As I wrote in My Year of Change #6, I enrolled at the University of Antwerp for the course ‘Seminar Contemporary Philosophical Authors 1: Thoreau, Walden’. In this series, I want to write down my reflections on reading this book and its philosophical approach through its discussion at university.
Henry David Thoreau was an American writer-philosopher who, in 1845, decided to retire to a cabin in the forest near Walden Pond for two years to reflect on nature and self-sufficiency while also opposing the US war with Mexico and advocating civil disobedience.
I have always been fascinated by the idea of retreating into nature to become closer to oneself.
Nature
Last week, I went to the independent bookshop in Antwerp, ‘De Groene Waterman’, where I ordered Walden. I immediately bought with it the little book ‘Nature’ by Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803-1882), a friend and inspiration to Thoreau.
The back cover of this little book reads:
‘Originally published anonymously, ‘Nature’ was the first modern essay to recommend the appreciation of the outdoors as an all-encompassing positive force. Emerson's writings were recognised as uniquely American in style and content and launched the idea of going for a walk as a new way of looking at the world.’
This description alone is enough to get me to read this essay, first published in 1836.
I love unexpected coincidences
During my lunch at the Laundry Bar near the bookstore, I looked at the cover of the book Walden and saw that this edition had a foreword written by author Paolo Cognetti. I must confess that I did not know this name until Google indicated that this was the author of The Eight Mountains, his bestseller filmed by the Belgian directing duo Felix Van Groeningen and Charlotte Vandermeersch.
Coincidentally, we were just now watching that film at home last week, albeit in pieces. The lives of two friends and coming home to the solitude of the mountains, living a self-sufficient life away from the city crowds.
I immediately went back to the bookshop after my lunch to buy two other booklets by Paolo Cognetti: ‘The Luck of the Wolf’ and ‘Without Reaching the Top’. Curious about these stories.
I love reading about the beneficial effects of nature
In recent years, my home library(s) has grown through what appealed to me during my recovery from my health problems (a burnout and three heart attacks in two years). One of the themes is how nature is healing and how walking in nature is an essential aspect of this.
When I look over my bookshelf, I see:
- Grounded (Ruth Allen) – How connection with nature can improve our mental and physical wellbeing
- Weathering (Ruth Allen) – How the earth’s deep wisdom can help us endure life’s storms
- Braiding Sweetgrass (Robin Wall Kimmerer) – Indigenous Wisdom, Scientific Knowledge and the Teachings of Plants
- The Stubborn Light of Things (Melissa Harrison) – A Nature Diary
- Pastoral Song: A Farmer's Journey (James Rebanks)
- The Electricity of Every Living Thing (@Katherine May) – A Woman’s Walk in the Wild to Find Her Way Home
- Natuur op doktersvoorschrift (Dirk Avonts, Hans Keune, Roy Remmen)) – How being outdoors keeps us healthy
- The Old Ways (Robert Macfarlane) – A journey on foot
- The Nature Fix (Florence Williams) – Why Nature Makes Us Happier, Healthier, and More Creative
- The Outrun: A Memoir (Amy Liptrot)
- The Wild Places (Robert Macfarlane)) – A wonderful evocation of Britain’s natural beauty and a reminder of our need to connect with the wilderness
- De sneeuwpanter (Sylvain Tesson)
- The Wild Silence (Raynor Winn)
- The Wild Remedy: How Nature Mends Us - A Diary (Emma Mitchell)
- I Am an Island (Tamsin Calidas)
I have read only a few of these books so far, most of them still waiting patiently in my anti-library (Tsundoku) until a suitable moment presents itself to be grasped by my hands and carried away by the story and the conviction of how nature can help me (and by extension everyone), both physically and mentally. The stories I read only confirm what has lain deep inside me for some time: a longing for greenery, space, horizons...
Walking
I have been a hiker all my life. Often the same with others, sometimes, quite deliberately, alone. Alone along lines through the landscape, slowly exploring what can be seen further on. I walked to Compostela in 2013 and a second time in 2018, when I unfortunately had to return home after 300km due to illness. Much longer ago ( 1994), I walked the Coast to Coast in the north of England, a 320km trail through three National Parks, the Lake District, The Dales and The Moors. It was one of my most beautiful treks ever. And just about my best memory of this trek was my overnight stay, alone, at Black Sail Youth Hostel in the Lake District.
Together with a friend, I walked The Two Moors Way in Devon (1997), crossing the Exmoor and Dartmoor national parks. In 2015, my family and I walked the path along Hadrian's Wall in northern England, a wonderful experience.
Walking in nature is beneficial, but that much is certain. When walking, you get to the essence: slowing down, moving, enjoying what is around you to see, hear, feel, eat, sleep, and the following days again and again. Being outside in the free air calms your mind, excites your senses, and recharges you with a different energy than on a holiday where you ‘must’ have seen all sorts of sights.
Living a slower life
Since my burnout in 2010, living a slower, simpler life, more sustainably and with less stuff, has been a ‘goal’, which I have only been finding the right way in piecemeal. There remains work, your family, your social life, which you can't just withdraw from. Still, I think it should be possible, provided some slight adjustments to habits and the need for some necessities of life.
In Kokoro (@Beth Kempton), I read about ‘Yutori no aru seikatsu’, a quiet life with breathing space, closer to nature and with time for actual contact with people. It's not about wanting to be a farmer (we have no room for that in our little country, by the way), but about a sustainable lifestyle where you grow something, your own vegetable garden, some tomatoes, and how important it is for your well-being, to work on something yourself, to create your own life...
How Thoreau makes me look more sharply at myself, at what I care about:
A more sustainable way of life, with healthy food, healthy products, a life with less
Thinking, reflecting, being curious, learning, reading, listening, feeling and writing about it.
Enjoying the little things every day, each other, and the people around you who energise you and make you feel good...
Some links:
Ivan, I enjoyed this stream of consciousness writing, starting with Walden and going into a exploration of your library and anti-library. What a great selection of nature books you have! I have a few, most not yet read ;-)
This was so timely. I started an MFA program this month, and in one of my classes, we read Thoreau’s “Walking” this week. Thank you for this reflection, and for the reading list. There is much here to explore.