The wood-chopper (Walden, Henry David Thoreau)

 

Hi Lucy,

Good meeting!  We are still with the wood-chopper.  It seems that HDT has

 a great admiration for him, and perhaps sensed that the chopper was 

where he wanted to be.  But the chopper came to where he was from a state 

of innocence, whereas HDT, in setting up his Walden "experiment," came 

from a background of learning and cultural assimilation.  He designed the 

Walden setup, and wished to have an experience there which would answer 

all of his questions.  The chopper lived in the moment, and was "satisfied" 

with his life as it was.  Huge difference!  HDT was a seeker, not so the 

chopper.  So, might we say that Walden was an exercise in futility?  Or, 

maybe it is valuable in that it illustrates the futility of HDT's approach in 

finding what is already the case.  Are we all choppers, really, and our seeking 

is to find our real chopper-nature?   "Lives of quiet desperation"

means that this nature is already present, but seemingly hidden.

Or maybe not..!!  

Charlie