In June of 1838, Ralph Waldo Emerson, writing in his journal, observed, "A man must have aunts and cousins, must buy carrots and turnips, must have barn and woodshed, must go to market and to the blacksmith's shop, must saunter and sleep and be inferior and silly." This is transcendentalism at its most practical, intended for people who, unlike Emerson's moody disciple, Thoreau, don't have the time to sit by a pond and complain about society. Were that the case, we'd all be living in Portland, Ore., making Bright Eyes records. Instead, we live on the Internet, which is why this quote is oddly relevant, as we seem to have, unconsciously, absorbed its practical
lesson.