Walden (Four of the Essays)

Out of the many essays in Thoreau's novel, Walden, the two that I enjoyed reading so far are "Where I Lived, and What I Lived For" and "The Village". On the very first day of class, I wrote down that I wanted to understand more about how I am connected to Nature in a spiritual/religious manner. In the two essays I mentioned, Thoreau illustrates a philosophical view of Nature.

"Olympus is but the outside of the earth everywhere"

He has a unique world view. To Thoreau, the earth is a sacred place blessed by gods and goddesses! A home is but a seat and not a material necessity; Nature is a part of us and vice versa. It is interesting to note that the word 'nature' does not only mean the phenomena of the physical world collectively, but it also means the essential and inherent features of something/someone. In other words, the nature of being human is to live simply. Thoreau makes a valid case.

In "Where I Lived, and What I Lived For," Thoreau weaves in and out of Nature itself and the metaphysical realm. He states that "The morning, which is the most memorable season of the day, is the awakening hour. Then there is least somnolence in us...Morning is when I am awake and there is a dawn in me" Thoreau makes a metaphor with regards to waking in the morning and having a wakeful mentality throughout the day. In addition, one of my favorite sections from this essay reads:

"It is something to be able to paint a particular picture, or to carve a statue, and so to make a few objects beautiful; but it is far more glorious to carve and paint the very atmosphere and medium through which we look, which morally we can do. To affect the quality of the day, that is the highest of arts. Every man is tasked to make his life, even in its details, worthy of the contemplation of his most elevated and critical hour"

I personally think that this will be my new focus for my dancing. Usually, I tell a story through a dance solo, but what if I was a sunrise? or a sunset?  What if I portrayed deeper/spiritual experiences of life?

"Let us spend one day as deliberately as Nature, and not be thrown off the track by every nutshell and mosquito's wing that falls on the rails. Let us rise early and fast, or break fast, gently without perturbation"

In "The Village," Thoreau explains, "for a man needs only to be turned round once with his eyes shut in this world to be lost - do we appreciate the vastness and strangeness of nature." In order to understand ourselves, we must lose our social constructs and sense of conformity. We need to see each day as a new experience. A mystery.