the essential facts of life, and see if I could not learn what it had to teach, and not, when I came to die, discover that I had not lived.” - Famous lines from this section of Thoreau.
Uncommitted – Advocating it – No matter what, he wants us to not be committed to something. Whether it be to a political campaign or insane asylum, he does not want us to be bound down by shackles.
One of the reasons he retreated into the woods, even though he was facing life in the face by stepping into this experiment and “sticking it to the man” in a way, he was also escaping the man at the same time. We have to remember that a lot came from when his brother died in his arms not long before he went to the pond.
Talking about whether we should live as baboons or as men.... it is uncertain, or is it? Is Thoreau still applicable today? What is the end of life, society, and what are the means to getting there?
The thing I say is that it is not whether or not Thoreau is applicable today, but whether or not he was applicable during his day. If he was applicable during his day, then he is still applicable today, because the problems and the people he dealt with and talked about during his time have only become more complex and intense since he was alive. He would, today, even more than ever, advocate simplicity and a sense of escapism.
Do we need Thoreau to tell us to examine our lives again? Is it necessary still?
It's nice to have a man who can make you think that there is still hope for the things that upset you in your life.
Taking animals with their burrowing snouts and animalistic drives and comparing them to the mind of the human.
Uncommitted – Advocating it – No matter what, he wants us to not be committed to something. Whether it be to a political campaign or insane asylum, he does not want us to be bound down by shackles.
One of the reasons he retreated into the woods, even though he was facing life in the face by stepping into this experiment and “sticking it to the man” in a way, he was also escaping the man at the same time. We have to remember that a lot came from when his brother died in his arms not long before he went to the pond.
Talking about whether we should live as baboons or as men.... it is uncertain, or is it? Is Thoreau still applicable today? What is the end of life, society, and what are the means to getting there?
The thing I say is that it is not whether or not Thoreau is applicable today, but whether or not he was applicable during his day. If he was applicable during his day, then he is still applicable today, because the problems and the people he dealt with and talked about during his time have only become more complex and intense since he was alive. He would, today, even more than ever, advocate simplicity and a sense of escapism.
Do we need Thoreau to tell us to examine our lives again? Is it necessary still?
It's nice to have a man who can make you think that there is still hope for the things that upset you in your life.
Taking animals with their burrowing snouts and animalistic drives and comparing them to the mind of the human.
Rough Timeline
1836 - “Nature” RWE
1841 - “Self-Reliance” RWE
1845-7 – Thoreau @ Walden
1849 - “Resistance to Civil Government” HDT (Influenced MLK Jr. and Ghandi in the future)
1850 – Fugitive Slave Act
1854 – Kansas/Nebraska Act
1857 – Dred Scott Decision
1859 – Harper's Ferry
1861 – Civil War
1841 - “Self-Reliance” RWE
1845-7 – Thoreau @ Walden
1849 - “Resistance to Civil Government” HDT (Influenced MLK Jr. and Ghandi in the future)
1850 – Fugitive Slave Act
1854 – Kansas/Nebraska Act
1857 – Dred Scott Decision
1859 – Harper's Ferry
1861 – Civil War
Thoreau – Economy
Who, what, when, and where..... going to go into the why and how.... right after the first few lines.
Pitting it against Emerson's Nature..... don't we see them on to different sides of the spectrum.
Nature is natural, and Economy is artificial.
Economy vs. The Economy - "thrift," "direction," "administration," "arrangement"
Thoreau likes to use “I”, while others say you shouldn't use it. They're talking about how Thoreau is the one that is easier to follow, read through.... it feels like he's right by your side talking, walking with you.... Emerson sounds like he is up on the pulpit, preachy like.
Pg. 151.... part of Thoreau's key note address.... bottom of 150.... he imagines one of his neighbors interrupting his discourse.... how can you better learn to live than to participate in the experiment of living?....
What are we doing when we are not living? Walking around like zombified units on intense schedule.....
He says this experiment can be conducted inwardly as much as outwardly too... it's all about how you look at the world
How would Thoreau echo the “footprint” (To reduce ones footprint) thought? Reducing your footprint may threaten existence... he would say leave your footprint, one that is uniquely yours.... don't let the big things around you mess with your footprint.
Talking about Tyler from fight club being very closely related to Thoreau's thought process...
If I ever knew that some one was coming over to my house with the conscious intent of doing me something good, I would run quite quick in the other direction.... Everyone had some way to make the world a better place, and it was a bit sticky to hear another.
“The mass of men lead lives of quiet desperation. What is called resignation is confirmed desperation. From the desperate city you go into the desperate country, and have to console yourself with the bravery of minks and muskrats. A stereotyped but unconscious despair is concealed even under what are called the games and amusements of mankind. There is no play in them, for this comes after work. But it is a characteristic of wisdom not to do desperate things.”
"Quiet" and "desperation" fit uncomfortably together, and yet everyone has experienced the sick feeling that things won't get better and that no one cares. Sometimes desperation turns violent: vehicular assault, attacks against spouses and children, and drive-by shootings attest to a hidden rage.
Very important thing to remember with Thoreau: His advice is to learn to understand life for ourselves and to not depend upon or trust authorities who have their own failures to look back at. While Thoreau is hoping to influence others, he is not seeking followers: each person has to interpret life anew as an individual.
“Nature is the shadow of spirit.” - Emerson's Nature.... can you actually make this work?
Thoreau's bold statement about reducing "a fact of the imagination" to the understanding is supported by the ideas that have changed the way we think and live. In Thoreau's day, the railroad, the steamboat, and the telegraph were recent inventions that were changing the world.
What would Thoreau think about having to pay to get into a national park? Probably be quite frustrated, not outright disgust, but a very complicated response.
“It would be some advantage to live a primitive and frontier life, though in the midst of an outward civilization, if only to learn what are the gross necessaries of life and what methods have been taken to obtain them; or even to look over the old day-books of the merchants, to see what it was that men most commonly bought at the stores, what they stored, that is, what are the grossest groceries.”
This is the reason it is so important for a person who has just graduated High School to bike across the US, hike the Appalachian, or train across Europe.
Thoreau reduces the necessities of life to four items: food, shelter, clothing, and fuel. He also points out that we have made ourselves more dependent on these necessities than is absolutely necessary. Thus our desire for comfort can lead to sedentary and unhealthy lives.
Within my lifetime, we have finally realized that keeping our houses very hot during the winter is not healthy; however, I still occasionally find the house or public building that is kept in the 80's (Fahrenheit) during the winter and in the 60's during the summer.
Of course, if all we need are these four things, the cost of living can be very low. A nutritious diet can cost as little as $60 a month, a few hundred dollars can buy enough shoes and clothing to last for years, a simple cabin can be built for $2,000, and firewood for a week can be gathered in a couple of hours (my own personal experience).
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Pitting it against Emerson's Nature..... don't we see them on to different sides of the spectrum.
Nature is natural, and Economy is artificial.
Economy vs. The Economy - "thrift," "direction," "administration," "arrangement"
Thoreau likes to use “I”, while others say you shouldn't use it. They're talking about how Thoreau is the one that is easier to follow, read through.... it feels like he's right by your side talking, walking with you.... Emerson sounds like he is up on the pulpit, preachy like.
Pg. 151.... part of Thoreau's key note address.... bottom of 150.... he imagines one of his neighbors interrupting his discourse.... how can you better learn to live than to participate in the experiment of living?....
What are we doing when we are not living? Walking around like zombified units on intense schedule.....
He says this experiment can be conducted inwardly as much as outwardly too... it's all about how you look at the world
How would Thoreau echo the “footprint” (To reduce ones footprint) thought? Reducing your footprint may threaten existence... he would say leave your footprint, one that is uniquely yours.... don't let the big things around you mess with your footprint.
Talking about Tyler from fight club being very closely related to Thoreau's thought process...
If I ever knew that some one was coming over to my house with the conscious intent of doing me something good, I would run quite quick in the other direction.... Everyone had some way to make the world a better place, and it was a bit sticky to hear another.
“The mass of men lead lives of quiet desperation. What is called resignation is confirmed desperation. From the desperate city you go into the desperate country, and have to console yourself with the bravery of minks and muskrats. A stereotyped but unconscious despair is concealed even under what are called the games and amusements of mankind. There is no play in them, for this comes after work. But it is a characteristic of wisdom not to do desperate things.”
"Quiet" and "desperation" fit uncomfortably together, and yet everyone has experienced the sick feeling that things won't get better and that no one cares. Sometimes desperation turns violent: vehicular assault, attacks against spouses and children, and drive-by shootings attest to a hidden rage.
Very important thing to remember with Thoreau: His advice is to learn to understand life for ourselves and to not depend upon or trust authorities who have their own failures to look back at. While Thoreau is hoping to influence others, he is not seeking followers: each person has to interpret life anew as an individual.
“Nature is the shadow of spirit.” - Emerson's Nature.... can you actually make this work?
Thoreau's bold statement about reducing "a fact of the imagination" to the understanding is supported by the ideas that have changed the way we think and live. In Thoreau's day, the railroad, the steamboat, and the telegraph were recent inventions that were changing the world.
What would Thoreau think about having to pay to get into a national park? Probably be quite frustrated, not outright disgust, but a very complicated response.
“It would be some advantage to live a primitive and frontier life, though in the midst of an outward civilization, if only to learn what are the gross necessaries of life and what methods have been taken to obtain them; or even to look over the old day-books of the merchants, to see what it was that men most commonly bought at the stores, what they stored, that is, what are the grossest groceries.”
This is the reason it is so important for a person who has just graduated High School to bike across the US, hike the Appalachian, or train across Europe.
Thoreau reduces the necessities of life to four items: food, shelter, clothing, and fuel. He also points out that we have made ourselves more dependent on these necessities than is absolutely necessary. Thus our desire for comfort can lead to sedentary and unhealthy lives.
Within my lifetime, we have finally realized that keeping our houses very hot during the winter is not healthy; however, I still occasionally find the house or public building that is kept in the 80's (Fahrenheit) during the winter and in the 60's during the summer.
Of course, if all we need are these four things, the cost of living can be very low. A nutritious diet can cost as little as $60 a month, a few hundred dollars can buy enough shoes and clothing to last for years, a simple cabin can be built for $2,000, and firewood for a week can be gathered in a couple of hours (my own personal experience).
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R.W. Emerson – Nature
Oversimplification!! (of the religious history)
Puritanism – Separitist movement, fleeing persecution from England, went to Holland and Spain, then left from new world, seperating away from the already set movement and came to America. Started in 1600's. Once settled, the factions begin and one becomes unitarianism.
Unitarianism – big in the 1800's. Because there was greater time for leisurely thinking, didn't really need intense puritanism anymore (which helped them survive). Why all this bickering and fighting, we don't need to be so particular about our religion and God.
Transcendentalism - (derived from German idealogist philosophy, the critique of pure reason, americans much more interested in spirit, movement, love and such) + (a correction of these previous thoughts, relationships on the world and still a continuation) – An emphasis on eastern religions, bringing unitarianism in and expanding it, Thoreau quotes from the Asian texts and Indian texts.
Emerson seems like it would be easy to “get bogged down” because Emerson has so many good one liners that you could just sit there and think on one line for two hours, but you must move on.
Emerson preachy, educated. Thoreau more gutteral, natural.
“Any sentence of an Emerson paragraph, or essay, may be taken to be the topic sentence.” -Stanley Cavell
Newtonian physics is becoming so prevelant at this time that the works can not help but have been influenced by it. Sometimes towards it, sometimes away.
He wants us to leave class today more confused than when we came in.
The quote about how nature deifies us makes me think of the connections with Wordsworth's “I wandered lonely as a cloud”..... taking us back to our youth
We are systematically going through the quotes, and now we are listening to the important lines that we underlined.
One of the favorite parts that I underlined was, “Nothing divine dies. All good is eternally reproductive. The beauty of nature reforms itself in the mind, and not for barren contemplation, but for new creation.” And all that I can think is that memory, imagination, and soul are all gathered together to make art, beauty, and eternity.
Phenomenon – a substance made out of matter, the tangible part
Noumenon – (what it is in its essence will never be accesible to us, what is the spirit of the item) – This is what the transcendentalists focus on.
The emerson cultural center, Hawthorne, Irving.... there is no Thoreau school. “Stimulate your own economy” and “Reducing your footprint”
Puritanism – Separitist movement, fleeing persecution from England, went to Holland and Spain, then left from new world, seperating away from the already set movement and came to America. Started in 1600's. Once settled, the factions begin and one becomes unitarianism.
Unitarianism – big in the 1800's. Because there was greater time for leisurely thinking, didn't really need intense puritanism anymore (which helped them survive). Why all this bickering and fighting, we don't need to be so particular about our religion and God.
Transcendentalism - (derived from German idealogist philosophy, the critique of pure reason, americans much more interested in spirit, movement, love and such) + (a correction of these previous thoughts, relationships on the world and still a continuation) – An emphasis on eastern religions, bringing unitarianism in and expanding it, Thoreau quotes from the Asian texts and Indian texts.
Emerson seems like it would be easy to “get bogged down” because Emerson has so many good one liners that you could just sit there and think on one line for two hours, but you must move on.
Emerson preachy, educated. Thoreau more gutteral, natural.
“Any sentence of an Emerson paragraph, or essay, may be taken to be the topic sentence.” -Stanley Cavell
Newtonian physics is becoming so prevelant at this time that the works can not help but have been influenced by it. Sometimes towards it, sometimes away.
He wants us to leave class today more confused than when we came in.
The quote about how nature deifies us makes me think of the connections with Wordsworth's “I wandered lonely as a cloud”..... taking us back to our youth
We are systematically going through the quotes, and now we are listening to the important lines that we underlined.
One of the favorite parts that I underlined was, “Nothing divine dies. All good is eternally reproductive. The beauty of nature reforms itself in the mind, and not for barren contemplation, but for new creation.” And all that I can think is that memory, imagination, and soul are all gathered together to make art, beauty, and eternity.
Phenomenon – a substance made out of matter, the tangible part
Noumenon – (what it is in its essence will never be accesible to us, what is the spirit of the item) – This is what the transcendentalists focus on.
The emerson cultural center, Hawthorne, Irving.... there is no Thoreau school. “Stimulate your own economy” and “Reducing your footprint”
Walking – Thoreau
A pilgrimage, a person going to the holy land that never goes to the holy land
Only a few people actually truly engage in the art of walking
Do not follow the paths and roads, it is a wandering, a saunter (like a camel)
Walking within a ten mile radius will never give you the same journey
He also talks a lot about how he would perhaps fade away if he was sedentary, and can not understand how people can work all day while sitting on their butts... some people actually like the artisan act that comes from sitting and painting and stuff like this
“Slow Paced” is a strength through their attention to detail, the observation while walking is an analytical approach to writing
(I think that more people in this world wish they could truly walk in this way..... some say they do not have enough time in a day to do this, some do not give themselves enough time)
(The pilgrimage thought is a beautiful way to embrace the world around him, giving reasons to walking for him other than to just exercise)
What is the licium? Lycium? Lisium? That the teacher is talking about that Emerson and Thoreau spoke at? I need to look that up...
He says if we imagine it as a recitation, rather than a written work, than it might help us get through it.
(He doesn't like civilization without ever actually leaving it) He did not want to live alone, away. He wanted to live simply. Able to foster his own identity, reality and such.
Is he advocating that all of us should move away and have minimal contact with society? No, he says he does not want everyone to do as he did. He wants them to follow their own paths, their own dreams, and their own wants. He wants to simplify if we are going to get out of the lives we are stuck in.
He says that people are stuck in quiet desperation. He is not looking down upon us, condescendingly, but he is concerned about the way they are living.
Born in 1817, just in time for “The Flowering of New England”.
Emerson the father of the writers, Thoreau, Hawthorne, Melville and such.
Attended Harvard as a young man, graduated 1837.
Moves back home, helps father with pencil manufacturer.
Brother died of infection from razor cut.
Didn't know what to do with his life.... so he started looking around and saw that people were not living like he thought they should be living. So he decided to study it, and look into it.
He worked as a surveyor, walked around and spent a long time in nature.
He lived at Walden pond for 2 years, 2 months.
Bit of tuberculosis at age 45.
Lived in town as a normal citizen for about another 15 years before he died.
He increasingly came to know nature as offering more for life than civilization.
“Poetry mirrors nature”
The village eccentric.
He thinks everyone should wake up to the fact that, “Hey, this is your life man!”
The connection between nature and writing. It is bound with it.
Part four is the place in “Nature” - Emersons, where the idea between language and nature is adapted.
The differences in writing styles reflects the differences in their thoughts on nature.
Where does transcendentalism fit in with the religious thoughts of this day? We will talk about it soon enough. Their views, Emersons, are a lot more relaxed than fire and brimstone, but not relaxed enough. He had thoughts of where they needed to go from here.
Only a few people actually truly engage in the art of walking
Do not follow the paths and roads, it is a wandering, a saunter (like a camel)
Walking within a ten mile radius will never give you the same journey
He also talks a lot about how he would perhaps fade away if he was sedentary, and can not understand how people can work all day while sitting on their butts... some people actually like the artisan act that comes from sitting and painting and stuff like this
“Slow Paced” is a strength through their attention to detail, the observation while walking is an analytical approach to writing
(I think that more people in this world wish they could truly walk in this way..... some say they do not have enough time in a day to do this, some do not give themselves enough time)
(The pilgrimage thought is a beautiful way to embrace the world around him, giving reasons to walking for him other than to just exercise)
What is the licium? Lycium? Lisium? That the teacher is talking about that Emerson and Thoreau spoke at? I need to look that up...
He says if we imagine it as a recitation, rather than a written work, than it might help us get through it.
(He doesn't like civilization without ever actually leaving it) He did not want to live alone, away. He wanted to live simply. Able to foster his own identity, reality and such.
Is he advocating that all of us should move away and have minimal contact with society? No, he says he does not want everyone to do as he did. He wants them to follow their own paths, their own dreams, and their own wants. He wants to simplify if we are going to get out of the lives we are stuck in.
He says that people are stuck in quiet desperation. He is not looking down upon us, condescendingly, but he is concerned about the way they are living.
Born in 1817, just in time for “The Flowering of New England”.
Emerson the father of the writers, Thoreau, Hawthorne, Melville and such.
Attended Harvard as a young man, graduated 1837.
Moves back home, helps father with pencil manufacturer.
Brother died of infection from razor cut.
Didn't know what to do with his life.... so he started looking around and saw that people were not living like he thought they should be living. So he decided to study it, and look into it.
He worked as a surveyor, walked around and spent a long time in nature.
He lived at Walden pond for 2 years, 2 months.
Bit of tuberculosis at age 45.
Lived in town as a normal citizen for about another 15 years before he died.
He increasingly came to know nature as offering more for life than civilization.
“Poetry mirrors nature”
The village eccentric.
He thinks everyone should wake up to the fact that, “Hey, this is your life man!”
The connection between nature and writing. It is bound with it.
Part four is the place in “Nature” - Emersons, where the idea between language and nature is adapted.
The differences in writing styles reflects the differences in their thoughts on nature.
Where does transcendentalism fit in with the religious thoughts of this day? We will talk about it soon enough. Their views, Emersons, are a lot more relaxed than fire and brimstone, but not relaxed enough. He had thoughts of where they needed to go from here.
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