2.28.2014

some indistinct scheme
...Thoreau's Journal: 28-Feb-1857

It is a singular infatuation that leads men to become clergymen in regular, or even irregular standing. I pray to be introduced to new men, at whom I may stop short and taste their peculiar sweetness. But in the clergyman of the most liberal sort I see no perfectly independent human nucleus, but I seem to see some indistinct scheme hovering about, to which he has lent himself, to which he belongs. It is a very fine cobweb in the lower stratum of the air, which stronger wings do not even discover. Whatever he may say, he does not know that one day is as good as another. Whatever he may say, he does not know that a man’s creed can never be written, that there are no particular expressions of belief that deserve to be prominent. He dreams of a certain sphere to be filled by him, something less in diameter than a great circle, maybe not greater than a hogshead. All the staves are got out, and his sphere is already hooped. What’s the use of talking to him? When you spoke of a sphere-music he thought only of a thumping on his cask. If he doesn’t know something that nobody else does, that nobody told him, then he’s a telltale. What great interval is there between him who is caught in Africa and made a plantation slave of in the South, and him who is caught in New England and made a Unitarian minister of? In course of time they will abolish the one form of servitude, and, not long after, the other. I do not see the necessity for a man’s getting into a hogshead and so narrowing his sphere, nor for his putting his head into a halter. Here’s a man who can’t butter his own bread, and he has just combined with a thousand like him to make a dipped toast for all eternity!

3 comments:

michael jameson said...

a man that sits at his desk all day and only has dreams and never acts or follows life and what it has to offer ,but is content in his world and strives for just a little advancement in his job to make him happy , he belongs there ! as surly as a man condemned to row in the gallys of a ship hoping one day he will beat the drum to the other rowers!,pity the man when wonderment has left his eyes! michael jameson oldantiqueguy@hotmail.com

michael jameson said...

a man that works at his desk all day and dreams but never acts or follows any that life has to offer,he is content in his world and strives for just a little advancement in his job to make him happy, he belongs there as surly as one condemned to the galleys of a ship, hoping only to one day to beat the drum to the other rowers,he to is a slave and of the worst kind,not worthy of conversation except among the other sheep,pity him for wonderment and strive have left his eyes. michael jameson oldantiqueguy@hotmail.com

michael jameson said...

i do not wish to talk to a man who does not know he is a slave to him self and his life as surely as a man who is forced to work in the galleys below the deck of long ago ships, with no hope but to one day to lead the rowers on the drum,he has no dreams or aspirations and has no experiences to share,he is happy and thinks he is special in the mundane,no let me hear from one with individuality that thinks and reflects, one that is different or has something unique to offer, inspire me,warm me,make me dream and feel alive michael jameson oldantiqueguy@hotmail.com