American Literature: Walden
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Self-discovery doesn't just happen in nature, so if dirt and bugs make your skin crawl, cop a squat and hit play.
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Transcript
we might hide from it in our air-conditioned condos and cars but it's
still out there there are a lot of lessons that can be learned from
spending time in and observing the natural world around us and as one man [Woman looking at animals with binoculars]
discovered being tight with nature totally has its benefits Henry David
Thoreau was born lived and died in and around Concord Massachusetts with a
thirst for knowledge and a hot intellectual curiosity he pursued study
in philosophy politics and religion at Harvard University not stoked about the [Harvard University appears]
usual job fields that most people pursued after graduation business
religion or law, Thoreau decided to teach finding that public school teaching
clashed with his personal beliefs meaning that he wouldn't dole out
corporal punishment to bad students Thoreau and his bro opened their own [Thoreau outside concord academy school]
school there the brothers tried out new methods with the students like taking
them on nature walks and writing poetry about their experiences
Thoreau became friendly ahem with an older gentleman named Ralph Waldo
Emerson who encouraged Thoreau to write and seek publication in a local journal
Emerson was a leader in a movement called transcendentalism that Thoreau found
thoroughly interesting this philosophy is tricky to define but essentially
transcendentalist believed in individualism idealism and a common
humanity among people despite how different and unique everyone is
believers in this philosophy felt that humans have the ability to transcend the [Woman meditating on the grass]
material things of the world in order to find themselves through spirituality and
you know personal examination come on people get your minds out of the gutter [Butterfly flying by]
Emerson also let Thoreau live in his cabin for a while this camping
experiment led to Thoreau's most famous work Walden published in 1854, Walden
describes Thoreau's experience living alone in nature with nothing but
squirrels on his own thoughts to keep him company he wanted to better [Thoreau sitting on a bench with squirrels]
understand what in the world humans were really about and he decided that the
only real way to do this was to cut himself off from society in order to
simplify, simplify this was kind of like Thoreau's mantra can't really knock the
idea unless of course you simply can't simplify because you've got 16 different
handheld electronic devices a shoe collection that would rival kim [Man sitting with a huge shoe collection]
kardashian and more posters than the national poster museum does... Thoreau
wasn't interested in material possession instead living with basically nothing
and writing all about how the minimalist lifestyle affected him so was he a nut
job or simply genius before we dismiss Thoreau as a weirdo crackpot with
outdated notions about how to live life let's check out a chapter from Walden [Walden book appears beside flying butterfly]
this should give you a smidge of understanding into who this guy was and
why on earth he'd choose to live in solitude instead of hitting up a spot
downtown with a couple of choice roomies or a good-looking partner in crime hit
pause and read the chapter called where I lived and what I lived for..... welcome back
before we take apart the chapter you just read here's a full rundown of the
book as I mentioned before, Walden is all about living a simple life in nature [Man playing saxophone]
and all that jazz the book takes place over the two years that Thoreau lived in
a cabin he built himself on Emerson's property at Walden Pond this book is
mostly about the literal observations that Thoreau made and how he tied his
thoughts about history philosophy and humanity at large to what he sees in the
natural world Thoreau made a few trips into town and occasionally entertained [Thoreau trips over in the street]
people at his cabin but mostly he chilled by himself just thinkin
observing and writing this may sound totally boring or like an old school
version of survivor but here's the deal Thoreau was living life exactly the way
he wanted to how many people can honestly say
that about their own lives think about it if you could live any way you want it [Man surfboarding in the ocean]
what would you do if there were no parents forcing you to do chores no
school to fill your days no siblings demanding you play with them or help
with their homework what would you do how would you choose to live your idea [Boy asking sister for help with homework and boy disappears]
of a perfect life might be way different than the one Thoreau came up with but this
important thing was that he was doing it his way that's a huge deal and because [Thoreau walking his way]
he chose to live in the way that he did he freed up his mind from normal
everyday stressors and came up with some pretty awesome observations about life
in where I lived and what I lived for we get Thoreau's own take on the purpose
behind his experiment in the preceding chapter that we didn't read he says
the mass of men lead lives of quiet desperation that doesn't sound like a [Quote from Thoreau's book appears]
good thing Thoreau thought that most people go through life carrying out
what's expected of them but seeking something more they feel trapped in some
way but not knowing how to talk about this feeling they keep quiet and remain
desperate which sounds miserable but that's the point Thoreau was making he
thought that most people were pretty miserable [Man takes drink while sitting in a chair]
and since it was certainly not most people he attempted to live in a
different way reflecting on the experience as he goes
to see what the result will be he also figured out that most of the luxuries
and many of the so-called comforts of life are not only not indispensable but
positive hindrances to the elevation of mankind this means that people are
taught to seek happiness in things or possessions but these only hold us back [Thoreau walking through a forest]
from becoming higher-level thinkers if someone told you that your cell phone
was holding you back from being an elevated being you might laugh and then
text your BFF about what they just said But Thoreau had a point if we break out of
our normal routines and give up using our beloved possessions 24/7 we're
forced to look at life in different ways in this same vein of thinking Thoreau [Man driving a car]
noted the massive discrepancy between how rich people and poor people live and
enjoy life but how happens it that he who is said
to enjoy these things is so commonly a poor civilized man while the savage which
has them not is rich as a savage the cost of a thing is the amount of what
I will call life which is required to be exchanged for it immediately or in the
long run he's saying that rich people have and poor people don't and that
these attributes make the rich people poor in spirit and the poor people quite
rich the message is that wealthy people amass goods that only hold them back [Rich man attempting to reach enlightenment]
from being truly fulfilled in life and poor people don't have things cluttering
up their lives so they can live a more spiritually free existence just like he
attempted to do....
This is a transcendentalist way they transcend the
notion that we need material goods to make us happy [Butterfly flys by]
ie not very 80s Madonna it's all about slowing it down, taking in the world
around you with all of your senses and if we can do that then silly things like [Woman stood by tree smelling a flower]
deadlines and crushes who don't return phone calls become meaningless well more
or less what's wrong with that crush anyhow in
where I lived and what I lived for we become immersed in the great details
of Thoreau's observations of his home/setting of this book....
can't you just see those ghosts like mists sneaking off into the [Mists appear from Walden Pond]
thick woods because he slowed everything down to the base level of existence, Thoreau
was able to focus on his surroundings and make these detailed observations
pretty much every single day he wrote them in a way that even when we read
them some 150 plus years later we can totally envision the place where he was
living these observations are so descriptive
and full of imagery they could easily be written into poetry but what's the point
let's let Thoreau tell us for himself...
let's break this up Thoreau says he went to the woods which
we already know because he wanted to live deliberately that's a weird choice
of descriptor or maybe not deliberately means intentionally or on purpose so [Butterfly carrying a definition of deliberately on a board]
saying that by taking off on the nature hike of a lifetime is making a conscious
choice to live in a particular way okay I can get down with that
he then says he wanted 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, Thoreau is pretty much explaining that he is ready to open
himself up to living with only the bare necessities without the Disney song and [Thoreau stood by a campfire and a bear appears behind a tree]
see what happens he's pretty sure that his experiment is going to yield the
results that he's been predicting all along that freeing himself from society
and all of its constraints will allow him to feel as if he's truly living life [Thoreau riding a rollercoaster]
sort of like how some people feel about going bungee jumping or skydiving. Thoreau
had a tight grip on ideas about what makes life precious and worth living and
what simply distracts and detracts from the life experience as he said I did not
wish to live what was not life living is so dear nor did I wish to practice [Sentence of chapter appears highlighted]
resignation unless it was quite necessary but he wasn't just hanging out
waiting for life to happen to him either....
....he's saying that he's not afraid to get his hands dirty literally [Thoreau shows his dirty hands]
this whole experience is about living life and Thoreau is excited about
diving in deep there are sixteen more chapters including a conclusion in
Walden and you should definitely put this one on your ever-growing to read [Conclusion appears and stamped must read]
list he talks about being alone, what he was reading and how he was affected by
the visitors who came along and saw how he was doing his thing in the conclusion
Thoreau writes...
success it might seem strange that Thoreau left the woods at all since he was [Thoreau standing in the woods by a cabin]
so dang happy there but naturally he had it perfect for doing so....
we wouldn't expect any less from this master of thought and self understanding
so what have we learned? even though nature might not be your
deal you can still appreciate what Thoreau said we're all mysterious beings
trapped in a web of routine to break out of the routine and really get to know [Man in handcuffs on TV]
ourselves in a spiritual way is what Thoreau and the spirit of transcendentalism
was all about we can all stand to know ourselves a bit better, even if
hiking flowers and bugs make our skin crawl
don't worry self discovery you can have an indoors too [Butterfly flying indoors]