Simply Saturday: The Brink of Creation

Henry David Thoreau, what a character in the history of the United States. He was a little...shall we say...different...than the rest of his colleagues and peers in the literary world; and the world-at-large.

Although he was a rebellious spirit wandering the world, he was an incredibly descriptive writer. I imagine spending all that time on Walden Pond gave him ample opportunity to think about the world and his place in it. As I was reading Walden: The Writings of Henry D. Thoreau, I was immediately transported to world rarely seen by human eyes. Thoreau takes you to the very brink of creation in his writings.

Every minute detail of his prose has been discovered through endeavors of a laborious nature. On pages 246 - 248, there is a description of the formation of the ice over Walden Pond with such intricate detail it took days to observe the process, lying full length on the surface noting every detail as it occured.

Thoreau lived near Walden Pond from 1845 to 1849, on a place given to him by his friend, Ralph Waldo Emerson.

"I went into the woods because I wished to live deliberately, to front only the factual essentials of life, and see if I could learn what it had to teach, and not, when I came to die, discover that I had not lived." ~ Henry D. Thoreau.

Thoreau's life on Walden Pond was lonely and secluded with occasional trips into the nearby village, which he loathed. Although he seemed lonely for the human interaction, if it had not been for his sabbatical to Walden Pond, we would not today know and understand the deepest meanings and intricate details of the natural world surrounding his humble abode.

Initially I set out to read Walden as a means to understand descriptive detailing of landscapes. I find learning from the masters far more intriguing than conforming to the modern techniques of telling tales. In the process I learned a little something about the natural world,  a bit about the society of Thoreau's time, and some about me.

Spring has come to the valley in which I live. Soon the butterflies will return to flutter about on the hot summer days. In all of creation, there is nothing more splendid and peaceful than the flight of the butterfly; no matter where she chooses to flit, or land.

Sunday Conversations: 10 Positive Commandments

I am a collector of old books. I do not collect them for their monetary value, but for the value they contain between the covers. Before she passed away, my grandmother gave me a box of books she said she no longer needed. I was filled with gratitude for the books because they were mostly from the nineteenth and early twentieth century. My grandmother had also been a teacher. Among the books in the box was a 1922 edition of A Christmas Carol - Charles Dickens, an old Bagster's & Sons Bible with concordance from about 1896 (uses words like unicorn, dragons, satyrs etc very interesting), and Elbert Hubbard's Scrapbook.

I am not, and never have been a transcendentalist, but it was all the rage at the turn of the century, especially in literary works. Elbert Hubbard was no exception to the rule, as set by the likes of Emerson and Thoreau. Elbert Hubbard was born in 1856 and died tragically with his wife, Alice, on the Lusitania when it was sunk by a German submarine in 1915.

As I was packing more boxes today, to be moved in the coming week, I came across a sheet of paper on which I had copied Elbert Hubbard's Ten Positive Commandments, from his book.

Ten Positive Commandments

1. Thou shalt think well of thyself and well of thy neighbor.

2. Thou shalt add to the health, wealth and happiness of the world.

3. Thou shalt be on good terms with sunshine, fresh air and water.

4. Thou shalt get eight hours of sleep a day.

5. Thou shalt eat moderately, and exercise every day in the open air.

6. Thou shalt love the memory of thy mother, and be true to the friends that have done so much for thee.

7. Thou shalt recognize the Divinity in all men.

8. Thou shalt remember the week-day and keep it holy.

9. Thou shalt remember that thee can only help thine by helping other people, and that to injure another is to injure thyself, and that to love and benefit others is to live long and well.

10. Thou shalt love the stars, the ocean, the forest, and reverence all living things, recognizing that the source of life is one.

 Although they are not THE Ten Commandments, they seem to be some pretty good rules to live by in addition to the original ten.

42 days missing.