Written: [my room] 5.45am 14th April
In our most trivial walks, we are constantly, though unconsciously, steering like pilots by certain well-known beacons and head-lands, and if we go beyond our usual course we still carry in our minds the bearing of some neighbouring cape; and not until we are completely lost, or turned round, - 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. Every man has to learn the points of compass again as often as he awakes, whether from sleep or any abstraction. Not until we are lost, in other words, not until we have lost the world, do we begin to find ourselves, and realise where we are and the infite extent of our relations.Thoreau - "Walden" pg. 111
This is probably of one of my favourite parts of Walden so far. The very obvious metaphor of being lost in the woods vs. lost in life/the world brings up so many associations. His comment about 'appreciating the vastness and strangeness of Nature' is spot on and extends not just to nature but the world itself. Why do people like to travel? And even then, why do people like to get lost in a city as a key part of their travel experience?
They call travel 'broadening your horizons' but it does so not just because you are not in the old place. You have lost the familiarity and routine of home and you are forced to learn anew how to navigate in a foreign land. This is why the concepts of 'challening yourself' and going 'outside your comfort zone' are so common - hence why people want to get lost in a city and donig something like going to a small Finnish town for seven months after living in Bombay your whole life is just getting lost but in more than the geographical sense. But in order to learn and fully appreciate your surroundings it is also important not to freak out. Because if you focus on emotions of fear or frustration then you are nto taking in the experience of all your senses. This is why Zen Buddhism concepts of moment-to-moment awareness and living in the present make so much sense.
The metaphor can be bigger still, what if getting lost entails not just the routine related to your geographical location and support network but the entire routine by which you navigate through your life? Thoreau says a man needs only to be turned round once in this world to get lost and that is so very true. One momentous event is enough to shake someone to the point where they lose all direction and must 'relearn the compass'. Thoreau is saying that this can be good once in a while depending again, of course, on how the person responds. A man who loses direction must invariably find his bearings again. His destination - home - may be the same but his perspective on it may well be different.
This is probably of one of my favourite parts of Walden so far. The very obvious metaphor of being lost in the woods vs. lost in life/the world brings up so many associations. His comment about 'appreciating the vastness and strangeness of Nature' is spot on and extends not just to nature but the world itself. Why do people like to travel? And even then, why do people like to get lost in a city as a key part of their travel experience?
They call travel 'broadening your horizons' but it does so not just because you are not in the old place. You have lost the familiarity and routine of home and you are forced to learn anew how to navigate in a foreign land. This is why the concepts of 'challening yourself' and going 'outside your comfort zone' are so common - hence why people want to get lost in a city and donig something like going to a small Finnish town for seven months after living in Bombay your whole life is just getting lost but in more than the geographical sense. But in order to learn and fully appreciate your surroundings it is also important not to freak out. Because if you focus on emotions of fear or frustration then you are nto taking in the experience of all your senses. This is why Zen Buddhism concepts of moment-to-moment awareness and living in the present make so much sense.
The metaphor can be bigger still, what if getting lost entails not just the routine related to your geographical location and support network but the entire routine by which you navigate through your life? Thoreau says a man needs only to be turned round once in this world to get lost and that is so very true. One momentous event is enough to shake someone to the point where they lose all direction and must 'relearn the compass'. Thoreau is saying that this can be good once in a while depending again, of course, on how the person responds. A man who loses direction must invariably find his bearings again. His destination - home - may be the same but his perspective on it may well be different.
Labels: literature, philosophy
posted by LX @ 9:48 AM
Comments: 2
