Unlimited Freedom In All Its Forms
In 1846 Thoreau was considered the father of civil disobedience and creator of a way of fighting known as peaceable revolution. While in Thoreau’s “Civil Disobedience” he presented the idea that liberty for man was independence from government and every sort of authority, in his essay “Walking” he explored a more spiritual view on human freedom. Three fundamental aspects of Thoreau’s ideology are: peaceable civil disobedience is a strong social weapon in which individuals united triumph over the government, moral and spiritual conviction regarding the righteousness of an individual could lead to victory, and people compliant to injustice as well as the corrupt in spirit would never be superior to the majority …show more content…
At the beginning of Civil Disobedience, he stated “That government is best which governs least." He approached this idea by adopting a position that reclaimed a social life where freedom was recognized and practiced in all its forms. "There will never be a really free and enlightened State until the State comes to recognize the individual as a higher and independent power, from which all its own power and authority are derived, and treats him accordingly." However, If the majority of the people were to adopt the law of minimum effort, then this utopian idea would fail without doubt, but Thoreau added more to the notion of being without government. He admitted that in order for the government to eventually stop governing, society had to be consciously prepared for this. Thoreau's idea could be linked with his idea of being spiritually connected to the creator in order to obtain absolute freedom, because all that came from God was good. If people were connected with this essence of righteousness then they would act based on their inner beliefs that would be arriving directly from god into us, resulting in humans acting honorable, just and trustworthy. Thoreau hinted that humans could evolve and discern that having power over others led to corruption but that having power over oneself with a sense of consciousness led to freedom and …show more content…
He ended up in jail because he refused to pay taxes that he considered a collaboration with the government's principles; and even though he was detained inside four walls, he still saw the freedom in his experience. The ideas and intentions of Thoreau went beyond selfish individualism, but questioned the conformity of the government to collect taxes that financed a war he considered unfair, especially when that same government was in agreement with slavery. In Civil disobedience Thoreau clearly expressed the idea that when a law required man to become agent of injustice to others, then man must have disobeyed, even passively . If injustice was like a machine , men must have turned their life into a continuous friction in the opposite direction until the unjust machine came to a complete stop. Thoreau wasn't scare to act, he was willing to put his ideas into practice for the greater good. Unfortunately, in order for his system to work, every single individual needed to participate in the act. But as we see in today's society government still exists and people are more connected to the material world
In 1846 Thoreau was considered the father of civil disobedience and creator of a way of fighting known as peaceable revolution. While in Thoreau’s “Civil Disobedience” he presented the idea that liberty for man was independence from government and every sort of authority, in his essay “Walking” he explored a more spiritual view on human freedom. Three fundamental aspects of Thoreau’s ideology are: peaceable civil disobedience is a strong social weapon in which individuals united triumph over the government, moral and spiritual conviction regarding the righteousness of an individual could lead to victory, and people compliant to injustice as well as the corrupt in spirit would never be superior to the majority …show more content…
At the beginning of Civil Disobedience, he stated “That government is best which governs least." He approached this idea by adopting a position that reclaimed a social life where freedom was recognized and practiced in all its forms. "There will never be a really free and enlightened State until the State comes to recognize the individual as a higher and independent power, from which all its own power and authority are derived, and treats him accordingly." However, If the majority of the people were to adopt the law of minimum effort, then this utopian idea would fail without doubt, but Thoreau added more to the notion of being without government. He admitted that in order for the government to eventually stop governing, society had to be consciously prepared for this. Thoreau's idea could be linked with his idea of being spiritually connected to the creator in order to obtain absolute freedom, because all that came from God was good. If people were connected with this essence of righteousness then they would act based on their inner beliefs that would be arriving directly from god into us, resulting in humans acting honorable, just and trustworthy. Thoreau hinted that humans could evolve and discern that having power over others led to corruption but that having power over oneself with a sense of consciousness led to freedom and …show more content…
He ended up in jail because he refused to pay taxes that he considered a collaboration with the government's principles; and even though he was detained inside four walls, he still saw the freedom in his experience. The ideas and intentions of Thoreau went beyond selfish individualism, but questioned the conformity of the government to collect taxes that financed a war he considered unfair, especially when that same government was in agreement with slavery. In Civil disobedience Thoreau clearly expressed the idea that when a law required man to become agent of injustice to others, then man must have disobeyed, even passively . If injustice was like a machine , men must have turned their life into a continuous friction in the opposite direction until the unjust machine came to a complete stop. Thoreau wasn't scare to act, he was willing to put his ideas into practice for the greater good. Unfortunately, in order for his system to work, every single individual needed to participate in the act. But as we see in today's society government still exists and people are more connected to the material world