Walden

(Although this post is a few months late, I still felt I should put it up, if only to document my reading habits.)

I finished the summer by reading Henry David Thoreau's key project "Walden; or Life in the Woods." In all honesty, I could not tell you what impulse moved me to read this book at this point in my life, other than the random chance that it was sitting on my bookshelf at an opportune moment. I had read it once while I was in high school, but that was mainly to show myself as a pseudo-intellectual and not because I had any real interest in the philosophies and musings scribed by Thoreau. In fact, until I re-read this book, the most detail I could have given in review would have been "it's about a guy who lives in the woods by himself for a while and thinks a lot about life and happiness." (Actually, it would have been quite impressive of my high school self if I could have written even that much about it.)

The book chronicles, in only a general chronological order, a period in Thoreau's life in which he abandoned the shackles of city life to begin anew in a self-built cabin by Walden Pond. During this period, he works to prove that a person can be almost completely self-sufficient, needing minimal contact with society and even that only for social purposes and not for physical or personal sustenance. He builds his own cabin (from the remains of another cabin), grows his own food (mostly beans) and lives the ultimate simple life. He provides us with some interesting insights into our own lives, calling us to examine how much we really need to survive. (Ultimately, though, he does return to civil society, but as a renewed and completely transformed man.)

Thoreau's book is well-written and very powerful. There are a few moments where I had to realize that this wasn't just some fun experiment for him, but was a total surrendering of his life to his personal beliefs. In these moments, though, Thoreau becomes a bit preachy and self-righteous. (Anyone who can completely sustain their life with no income aside from occasionally selling some leftover bean crop has the right to be self-righteous, I suppose.)

I am very intrigued by his ideas of poverty being a form of wealth. From my understanding, Thoreau viewed owning an item - let's say, a bookshelf - as a form or reverse possession as well. You may move the bookshelf wherever you like, but you bound to that bookshelf through your ownership. The more you own, then, the more you are tied down. Especially interesting was his discussion of the costs of simply going anywhere. A man who walks across the country could get coast-to-coast faster (according to Thoreau) than a man taking a train (or, in modern times, driving or flying), assuming that both men start with nothing. The man who chooses to walk has to pay nothing, but the man who drives must pay for the car and gas for the car, as well as for his place to live while he works and saves the money to pay for the car and gas.

The question that comes to my mind, immediately, is the possible applications to the modern world. Thoreau's ideas would be in direct opposition to our contemporary consumer-based society (somewhat gelled by the current economic crisis), which, in some ways, would paint him as a socialist or communist. Yet, "Walden" takes no such political position. (Thoreau's other great work "Civil Disobedience" would take an incredibly conservative position in regards to politics, but that is another essay for another day.) The book merely presents the epitome of the American ideal of "rugged individualism." Including the doomed experiment of Christopher McCandless (documented well in the book and movie "Into the Wild"), most modern "rugged individualists" are often part of a lunatic-fringe with no real philosophical base. Somewhere between then and now, the true spirit of Throeau's experiment was distorted.

Finally, as with all non-fiction, we must question the authenticity of Thoreau's writings. Every writer has a purpose in writing. Thoreau's was to prove that a man needs no support from society or government to thrive. So, we must ask, was anything exaggerated to prove his point? Was any part of his experience conveniently left out? I imagine that any winter cold enough to freeze Walden Pond would be cold enough to make most people incredibly uncomfortable - yet Thoreau's discussion of the winter time makes it seem as though the weather were mild.

I'm glad I re-read this book. It was a refreshing way to end the summer, and it has given me a lot to think about though the fall and winter.