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Saturday, November 20, 2010

Walden

I finished reading Walden lately:



Thoreau seems to be a natural Stoic, or at the least a Cynic.  A true Cynic.  Cynicism, like Stoicism, has come to mean something quite different.  Today it signifies a distrust of everything, a certain sourness and a relentless pessimism.  Modern cynicism is an easy stance, requiring no thought and not involving any mental risk.  It's impossible to be pleased with modern cynicism, but also impossible to be hurt.  I don't recommend it.

But the classic Cynicism wasn't like that.  Epictetus writes:
Suppose we sent you as a scout to Rome.  But no one ever sends a timorous scout who, when he hears a noise, or sees a shadow, runs back frightened, and says "The enemy is at hand."  So now, if you should come and tell us, "Things are in a fearful way in Rome; death is terrible, calumny terrible, poverty terrible; run, good people, the enemy is at hand;" we will answer, Get you gone, and prophesy for yourself; our only fault is that we have sent such a scout.  Diogenes was sent as a scout before you, but he told us other tidings.  He says that death is no evil, for it is nothing base; that calumny is only the noise of madmen.  And what account did this spy give us of pain, of pleasure, of poverty?  He says that to be naked is better than a purple robe; to sleep upon the bare ground, the softest bed; and gives a proof of all he says by his own courage, tranquility, and freedom, and, moreover, by a healthy and robust body.  "There is no enemy near," he says; "all is profound peace."  How so, Diogenes?  "Look upon me," he says, "Am I hurt?  Am I wounded?  Have I run away from any one?"  This is a scout worth having.  But you come, and tell us one tale after another.  Go back and look more carefully, and without fear.

The description of Diogenes seems much like Thoreau.  In Walden, he lives a life that to most would be abject poverty, but turns it into a glorious experience, recording his experience with Walden Pond and the surrounding areas throughout the seasons, along with friends who visit, his bean field, animals that he sees, and other recollections.   He writes:
I see young men, my townsmen, whose misfortune it is to have inherited farms, houses, barns, cattle, and farming tools; for these are more easily acquired than got rid of.  Better if they had been born in the open pasture and suckled by a wolf, that they might have seen with clearer eyes what field they were called to labor in.
Thoreau seems to be a natural Cynic.  The very opposite of a modern-day cynic.  Someone who says that you can be happy with nothing.  The book is a beautiful meditation on life, philosophy, and nature.  When reading it, keep in mind that to read it you don't need to possess it: it is free to all and not under any copyright.  Also keep in mind Thoreaus's advice:
To read well, that is, to read true books in a true spirit, is a noble exercise, and one that will task the reader more than any exercise which the custom of the day esteem.  It requires a training such as the athletes underwent, the steady intention almost of the whole life to this object.  Books must be read as deliberately and reservedly as they were written.

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