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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