"Walking" Thoughts

While he is a very respected author, I have to admit I really knew nothing about Thoreau going into this reading. I enjoy writing more than reading, so when I noticed this story would be almost 20 pages, I thought “Oh great, time to try to decode some old English I probably won’t understand.” However, I take every thought I had back. I was pleasantly surprised, and I must say, I loved every bit of “Walking”.

Thoreau had so much to say on the importance of nature and  society and how it impacts us all. I wrote down many quotes from this piece, but this one stood out to me the most:

My sister and I hiking near Tahquamenon Falls

“My desire for knowledge is intermittent; but my desire to bathe my head in atmospheres unknown to my feet is perennial and constant. The highest that we can attain to is not Knowledge, but Sympathy with Intelligence. I do not know that this higher knowledge amounts to anything more definite than a novel and grand surprise on a sudden revelation of the insufficiency of all that we called Knowledge before,— a discovery that there are more things in heaven and earth than are dreamed of in our philosophy.”

If everyone was conscious about sympathy with intelligence rather than focusing on obtaining pure knowledge, we would treat not only each other with more kindness, but the Earth under our feet too! I think people focus so much on trying to be the smartest and coming off as well read, and that can take away from trying to talk to and learn from others.

Not only could we learn a thing or two from each other, but by taking a walk and taking in all the nature around us, this would surely help us develop an appreciation for the serenity of our world. Pictured to the left is a plaque from the upper peninsula I found on a hike with the poem “Prayer of the Woods”. (I’ll admit the picture quality isn’t the best, but you could listen to it here.)

If we really tried to be at peace with nature every now and then, maybe we really could hear the trees whispering “Harm me not”.