11.25.2013
out of the woods
...Thoreau's Journal: 25-Nov-1850
I feel a little alarmed when it happens that I have walked a mile into the woods bodily, without getting there in spirit. I would fain forget all my morning’s occupation, my obligations to society. But sometimes it happens that I cannot easily shake off the village; the thought of some work, some surveying, will run in my head, and I am not where my body is, I am out of my senses. In my walks I would return to my senses like a bird or a beast. What business have I in the woods, if I am thinking of something out of the woods?
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
4 comments:
Thought there was something odd about this entry, so i checked the 1906 edition online at Walden.org. It reads: " ... the thought of some work, some surveying,
will run in my head, and I am not where my body is,
I am out of my senses . In my walks I would return to
my senses like a bird or a beast." Now that makes more sense!
Well, that was quite the typo, eh? Thanks for the correction. I've edited the entry accordingly. Thank you for this help above and beyond...
What a great reflection !
As I live in one of those big cities with hardly any woods or (real) nature I am always delighted and concentrated on nature when I have the chance to go there - I hardly ever would take my thoughts and sorrow with me then.
But I also found out that I can keep this observation in order to help me through this city of concrete:
I oftenly walk through these grey streets and suddenly I find out that in my inner pictures I was in a wonderful green forest in a magnificent nature....
Might sound crazy but really helps me to cope with a totally-Non-Walden-Life.
we have all been many places with our thoughts else where,nature is a good place to bring body back to soul.
Post a Comment