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Henry David Thoreau
Jun. 20th, 2015 08:35 am“Most of the luxuries and many of the so-called comforts of life are not only not indispensable, but positive hindrances to the elevation of mankind.”
-- Henry David Thoreau (1817 - 1862)
So long as we understand that the Internet is a necessity rather than a luxury.
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“I went to the woods because I wished to live deliberately, to front only the essential facts of life, and see if I could not learn what it had to teach, and not, when I came to die, discover that I had not lived. I did not wish to live what was not life, living is so dear; nor did I wish to practise resignation, unless it was quite necessary. I wanted to live deep and suck out all the marrow of life, to live so sturdily and Spartan-like as to put to rout all that was not life, to cut a broad swath and shave close, to drive life into a corner, and reduce it to its lowest terms, and, if it proved to be mean, why then to get the whole and genuine meanness of it, and publish its meanness to the world; or if it were sublime, to know it by experience, and be able to give a true account of it in my next excursion.”
-- Thoreau, “Walden”
>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>
While we are on this familiar ground, we may as well get down some of the critical attitude that fell against Thoreau and his experiments. I particularly like the bite in John Greenleaf Whittier’s comment that Thoreau wanted man to “lower himself to the level of a woodchuck and walk on all four legs.”
[Source:Wikipedia: Henry David Thoreau]
-- Henry David Thoreau (1817 - 1862)
So long as we understand that the Internet is a necessity rather than a luxury.
<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<
“I went to the woods because I wished to live deliberately, to front only the essential facts of life, and see if I could not learn what it had to teach, and not, when I came to die, discover that I had not lived. I did not wish to live what was not life, living is so dear; nor did I wish to practise resignation, unless it was quite necessary. I wanted to live deep and suck out all the marrow of life, to live so sturdily and Spartan-like as to put to rout all that was not life, to cut a broad swath and shave close, to drive life into a corner, and reduce it to its lowest terms, and, if it proved to be mean, why then to get the whole and genuine meanness of it, and publish its meanness to the world; or if it were sublime, to know it by experience, and be able to give a true account of it in my next excursion.”
-- Thoreau, “Walden”
>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>
While we are on this familiar ground, we may as well get down some of the critical attitude that fell against Thoreau and his experiments. I particularly like the bite in John Greenleaf Whittier’s comment that Thoreau wanted man to “lower himself to the level of a woodchuck and walk on all four legs.”
[Source:Wikipedia: Henry David Thoreau]
