The Influence Of Thoreau On The Human Spirit

Living in the woods taught Thoreau that the human spirit is capable of more than what most civilized people think and that the natural world can’t change the human spirit. Thoreau says, “If a man does not keep pace with his companions, perhaps it is because he hears a different drummer” (Thoreau 384). He knows that civilized people live in haste, but he has learned that it is alright for a man to “step to the music which he hears” (Thoreau 385). By following their own path, the human spirit is capable of doing things at its own pace. In addition to learning about the human spirit, Thoreau learned that the natural world can’t change the human spirit. He said, “It is remarkable how easily and insensibly we fall into a particular route” (Thoreau
385). He notices how it doesn’t matter whether or not he lives in the natural world, he finds himself completing habits that he had done before he moved. He also says, “I left the woods for as good a reason as I went there” (Thoreau 385). He went there to live deliberately which suggests that living in the natural world doesn’t change how much you live your life or change the human spirit.