I Went To The Woods
Happy birthday to writer, philosopher, and Transcendentalist Henry David Thoreau. Thoreau has been an influence and inspiration to many diverse groups; environmentalists, socialists, anarchists, free-thinkers, libertarians, progressives, Unitarians, and his writings were one influential ingredient in the unique stew that is American-brand modern Paganism. Thoreau is perhaps best known for his book “Walden”, a social critique of Western civilization.
“I believe that men are generally still a little afraid of the dark, though the witches are all hung, and Christianity and candles have been introduced.”
“The greater part of what my neighbors call good I believe in my soul to be bad, and if I repent of anything, it is very likely to be my good behavior. What demon possessed me that I behaved so well?”
“An efficient and valuable man does what he can, whether the community pay him for it or not. The inefficient offer their inefficiency to the highest bidder, and are forever expecting to be put in office.”
Thoreau’s writings along with the writings of the other Transcendentalists have been a huge but mostly unspoken influence on how Americans absorbed the resurgence of modern Paganism. The ecological and non-authoritarian trends in modern Paganism have much more to do with Thoreau and Emmerson than the Hippies in the sixties. But all Pagans (especially UU Pagans) should perhaps light a candle for this spiritual ancestor.
I leave you with one of my favorite Thoreau quotes, and I can only hope I’m this witty and alive when I leave this existence. In the days before his death, his Aunt Louisa asked him if he had made his peace with God. His answer was “I did not know we had ever quarrelled, Aunt.”
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