"I think that we are not commonly aware that man is our contemporary, - that in this strange, outlandish world, so barren, so prosaic, fit not to live but merely pass through, that even here so divine a creature as man does actually live. I think that the standing miracle to man is man. Behind the paling yonder, come rain or shine, hope or doubt, there dwells a man, and actual being who can sympathize with our sublimest thoughts."
- Henry David Thoreau, 1851
This world is not fit to live in, but to pass through to something better.
Friday, August 3, 2012
Thursday, July 5, 2012
The Journal
I've started reading 'The Journal of Henry David Thoreau: 1837-1861'
708 pages of greatness.
Okay, I know people don't give Thoreau a lot of credit since his writing dates back to 1837, but the way Thoreau describes the things he's writing about makes it seem like he's talking about 2012, present day, not back in 1837. I mean... wow.
If you're a fan of Thoreau, you'll love this book!
708 pages of greatness.
Okay, I know people don't give Thoreau a lot of credit since his writing dates back to 1837, but the way Thoreau describes the things he's writing about makes it seem like he's talking about 2012, present day, not back in 1837. I mean... wow.
If you're a fan of Thoreau, you'll love this book!
Tuesday, July 3, 2012
Self Reliance and Chris McCandless
"In April 1992 a young man from a well-to-do family hitchhiked to Alaska and walked alone into the wilderness north of Mt. McKinley. His name was Christopher Johnson McCandless. He had given $25,000 in savings to charity, abandoned his car and most of his possessions, burned all the cash in his wallet, and invented a new life for himself..."
That is an excerpt from the book Into The Wild, written by Jon Krakauer about Chris McCandless. Chris, after being inspired to be 'self-reliant' by transcendentalists like Thoreau and Emerson, abandoned his nice life to hitchhike all over North America. And he was happy about it.
Sadly, McCandless died in the wilderness of Alaska. He had eaten moldy seeds, and that mistake was enough to end his life.
Nevertheless, McCandless inspires me to lead a life outside of the norm.
This is an essay I wrote analyzing McCandless and his transcendentalist qualities.
---
Many people think that Chris McCandless was crazy, and they have enough evidence to back up their thoughts. But Chris McCandless strived to be a transcendentalist like the great Ralph Waldo Emerson and David Thoreau, and even though he went to the extremes of his adventures and dreams, his name lives on in our hearts and memories; Chris McCandless, the Transcendentalist.
"We Americans are titillated by sex, obsessed by it, horrified by it. When an apparently healthy person, especially a healthy young man, elects to forgo the enticements of the flesh, it shocks us, and we leer. Suspicions are aroused." (Krakauer 66). This is a fantastic quote, and Jon Krakauer really described the culture of our youth dead on. He's right, many people do raise suspicions when a young male does not seem to care about the opposite sex. But Chris McCandless was doing better things with his life than others of his age. He was trying to simplify his life like Thoreau was talking about in his journal Walden. "I learned this, that if one advances confidently in the direction of his dreams, and endeavors to live the life which he has imagined, he will meet with success unexpected in common hours." (Thoreau 408). Chris McCandless did not have time to fritter away his life being 'titillated and obsessed' by sex like many people in today's society. This also describes the second basic premise of Transcendentalism, 'that the physical factors of the natural world are a doorway to the spiritual of ideal world.' Chris spent his high school days feeding the homeless, not going to parties; these small steps led to his bigger dreams of trekking across America, not worrying about the weather, food, going to jail, or money. He was living his life as simply as he could, like a true transcendentalist.
Also, in Jon Krakauer's book Into the Wild, he describes Chris's life in college, before he disappeared to the American wilderness. "During that final year in Atlanta, Chris had lived off campus in a monkish room furnished with little more than a thin mattress on the floor, milk crates, and a table. He kept it as orderly and spotless as a military barracks. And he didn't have a phone, so Walt and Billie [Chris's parents] had no way of calling him." (Krakauer 22). This quote from the novel describes very well how simply Chris wanted to live. Chris's family had money, so he could've furnished his room however he wished. But being the true transcendentalist that he was he refused to do so; He also refused a new car that his parents tried to give him as a graduation present. When Chris graduated, he even donated the rest of his college fund, 24 thousand dollars, to the OXFAM America charity. Money, as well as material possessions, simply did not mean anything to Chris. "Is it so bad then, to be misunderstood? Pythagoras was misunderstood, and Socrates, and Jesus, and Luther, and Copernicus, and Galileo, and Newton, and every pure and wise spirit that ever took flesh. To be great is to be misunderstood..." (Emerson 392). Emerson's "Self-Reliance" describes Chris McCandless perfectly. Chris did not care whether people understood him or not; like the fourth basic premise of Transcendentalism which states, 'self-reliance and individualism must outweigh external authority and blind conformity to custom and tradition.' Jesus and Galileo, among many others, were ridiculed and persecuted for their beliefs during their time. But now, we see these men as something great and extraordinary that brought something wonderful to us. It is just the same with Chris McCandless, people may have ridiculed and persecuted him for his beliefs in 1992 when he was still alive but now, people see him as something much more, a true transcendentalist.
Chris said it best, "The only person you are fighting is yourself and your stubbornness to engage in new circumstances." (Krakauer 58). If you studied Chris's life, like much of the book Into the Wild does, you can see that Chris would never let himself of his life stand in the way of something he wanted to accomplish. Like a true transcendentalist, Chris McCandless let his individualism flow through his dreams and adventures and refused to conform to our society.
That is an excerpt from the book Into The Wild, written by Jon Krakauer about Chris McCandless. Chris, after being inspired to be 'self-reliant' by transcendentalists like Thoreau and Emerson, abandoned his nice life to hitchhike all over North America. And he was happy about it.
Sadly, McCandless died in the wilderness of Alaska. He had eaten moldy seeds, and that mistake was enough to end his life.
Nevertheless, McCandless inspires me to lead a life outside of the norm.
This is an essay I wrote analyzing McCandless and his transcendentalist qualities.
---
Many people think that Chris McCandless was crazy, and they have enough evidence to back up their thoughts. But Chris McCandless strived to be a transcendentalist like the great Ralph Waldo Emerson and David Thoreau, and even though he went to the extremes of his adventures and dreams, his name lives on in our hearts and memories; Chris McCandless, the Transcendentalist.
"We Americans are titillated by sex, obsessed by it, horrified by it. When an apparently healthy person, especially a healthy young man, elects to forgo the enticements of the flesh, it shocks us, and we leer. Suspicions are aroused." (Krakauer 66). This is a fantastic quote, and Jon Krakauer really described the culture of our youth dead on. He's right, many people do raise suspicions when a young male does not seem to care about the opposite sex. But Chris McCandless was doing better things with his life than others of his age. He was trying to simplify his life like Thoreau was talking about in his journal Walden. "I learned this, that if one advances confidently in the direction of his dreams, and endeavors to live the life which he has imagined, he will meet with success unexpected in common hours." (Thoreau 408). Chris McCandless did not have time to fritter away his life being 'titillated and obsessed' by sex like many people in today's society. This also describes the second basic premise of Transcendentalism, 'that the physical factors of the natural world are a doorway to the spiritual of ideal world.' Chris spent his high school days feeding the homeless, not going to parties; these small steps led to his bigger dreams of trekking across America, not worrying about the weather, food, going to jail, or money. He was living his life as simply as he could, like a true transcendentalist.
Also, in Jon Krakauer's book Into the Wild, he describes Chris's life in college, before he disappeared to the American wilderness. "During that final year in Atlanta, Chris had lived off campus in a monkish room furnished with little more than a thin mattress on the floor, milk crates, and a table. He kept it as orderly and spotless as a military barracks. And he didn't have a phone, so Walt and Billie [Chris's parents] had no way of calling him." (Krakauer 22). This quote from the novel describes very well how simply Chris wanted to live. Chris's family had money, so he could've furnished his room however he wished. But being the true transcendentalist that he was he refused to do so; He also refused a new car that his parents tried to give him as a graduation present. When Chris graduated, he even donated the rest of his college fund, 24 thousand dollars, to the OXFAM America charity. Money, as well as material possessions, simply did not mean anything to Chris. "Is it so bad then, to be misunderstood? Pythagoras was misunderstood, and Socrates, and Jesus, and Luther, and Copernicus, and Galileo, and Newton, and every pure and wise spirit that ever took flesh. To be great is to be misunderstood..." (Emerson 392). Emerson's "Self-Reliance" describes Chris McCandless perfectly. Chris did not care whether people understood him or not; like the fourth basic premise of Transcendentalism which states, 'self-reliance and individualism must outweigh external authority and blind conformity to custom and tradition.' Jesus and Galileo, among many others, were ridiculed and persecuted for their beliefs during their time. But now, we see these men as something great and extraordinary that brought something wonderful to us. It is just the same with Chris McCandless, people may have ridiculed and persecuted him for his beliefs in 1992 when he was still alive but now, people see him as something much more, a true transcendentalist.
Chris said it best, "The only person you are fighting is yourself and your stubbornness to engage in new circumstances." (Krakauer 58). If you studied Chris's life, like much of the book Into the Wild does, you can see that Chris would never let himself of his life stand in the way of something he wanted to accomplish. Like a true transcendentalist, Chris McCandless let his individualism flow through his dreams and adventures and refused to conform to our society.
Monday, July 2, 2012
Transcend and WanderLust
During my Junior year of high school we studied transcendentalism and read a book about Chris McCandless.
People like McCandless, Emerson, and Thoreau have really inspired me to look deeper into transcendentalism.
Definition of transcendentalism - Transcendentalism is a philosophical movement that developed in the 1830s and 1840s in the New England region of the United States as a protest to the general state of culture and society, and in particular, the state of intellectualism at Harvard University and the doctrine of the Unitarian church taught at Harvard Divinity School. Among the transcendentalists' core beliefs was the inherent goodness of both man and nature. Transcendentalists believed that society and its institutions - particularly organized religion and political parties - ultimately corrupted the purity of the individual. They had faith that man is at his best when truly "self-reliant" and independent. It is only from such real individuals that true community could be formed.
When I think of transcendentalism, I think of the word 'Wanderlust'. I've wanted that tattooed on my foot for some time now. Okay, so when I say that word a lot of people immediately just hear the 'lust' part and think I'm some creep to have that word tattooed on me. but wanderlust just means a strong, innate desire to rove or travel about. In this sense Lust means to desire. Those words do not always have to have a sexual connotation on them.
Anyway...
So I've been reading books and other writings buy Emerson and Thoreau. I started this blog to further analyze all of their great works.
Great people like the now famous Pat Tillman and Chris McCandless were inspired by this movement like I now am. And I'll show you why.
---
So - to be clear - transcendentalism isn't some kind of voodoo religion...
People like McCandless, Emerson, and Thoreau have really inspired me to look deeper into transcendentalism.
Definition of transcendentalism - Transcendentalism is a philosophical movement that developed in the 1830s and 1840s in the New England region of the United States as a protest to the general state of culture and society, and in particular, the state of intellectualism at Harvard University and the doctrine of the Unitarian church taught at Harvard Divinity School. Among the transcendentalists' core beliefs was the inherent goodness of both man and nature. Transcendentalists believed that society and its institutions - particularly organized religion and political parties - ultimately corrupted the purity of the individual. They had faith that man is at his best when truly "self-reliant" and independent. It is only from such real individuals that true community could be formed.
When I think of transcendentalism, I think of the word 'Wanderlust'. I've wanted that tattooed on my foot for some time now. Okay, so when I say that word a lot of people immediately just hear the 'lust' part and think I'm some creep to have that word tattooed on me. but wanderlust just means a strong, innate desire to rove or travel about. In this sense Lust means to desire. Those words do not always have to have a sexual connotation on them.
So I've been reading books and other writings buy Emerson and Thoreau. I started this blog to further analyze all of their great works.
Great people like the now famous Pat Tillman and Chris McCandless were inspired by this movement like I now am. And I'll show you why.
---
So - to be clear - transcendentalism isn't some kind of voodoo religion...
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