Thoreau's Wildness Research Paper

An Exploration of Thoreau’s Wildness
The wildness is a belief in something greater than humans. This is not the spiritual belief in a god or some higher being but in the idea that wildness is at the center of life. In a way the wildness may become a focal point at the center of his or life. Thoreau’s focal practice was walking, but his focal point could be considered a belief in wildness. When he was living at Walden that became a focal thing to him, but Walden was a smaller point for the larger idea of wildness. Through walking Thoreau invites us to engage on a journey to obtain a similar belief in the wildness around us. Thoreau’s wildness calls him and us to become greater beings than what we were in the Old World. “If the heavens of America
appear infinitely higher, and the stars brighter, I trust that these facts are symbolical of the height to which the philosophy and poetry and religion of her inhabitants may one day soar” (607-608). The wildness of America is so much greater that we must work to achieve the same greatness in our thinking, beliefs, and selves. Are doing becoming great to match the landscape or are we going the other way and becoming human centered. We have built numerous interstate highways and satellite technology to pass information over vast distances in a short amount of time. Does this make us as great as the land we live in? We have become a people focused on information and the ability to obtain the information quickly. This means we know a lot about a variety of individual items, but we do not have the greatness that matches the wildness of America. This comes from wisdom. The wildness brings out this great wisdom. “The West of which I speak is but another name for the Wild; and what I have been preparing to say is, that in Wildness is the preservation of the World” (609). The West Thoreau mentions is America. This means the East is Europe. Thoreau is expanding on the point that because the West is so great and majestic it is Wild. This is a Wild we as Americans need to take care to not mistreat. We should learn from and live up to the Wild. Much more the Wild is where we obtain lifesaving wisdom. This is not wisdom that can be taught in a classroom or institution, but a wisdom that comes from being in tune with nature and spending time in nature. The nature is not purchased and brought into our homes or our cities. It can be realized, however, in a stream that runs through a park just as Bugbee found when he began to build a dam in a stream. The wisdom of nature breaks forth into the belief in wildness. Thoreau has come to realize the belief in wildness.
“I believe in the forest, and in the meadow, and in the night in which the corn grows. We require an infusion of hemlock spruce arbor vitae in our tea. There is a difference between eating and drinking for strength and from mere gluttony” (610). The belief in nature comes as a whisper into our minds. We are not forced into believing in the trees and meadows it simply is there. However, we do have to be involved to obtain this belief. If one is not out in the wild engaging in our focal practices, for example Thoreau in his waling, we do not reach the state of belief. In order for Thoreau to say he believes in the forest he has to have spent time in the forest. The forest becomes a type of focal point for him, and walking in the forest becomes a focal practice. As time progresses the forests and meadows, the wildness, has become Thoreau’s focal
point. As the belief in the focal point becomes clear, embarking on a travel to the focal point become s almost as a pilgrimage to the Holy Land.
“I have met with but one or two person I the course of my life who understood the art of Walking, that is, of taking walks – who had a genius, so to speak, for sauntering, which word is beautifully derived “from idle people who roved about the country, in the Middle Ages, and asked charity, under pretense of going a la Sainte Terre,” to the Holy Land, till the children exclaimed, “There goes a Sainte-Terrer,” a Saunterer, a Holy-Lander” (592. The Holy Land literally is the city Jerusalem. Thoreau is not talking about a literal walk to Jerusalem to obtain the wisdom and belief of the wildness, but to adopt the same principles the pilgrims use on their travels. Similar to the pilgrim’s devotion to wander around the country side, devotion to our focal practice in wildness can bring us closer to the belief in wildness. Pilgrims leave behind most everything to embark on a spiritual quest to develop a greater understanding of themselves and their religion. One needs to leave behind all personal problems to embark on a journey into the wildness. The lack of issues plaguing the individual means the individual can dwell on the
wildness. Our focal points and focal practices do not need to be as devoted as Thoreau and his walking. A simple wander through the local park can bring an individual to realize a greatness above his or her friends. It is not so much the returning to nature or attempting to restore nature to a preserve state that brings us the wisdom of nature. The act of engaging in the wildness outside of our smartphones and Facebook several time a week may suffice. We must remain connected to wildness and not lose the belief in wildness. If we were to lose the belief in wildness, in other words if we became so human centered to neglect the wild side of ourselves, we lose a part of the human identity and become easy prey. “It is because the children of the Empire were not suckled by the wolf that they were conquered and displaced by the children of the northern forests who were” (610). Thoreau here is not stating the children of Britain should be feed by a wolf, but that the British have lost their belief in the wild. The consequence of losing their belief in wildness, they were conquered. We should not lose our belief in the wild to prevent our technological conquering.