11.11.2005

Thoreau's Journal: 11-Nov-1851

“Says I to myself” should be the motto of my journal.

It is fatal to the writer to be too much possessed by his thought. Things must lie a little remote to be described.

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

Just read something tonight by Pema Chodron, the Buddhist nun, in her book, "When Things FAll Apart", speaking of fear:

The trick is to keep exploring and not bail out, even when we find out that something is not what we thought. That's what we're going to discover again and again and again. Nothing is what we thought....Compassion....Love. Buddha nature. Courage. These are code words for things we don't know in our minds, but any of us could experience them. These are words that point to what life really is when we let things fall apart and let ourselves be nailed to the present moment.

Thoreau long ago used words that pointed to what life could really be, when experienced. Thoreau for me makes more sense as words lived, rather than read. They're real when walked, and so continue to live.