Transcendentalism In Walden

Walk in Nature Thoreau once said,“I went to the woods because I wished to live deliberately.” In my case, however, it was brief walk. I began by jumping off a deck, a metaphor for leaving society behind. Much like Thoreau did in his Walden Pond experiment. I then took a quick walk by the lake until I reached a fallen tree. I crossed it to get to the other side of the lake, and continued on. By the time I was done, I had sticks in my hair and dirt on my knees.
There were not any other people, so I felt as though I was Thoreau in his cabin for an hour. I had even found an old picnic bench where I sat to take a break from walking. One thing I noticed was the freedom of being alone. Since there was no one there to judge me or tell me not to do …show more content…
No two days are exactly the same. Each cloud, or lack thereof, brings subtle changes that differentiate one sunset from the next. The same could be said for just about anything. All things are differentiated. Transcendentalism chooses to embrace those differences, and forego societies that frown upon individuality, as seen in Walden Pond. I think this is good to a certain extent. If each day the sunset were the same we would not have variety. On the other hand, if they were so different that they were not sunsets anymore, it would take away from their original form.
The sunset made me feel small. Neither in size nor significance. In the fact that there are things as beautiful as the setting sun that occur everyday without fail. Hundreds of people could be watching the same sunset as I was. Theirs would be different depending on the weather conditions. The day I chose to observe was fairly clear. Others may have seen it in the eye of a storm. But it was still the same sun. The same planet rotating on its axis. One could compare the sunset to life. Each person lives their own, though they are living on the same Earth with the same rules. Stormy conditions cloud views, but the right amount of clouds brings brilliant colors before the …show more content…
Whether it be small bugs in the grass or sounds from nearby houses. With the development of smartphones, we have become less accustomed to silence or lulls in activity. Due to this we lose the ability to take in what is going on around us. Now if someone has to wait outside for even a few minutes, it is more likely that they would be on their phone than enjoying the nature around them. Transcendentalists would be against this. They would argue that the phones take away from our abilities as humans, and are unnecessary crutches that drag us down. It would not be practical now to not have a phone, but for people who were willing to remove themselves from society, in this age living without a phone may not appear too drastic for them.

Video Explanation Throughout these activities I took many pictures, so I put them in a video to keep them together. The video itself does not have more meaning than a scrapbook for the project, but the song I chose relates to transcendentalism. It is called “I Like Birds” by Eels. Throughout the song they talk about how they like birds, similarly to how transcendentalists (Thoreau with the loons) admired nature and aspired to be near it. Another stanza,”I don 't care for walkin ' downtown--Crazy auto-car gonna mow me down--Look at all the people like cows in a herd--Well, I like--Birds,” talks of resistance to conformity and anti-societal thoughts, both of which were found in