Outside Reading 3: Walden; Or, Life in the Wood

Outside Reading 3: Walden; Or, Life in the Wood - Solitude
December 3, 2017

In the book, Walden; Or, Life in the Woods, David Thoreau discusses his thoughts on solitude.While reading, I was captivated by a brief description he gave of nighttime woodland activity.

The passage is as follows:
“Though it is now dark, the wind still blows and roars in the wood, the waves still dash, and some creatures lull the rest with their notes. The repose is never complete. The wildest animal do not repose, but seek their prey now; the fox and skunk, and rabbit now roam the fields and woods without fear” (84).
This passage caught my attention because many times I have noticed how awake the forest is at night. Countless times I have last-minute decided to go on night-time adventures outdoors and each time I have been so struck with how alive and awake nature is during this time. The river is always rippling, the wind is constantly changing, coyotes running about, and birds chase one another for hours. The times I do enter the wilderness at night, I have felt so grateful for having been there to witness the business of nature. How could sleeping at home be better than this? How can I sleep completely satisfied knowing nature is so awake at this time?

Over the past three years I have been struck by the simple realization that the world is always busy and alive somewhere.

This realization first became very real to me on a trip I took to Cambodia in 2016. We experienced a massive time difference and each morning as I woke, my family in Tennessee was going to bed. I remember thinking about how much happened while they were sound asleep in bed. I experienced so much during a time that I normally would spend sleeping. When returning home I felt very unsettled by this truth. I unwillingly adjusted to Tennessee’s time, and tried not to think of how much was missing as I slept.

This next occured to me while I studied abroad in Scotland this past semester. Scotland is five hours ahead of Virginia. During my time in Scotland I became a huge fan of watching the sunset in the park each night. There have been countless times that I have looked at the clock and realized the glorious sight that must be unfolding in Scotland without me--this leaves me disturbed.

Knowing that something is always happening with or without me bothers me and yet I know it makes perfect sense. To think the world stops and starts based on my presence or lack thereof is egocentric. It also is not as if I wish things did stop or start depending on my presence. I am glad that Scotland still has beautiful sunset each day and that the river continues to ripple and rush as I sleep at night; but I also just wish I could be part of all of these beautiful experiences. Maybe I have a severe case of FOMO (Fear of Missing Out) and maybe this uncovers an unhealthy discontentment in my heart. While I want to continue appreciating the places I have been and the experiences I have had, I want to firstly be amazed at what is before me in the present. It is easy to appreciate that which you have experienced previously, but it is hard to fully relish what is experienced currently.



Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Student Choice #1

This semester, I have found myself most Sunday afternoons feeling stuck. I don't want to use my mind and I don't want to move off my couch. Nothing seems to sink in past surface level and I would simply scroll through Facebook, not taking in any information but merely skimming. I heard someone once describe this feeling as the "fog of war." Battling with negativity, artificiality, and cynicism for too long leads to this lethargic state of in between, not giving up but not contributing, lukewarm in the truest sense of the word. I wonder if part of the solution to this "fog of war" is to simply be around something that is real. Something that is created. To feel the wind, even if it is bitter cold. To listen to a piece of music that is so beautiful or tragic that it brings tears to your eyes. To touch a tree or a blade of grass. To watch an ant crawl across the sidewalk. To see the sunset or to feel the rain fall. When I am surrounded by screens and walls and ...
Read more

Landscapes of the Sacred #2

In Landscapes of the Sacred, Ch. 10 discusses the tension between place and placelessness is Christian Spirituality. It discusses the two approaches to sacred place: kataphatic and apophatic.  Kataphatic rejoices in discerning the presence of God in the “thisness” of various places [place] while a pophatic: skeptical of an image’s ability to contain the mystery of the Holy [placelessness]. In one specific section, The Christian Imagination and a Theology of Place, Lane discusses how God is here, but not only here. He writes, “A theology of transcendance will never be comfortable with place.” He goes on to describe 5 “motifs by which the religious imagination is able to ‘create’ places or landscapes that become embodied means of experiencing the divine presence.” The first comes from John Calvin, he “spoke of the natural world as a theater full of wonders in which God’s glory becomes apparent..” The second is n ature as a ‘second book’ alongside scripture as a way to read the presen...
Read more

It All Begins With Praise - Phenomenology of Prayer

When talking about the elements of prayer, the author of The Phenomenology of Prayer claims that praise is where we need to start. Prayer is the "deepest decentering of the the self." Prayer should begin with adoration, acknowledging the power of the higher being. From the faith background in which I was raised, the idea of removing yourself from the center of the universe (humiliating yourself) and putting God at the center is how to live a spirit-filled life. Wholeheartedly yielding yourself to the Spirit is no easy feat, Galatians 5 explains that the desires of the flesh (personal projects) are against the desires of the Spirit (wholly other's projects). This ongoing struggle is the life of one who has faith in Jesus. The more time spent praising God in prayer, the more preoccupied one will become with God and submitting to his will, empowered by the Spirit, will then become our project.
Read more