I believe this is what the great teachers meant when they urged an awareness of the Word beneath the words, the Way beyond the path, the Torah or Gospel hidden near at hand, behind the awe-filled silences that mark moments of being human.
This book is a companion for you to carry with open curiosity into the beauties and wonders of the new worlds around you. Thoreau, like Emerson, like Muir in other woods, whittled a down-to-earth philosophical spirituality in the woods of New England. No matter where we live or journey, his roots are ours. And as we find our own Waldens, we can ask the same question Henry asked on the shore of the pond, “Why has humanity rooted itself thus firmly in the earth, but that it may rise in the same proportion into the heavens above?” 8 We are rising, and as we lift our spirit, we can bow in gratitude for the Concord pilgrim’s wisdom. “Heaven is under our feet, as well as over our heads.” 9 Looking down or looking up, his words seed and water our inner land, and we rise fresh and renewed.
Thoreau’s wisdom can be tasted like tea by a mountain lake and inspire days and nights as you saunter through sunlight or moonglow. Let him be a trusted companion, in all places where we hear the one calling out in the wilderness—the young, noble soul who, like the prophets of ancient times, found a strange and special spiritual light in the wildest places of his native land.
—Chris Highland,
Fall 2002
“The soul is a lamp whose light is steady, for it burns in a shelter where no winds come.”
~Bhagavad Gita
Notes to the Introduction
1. The Maine Woods. Boston: Shambhala, 1995, p. 83.
2. Wild Fruits. N.Y.: Norton, 2000, p. 166.
3. “Thoreau,” in The Writings of Ralph Waldo Emerson. N.Y.: Random House, 1950, pp. 907-908.
4. Ibid., p. 900-901.
5. Ibid., p. 911.
6. “A Week on the Concord and Merrimack Rivers,” in The Portable Thoreau, edited by Carl Bode. NY: Viking, 1977, p. 223.
7. “Journal,” Ibid., p. 27.
8. “Economy,” from Walden, Ibid., p. 271.
9. “The Pond In Winter,” from Walden, Ibid., p. 525.
A Note on Inclusive Language
It is evident to me that Thoreau clearly intended a universal understanding in his writings, even as he employed the common terminology of his day, including the use of the male gender to stand for all of humankind.
While I believe that changing Thoreau’s gendered pronouns and nouns would actually amplify Thoreau’s voice for the 21st century and remove obstacles that some readers may encounter in reading these selections as spiritual meditations, I have represented Thoreau in his own words and presented these quotations accurately and wholly.
I ask the reader to keep these concerns in mind when reading these pages, and encourage you to substitute the inclusive wording yourself. I believe that Henry David Thoreau, the visionary and egalitarian human being, would appreciate that.
Contents
Thoreau Selection, with Source and Companion
| Introduction — Bhagavad Gita | ||
| 1 | Morning Air Walden, “Solitude” — Bob King | |
| 2 | Winter Warmth A Winter Walk — Robert Pyle | |
| 3 | Acorn & Chestnut Civil Disobedience — Ralph W. Emerson | |
| 4 | Stream of Truth Civil Disobedience — Martin Luther King, Jr. | |
| 5 | The Light that Dwells in Wood The Maine Woods — Gautama Buddha | |
| 6 | Floating on Life’s Current A Week on the Concord and Merrimack Rivers — Ghalib | |
| 7 | Nature Adorned A Week on the Concord and Merrimack Rivers — Rudyard Kipling | |
| 8 | Night by a River A Week on the Concord and Merrimack Rivers — Walt Whitman | |
| 9 | Tree Shelter A Week on the Concord and Merrimack Rivers — John Muir | |
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