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A Vida sem Princípios
Texto polémico e agitador de consciências, A Vida sem Princípios destila em cada uma das suas páginas, como gotas de «orvalho da verdade fresca e viva», a essência da filosofia rebelde de Henry David Thoreau. Proferida pela primeira vez em 1854, esta palestra de puro tom transcendentalista, que se cravava como um espinho na sociedade industrial e na vida sem princípios dos concidadãos de Thoreau, ecoa num presente em que o progresso desenfreado equivale a uma desumanização generalizada. Sem darem tréguas a falsas necessidades materiais, e pondo-nos de sobreaviso contra todas as instituições, estas linhas, tão breves quanto centrais no pensamento do autor, são uma leitura essencial para que não sejamos «casca e concha, sem nada de tenro e de vivo dentro de nós».
80 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 1863
125 people are currently reading
1827 people want to read
About the author
Henry David Thoreau
2,418 books6,737 followersHenry David Thoreau (born David Henry Thoreau) was an American author, naturalist, transcendentalist, tax resister, development critic, philosopher, and abolitionist who is best known for Walden, a reflection upon simple living in natural surroundings, and his essay, Civil Disobedience, an argument for individual resistance to civil government in moral opposition to an unjust state.
Thoreau's books, articles, essays, journals, and poetry total over 20 volumes. Among his lasting contributions were his writings on natural history and philosophy, where he anticipated the methods and findings of ecology and environmental history, two sources of modern day environmentalism.
In 1817, Henry David Thoreau was born in Massachusetts. He graduated from Harvard University in 1837, taught briefly, then turned to writing and lecturing. Becoming a Transcendentalist and good friend of Emerson, Thoreau lived the life of simplicity he advocated in his writings. His two-year experience in a hut in Walden, on land owned by Emerson, resulted in the classic, Walden: Life in the Woods (1854). During his sojourn there, Thoreau refused to pay a poll tax in protest of slavery and the Mexican war, for which he was jailed overnight. His activist convictions were expressed in the groundbreaking On the Duty of Civil Disobedience (1849). In a diary he noted his disapproval of attempts to convert the Algonquins "from their own superstitions to new ones." In a journal he noted dryly that it is appropriate for a church to be the ugliest building in a village, "because it is the one in which human nature stoops to the lowest and is the most disgraced." (Cited by James A. Haught in 2000 Years of Disbelief.) When Parker Pillsbury sought to talk about religion with Thoreau as he was dying from tuberculosis, Thoreau replied: "One world at a time."
Thoreau's philosophy of nonviolent resistance influenced the political thoughts and actions of such later figures as Leo Tolstoy, Mohandas K. Gandhi, and Martin Luther King, Jr. D. 1862.
More: http://plato.stanford.edu/entries/tho...
http://thoreau.eserver.org/
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Henry_Da...
http://transcendentalism-legacy.tamu....
http://www.biography.com/people/henry...
Thoreau's books, articles, essays, journals, and poetry total over 20 volumes. Among his lasting contributions were his writings on natural history and philosophy, where he anticipated the methods and findings of ecology and environmental history, two sources of modern day environmentalism.
In 1817, Henry David Thoreau was born in Massachusetts. He graduated from Harvard University in 1837, taught briefly, then turned to writing and lecturing. Becoming a Transcendentalist and good friend of Emerson, Thoreau lived the life of simplicity he advocated in his writings. His two-year experience in a hut in Walden, on land owned by Emerson, resulted in the classic, Walden: Life in the Woods (1854). During his sojourn there, Thoreau refused to pay a poll tax in protest of slavery and the Mexican war, for which he was jailed overnight. His activist convictions were expressed in the groundbreaking On the Duty of Civil Disobedience (1849). In a diary he noted his disapproval of attempts to convert the Algonquins "from their own superstitions to new ones." In a journal he noted dryly that it is appropriate for a church to be the ugliest building in a village, "because it is the one in which human nature stoops to the lowest and is the most disgraced." (Cited by James A. Haught in 2000 Years of Disbelief.) When Parker Pillsbury sought to talk about religion with Thoreau as he was dying from tuberculosis, Thoreau replied: "One world at a time."
Thoreau's philosophy of nonviolent resistance influenced the political thoughts and actions of such later figures as Leo Tolstoy, Mohandas K. Gandhi, and Martin Luther King, Jr. D. 1862.
More: http://plato.stanford.edu/entries/tho...
http://thoreau.eserver.org/
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Henry_Da...
http://transcendentalism-legacy.tamu....
http://www.biography.com/people/henry...
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 132 reviews
June 26, 2025
#lerosclássicos2021
De qualquer modo, poderei fazer algum caminho, por mais solitário, estreito e sinuoso, que possa percorrer com amor e reverência. Onde quer que um homem se separe da multidão, e siga o seu próprio caminho, encontrará uma bifurcação, embora o viajante ordinário possa ver aí uma brecha na paliçada. O seu trajecto solitário através dos campos será o mais nobre dos dois.
Não será decerto um exagero dizer que “A Vida sem Princípios” se mantém actual e pertinente em quase todos os pontos que aborda. Mesmo que já não haja a febre do ouro que Henry David Thoreau criticava em 1854, permanece a ganância nas suas mais variadas formas, a qual se sobrepõe a todos os valores dignos desse nome. Porque foi essencialmente de valores e da falta deles que o autor falou nesta palestra que posteriormente assumiu o formato de livro.
Penso que a mente pode ser constantemente profanada pelo hábito de prestar atenção a coisas triviais, de tal modo que todos os nossos pensamentos ficam eivados de trivialidades. (...) Se nos tivermos assim profanado - quem o não foi? – o remédio será, através da circunspecção e da devoção, reconsagrarmo-nos e, mais uma vez, fazer do espírito um santuário.
Durante esta breve leitura, foi-me impossível não transportar para o presente algumas críticas que Thoreau tece à sociedade do seu tempo, aplicando-as, por exemplo, à ânsia de se ser popular nas redes sociais...
À medida que a nossa vida interior decai, vamos cada vez mais vezes e de uma maneira mais desesperada à estação dos correios. Não tenham dúvidas, o desgraçado que sai com o maior número de cartas, orgulhoso por ter tanta correspondência, não sabe nada de si próprio há muito tempo.
...e à questão da conservação da natureza.
Se um homem passear nos bosques por amor a estes durante metade de cada dia, arrisca-se a que o vejam como um mandrião; mas se passar todo o dia em actividades especulativas, arrasando as florestas para tornar a terra nua antes do tempo, será considerado um cidadão diligente e empreendedor. Como se o único interesse que uma cidade tivesse nos seus bosques fosse cortá-los!
Achei também de uma grande sensibilidade a referência à necessidade de sermos reconhecidos e ouvidos, de nos sabermos relevantes para os outros.
A maior homenagem que alguma vez me prestaram ocorreu quando alguém me perguntou o que eu pensava e escutou com atenção a minha resposta. Fico surpreendido, e mesmo encantado, quando isso acontece, tão raro é que as pessoas façam uso de mim, como quem está familiarizado com o instrumento. (...) Nunca se interessam pela minha substância; preferem a casca.
Conhecia a sua fama de pensador e de ecologista, de homem à frente do seu tempo, mas não esperava encontrar uma mente tão esclarecida e pensamentos tão subversivos e provocadores.
Aqueles com quem tentamos falar (...) farão o possível para interpor o seu tecto baixo, com a sua exígua clarabóia, entre nós e o firmamento, quando era o céu limpo que queríamos ver. Saiam da frente com as vossas teias de aranha e lavem as janelas!, digo eu.
De qualquer modo, poderei fazer algum caminho, por mais solitário, estreito e sinuoso, que possa percorrer com amor e reverência. Onde quer que um homem se separe da multidão, e siga o seu próprio caminho, encontrará uma bifurcação, embora o viajante ordinário possa ver aí uma brecha na paliçada. O seu trajecto solitário através dos campos será o mais nobre dos dois.
Não será decerto um exagero dizer que “A Vida sem Princípios” se mantém actual e pertinente em quase todos os pontos que aborda. Mesmo que já não haja a febre do ouro que Henry David Thoreau criticava em 1854, permanece a ganância nas suas mais variadas formas, a qual se sobrepõe a todos os valores dignos desse nome. Porque foi essencialmente de valores e da falta deles que o autor falou nesta palestra que posteriormente assumiu o formato de livro.
Penso que a mente pode ser constantemente profanada pelo hábito de prestar atenção a coisas triviais, de tal modo que todos os nossos pensamentos ficam eivados de trivialidades. (...) Se nos tivermos assim profanado - quem o não foi? – o remédio será, através da circunspecção e da devoção, reconsagrarmo-nos e, mais uma vez, fazer do espírito um santuário.
Durante esta breve leitura, foi-me impossível não transportar para o presente algumas críticas que Thoreau tece à sociedade do seu tempo, aplicando-as, por exemplo, à ânsia de se ser popular nas redes sociais...
À medida que a nossa vida interior decai, vamos cada vez mais vezes e de uma maneira mais desesperada à estação dos correios. Não tenham dúvidas, o desgraçado que sai com o maior número de cartas, orgulhoso por ter tanta correspondência, não sabe nada de si próprio há muito tempo.
...e à questão da conservação da natureza.
Se um homem passear nos bosques por amor a estes durante metade de cada dia, arrisca-se a que o vejam como um mandrião; mas se passar todo o dia em actividades especulativas, arrasando as florestas para tornar a terra nua antes do tempo, será considerado um cidadão diligente e empreendedor. Como se o único interesse que uma cidade tivesse nos seus bosques fosse cortá-los!
Achei também de uma grande sensibilidade a referência à necessidade de sermos reconhecidos e ouvidos, de nos sabermos relevantes para os outros.
A maior homenagem que alguma vez me prestaram ocorreu quando alguém me perguntou o que eu pensava e escutou com atenção a minha resposta. Fico surpreendido, e mesmo encantado, quando isso acontece, tão raro é que as pessoas façam uso de mim, como quem está familiarizado com o instrumento. (...) Nunca se interessam pela minha substância; preferem a casca.
Conhecia a sua fama de pensador e de ecologista, de homem à frente do seu tempo, mas não esperava encontrar uma mente tão esclarecida e pensamentos tão subversivos e provocadores.
Aqueles com quem tentamos falar (...) farão o possível para interpor o seu tecto baixo, com a sua exígua clarabóia, entre nós e o firmamento, quando era o céu limpo que queríamos ver. Saiam da frente com as vossas teias de aranha e lavem as janelas!, digo eu.
December 5, 2021
En un mundo sobre saturado de redes sociales, donde importa demasiado el consumo de personas. Thoreau nos habla de tomarnos el tiempo de hacer de cada relacion (no solo personales, con la naturaleza, con los animales, con los objetos con nosotros mismos) algo trascendente.
Magnifico aunque algo difícil de leer.
video reseña en:
https://www.instagram.com/p/CH06kmQA1qY/
Magnifico aunque algo difícil de leer.
video reseña en:
https://www.instagram.com/p/CH06kmQA1qY/
July 15, 2010
A real gem, liked it better than Walden, which I often got lost in. This is short and straight to the point, which I find Thoreau makes powerfully. Written 150 years ago, but ever so relevant. I found his views on commerce especially interesting- "A commerce that whitens every sea in quest of nuts and raisins, and makes slaves of its sailors for this purpose!"
I've oftened wondered myself about the seemingly endless race to expand, increase, enlarge- to what end? So we'll be able to play high definition video games with anyone, from anywhere? Is this really what we need or want?
I've oftened wondered myself about the seemingly endless race to expand, increase, enlarge- to what end? So we'll be able to play high definition video games with anyone, from anywhere? Is this really what we need or want?
June 5, 2014
Straightforward,bold and precise.. It was a really interesting read. This is a criticism of man's tendency to focus on finding a means of living rather than on life in general. Instead of doing what he likes and doing it honestly and sincerely,he goes behind jobs that provide him money because it's money that rules the world of today. Thoreau asks why men go to distant places for gold-digging when there are rivers that come from the golden mountains in their place. He also criticizes the newspaper culture,the focus on news that remain the same every year. A man begins his day with these newspapers and fills his mind with all these filth,thereby desecrating the holy place called his mind. Thoreau says it's necessary to re-consecrate our minds.
A thought-provoking work written in bold letters. HIGHLY RECOMMENDED.
A thought-provoking work written in bold letters. HIGHLY RECOMMENDED.
May 31, 2018
(estou sem possibilidade de usar acentuacao, pelo que peco desde ja desculpa aos eventuais leitores deste breve comentario)
Literariamente nao estamos, certamente, perante uma obra prima. Mas a precisao com que sao levantadas diversas questoes ainda hoje prementes, torna este pequeno livro uma pequena perola. Daqueles que da vontade de sublinhar, e apregoar. E, sem duvida, a revisitar.
Literariamente nao estamos, certamente, perante uma obra prima. Mas a precisao com que sao levantadas diversas questoes ainda hoje prementes, torna este pequeno livro uma pequena perola. Daqueles que da vontade de sublinhar, e apregoar. E, sem duvida, a revisitar.
August 29, 2021
Scathing but thoughtful commentary on work, consumerism, media, and politics. Apart from a few dated lines, this essay has aged frighteningly well.
October 22, 2015
"I look down from my height on nations,
And they become ashes before me;—
Calm is my dwelling in the clouds;
Pleasant are the great fields of my rest."
And they become ashes before me;—
Calm is my dwelling in the clouds;
Pleasant are the great fields of my rest."
April 27, 2021
Me dieron ganas de renunciar, quemar todas las instituciones que me esclavizan y después irme a vivir al bosque.
August 18, 2021
Published in 1863, when the news was delivered via newspapers, Thoreau was already concerned about the divisive effects of the mass media on our culture, and its ossifying effects on our thinking. His wise but countercultural advice was, “Read not the Times. Read the Eternities.”
I read this because it was discussed in Jeffrey Bilbro’s excellent book, “Reading the Times: A Literary and Theological Inquiry into the News.” Bilbro unpacks and expounds on these ideas in a more relevant way for today’s readers, but Thoreau’s perceptiveness is impressive.
I read this because it was discussed in Jeffrey Bilbro’s excellent book, “Reading the Times: A Literary and Theological Inquiry into the News.” Bilbro unpacks and expounds on these ideas in a more relevant way for today’s readers, but Thoreau’s perceptiveness is impressive.
June 4, 2022
Thoreau is fascinating to read. His writing is a continuous stream containing glimpses of truth and pockets of trash. It reads like a diary meant for an audience.
This particular essay covers the topics of individuality, the place of politics in the US, the role of a professions, and the vision of America as a nation among other things. I found it a fascinating insight into his outlook but also on the happenings of society in his day.
I simultaneously enjoy reading Thoreau but am also annoyed with him as his philosophy of life really only works for a single bachelor and his writings are full of contradictions (see Kathryn Schulz’s New Yorker article). But I like his style and some of his expressions. He represents an important shift in American philosophy which still runs in our psyche today (I.e self-expression).
This particular essay covers the topics of individuality, the place of politics in the US, the role of a professions, and the vision of America as a nation among other things. I found it a fascinating insight into his outlook but also on the happenings of society in his day.
I simultaneously enjoy reading Thoreau but am also annoyed with him as his philosophy of life really only works for a single bachelor and his writings are full of contradictions (see Kathryn Schulz’s New Yorker article). But I like his style and some of his expressions. He represents an important shift in American philosophy which still runs in our psyche today (I.e self-expression).
January 4, 2020
Un texto fascinante, que se puede leer perfectamente a modo de aforismos, aunque también presenta errores propios de una edición bastante mejorable.
September 5, 2021
9.6/10
Really amazing, thought provoking, inspiring, life-changing and timeless.
Really amazing, thought provoking, inspiring, life-changing and timeless.
October 2, 2021
“We should treat our minds that is ourselves as innocent and ingenious children whose guardians we are, and be careful what objects and what subjects we thrust under attention. Read not the times, read the eternities. Conventionalities are at length as bad as impurities. Even the facts of science may dust the mind by their dryness, unless they are in a sense effaced each morning or rather rendered fertile by the dews of fresh and living truth.”
February 14, 2025
Idk man, this was written 2 centuries ago, I don’t understand most of the language, but his vibes are in the right place
August 13, 2017
Glimpse into the Minimalist Thoreau
This book helped me better understand H.D ideals, especially independence of mind and not swaying with the winds of the times. And I got a glimpse into his minimalism ideals, sharply capture by “I do believe in simplicity. When the mathematician would solve a difficult problem, he first frees the equation from all encumbrances, and reduces it to its simplest terms. So simplify the problem of life, distinguish the necessary and the real.”
Concise book, & even more relevant for our times - I recommend.
This book helped me better understand H.D ideals, especially independence of mind and not swaying with the winds of the times. And I got a glimpse into his minimalism ideals, sharply capture by “I do believe in simplicity. When the mathematician would solve a difficult problem, he first frees the equation from all encumbrances, and reduces it to its simplest terms. So simplify the problem of life, distinguish the necessary and the real.”
Concise book, & even more relevant for our times - I recommend.
July 18, 2020
The most 'dangerous', most trenchant, most American, yet most anti-American of Thoreau's writings. This really can shatter the ways you're thinking and making do in this world of material enslavements…My favorite of his works, as I grow older and none the wiser.
Might come back to expand on some of these musings, this lecture basically is dense with deep, revolutionary ideas, that resonate in 2018 perhaps even more than back in 1854.
Might come back to expand on some of these musings, this lecture basically is dense with deep, revolutionary ideas, that resonate in 2018 perhaps even more than back in 1854.
April 19, 2015
Agreed, bold, still relevant. But i felt like being preached.
March 20, 2022
Henry David Thoreau partage des exemples de sa propre vie pour nous montrer que les contingences quotidiennes sont une entrave à l'épanouissement de l'esprit. Il promeut une sorte d'individualisme et d'oisiveté. Cela se retrouve dans sa phrase "On ne peut servir deux maîtres à la fois".
Il critique également la futilité des événements politiques en comparaison de leur importance médiatique. "Ce sont les journaux qui gouvernent et détiennent le pouvoir" "Si un homme néglige de lire le Daily Times le gouvernement s'agenouillera devant lui, car c'est la seule trahison de nos jours".
Thoreau partage simplement ses propres pratiques, il ne s'agit pas d'un discours déposant une doctrine à laquelle le lecteur doit se soumettre.
Et heureusement, car cela semblerait un peu idéaliste, comme on peut le voir à travers cette phrase : "La communauté n'a aucun moyen de corruption susceptible de subordonner un homme sage". On peut douter de la faisabilité de la mise en application de cette phrase pour tous...
Il critique également la futilité des événements politiques en comparaison de leur importance médiatique. "Ce sont les journaux qui gouvernent et détiennent le pouvoir" "Si un homme néglige de lire le Daily Times le gouvernement s'agenouillera devant lui, car c'est la seule trahison de nos jours".
Thoreau partage simplement ses propres pratiques, il ne s'agit pas d'un discours déposant une doctrine à laquelle le lecteur doit se soumettre.
Et heureusement, car cela semblerait un peu idéaliste, comme on peut le voir à travers cette phrase : "La communauté n'a aucun moyen de corruption susceptible de subordonner un homme sage". On peut douter de la faisabilité de la mise en application de cette phrase pour tous...
March 12, 2019
Some people have a talent to write and speak about ageless matters (I would have liked to write truths, but the truth is such a strong word and how can I tell now what holds true tomorrow,) and Henry David Thoreau is one of them. What he wrote in Life Without Principle holds true for many parts today. The prose might have changed, and the examples might have a new appearance, but behind it all is the same principle. If I had to summarize the essay in one sentence, it would be this: don't live your life for money. And if you let me add another one don't make a box to your views. Entertain ideas, think, and see.
The text itself was messy at times, making hard to find the point, but I think after reading two of his other books I get the hang of his writing style. I have always appreciated the message more than the form it is brought. Life Without Principle is a good essay. I read a page or two every morning.
Thank you for reading!
The text itself was messy at times, making hard to find the point, but I think after reading two of his other books I get the hang of his writing style. I have always appreciated the message more than the form it is brought. Life Without Principle is a good essay. I read a page or two every morning.
Thank you for reading!
February 17, 2025
I thought this essay was interesting. I mean it kinda was a diss on capitalism near the beginning. Not one I haven’t’ heard before. I think it gets at how everything must be done in moderation. But he has some pretty extreme language like what’s the use of being “free” if we are still slaves to the economy, prejudice, and other people’s opinions. He mentions that nowadays no one thinks about anything but just regurgitates what they read so that it seems intelligible. He wants us to get out of the monotony and be in nature. He wants us to stop distracting ourselves. He wants to not feel chained to the news papers. Imagine how much worse it would be to him today with phones and mantra off of social media.
August 3, 2019
Review to Follow.
September 7, 2021
Es increíble lo contemporáneo que puede resultar un libro de 1845...
September 12, 2022
Un libro da leggere assolutamente, che riflette sull'inutilità di certi lavori e di come il lavoro sia programmato in maniera malsana e poco sensata.
October 2, 2019
Algo que caracteriza este libro es la sencillez con que fue escrito y de verdad lo disfruté, las frases de reflexión de verdad me dejan mucho...
"Los caminos por los que se consigue dinero, casi sin excepción, nos empequeñecen. Haber hecho algo por lo que tan sólo se percibe dinero es haber sido un auténtico holgazán o peor aún. Si un obrero no gana más sueldo que el que le paga su patrón, le están engañando, se engaña a sí mismo. [...] Se te paga para que seas menos que un hombre"
"Los caminos por los que se consigue dinero, casi sin excepción, nos empequeñecen. Haber hecho algo por lo que tan sólo se percibe dinero es haber sido un auténtico holgazán o peor aún. Si un obrero no gana más sueldo que el que le paga su patrón, le están engañando, se engaña a sí mismo. [...] Se te paga para que seas menos que un hombre"
April 24, 2024
“O frio e a fome parecem ser mais consentâneos com a minha natureza do que os métodos que os homens adoptaram e aconselham para os evitar.”
October 10, 2020
Una belleza lo que reflexiona y las ilustraciones. Este libro lo voy a sortear en Octubre. Asi que pasate por Youtube.com/marinaescribe para participar.
October 12, 2016
Si vous lisez régulièrement Existential Comics (http://existentialcomics.com/), vous avez eu l'occasion de voir l'auteur se moquer du style de Thoreau. Thoreau écrit comme si chaque phrase devait devenir une citation sur wikiquote... et wikipedia ne s'y est pas trompé. Néanmoins, cela ne l'empêche pas de placer quelques bonnes formules et de se rendre charmeur à défaut d'être précis. C'est que Thoreau exhorte :
- à descendre des grands chevaux de la "civilisation" occidentale (salariat, outrance de la propriété privée, ridicule de la politique pseudo-démocratique et donc danger d'un gouvernement des hommes)
- à éduquer son esprit comme on le ferait, au mieux, pour celui d'un enfant
Contrairement à l'Emile qui finit en eau de boudin c'est-à-dire en stoïcien, Thoreau tire son originalité de la voie qu'il prend : celle d'une tempérance à nœud papillon (lyrique) parfois mal placée. Qui n'est pas d'accord sur le papier avec le caractère inutile du travail moderne ? Jeter des pierres d'un mur à l'autre et recommencer n'a plus rien à voir avec le fait de travailler "virilement et honnêtement" pour obtenir quelque chose d'autre qu'un salaire. Ah qu'il est beau mon portrait d'un marxiste acheté à Jardiland ! Mais non, Thoreau ne se fait ici critique du travail et de la patte de l'homme que dans ses travers dénaturant. Car Henry David croit dur comme fer à la possibilité d'une relation plus authentique (le beau mot) ou seule vraie aux paysages, aux rythmes des saisons, au décorum naturel. Décorum négatif, porte de sortie du rapport artificiel qu'impose aux choses et aux êtres la vie en société. Il croit aussi à une liberté hors des fers de la société galopante, liberté réduite à la solitude en société et à un jeu en forêt. Il croit à une nature humaine meilleure lorsqu'elle a re-mythifié la vie quotidienne. Cela n'empêche pas le bonhomme de se balader avec plaisir des deux côtés de la voie ferrée, voyageant en imagination depuis New York dans ces terrains enneigés et gagnant sa vie comme arpenteur (comme le narrateur du Château de Kafka tiens) ou conférencier. Reste l'exhortation à "laver les carreaux" de son esprit, à en nettoyer le sol des ordures journalistiques (bonsoir Nice) et de tout le bavardage qui sert de noyau à toutes les conversations. Thoreau semblait être heureux de ce grand remplacement de son mobilier mental. Mais rien de neuf sous le soleil, si l'on retire le barda transcendantaliste, c'est le mode de vie philosophique qui est conté.
(juillet)
- à descendre des grands chevaux de la "civilisation" occidentale (salariat, outrance de la propriété privée, ridicule de la politique pseudo-démocratique et donc danger d'un gouvernement des hommes)
- à éduquer son esprit comme on le ferait, au mieux, pour celui d'un enfant
Contrairement à l'Emile qui finit en eau de boudin c'est-à-dire en stoïcien, Thoreau tire son originalité de la voie qu'il prend : celle d'une tempérance à nœud papillon (lyrique) parfois mal placée. Qui n'est pas d'accord sur le papier avec le caractère inutile du travail moderne ? Jeter des pierres d'un mur à l'autre et recommencer n'a plus rien à voir avec le fait de travailler "virilement et honnêtement" pour obtenir quelque chose d'autre qu'un salaire. Ah qu'il est beau mon portrait d'un marxiste acheté à Jardiland ! Mais non, Thoreau ne se fait ici critique du travail et de la patte de l'homme que dans ses travers dénaturant. Car Henry David croit dur comme fer à la possibilité d'une relation plus authentique (le beau mot) ou seule vraie aux paysages, aux rythmes des saisons, au décorum naturel. Décorum négatif, porte de sortie du rapport artificiel qu'impose aux choses et aux êtres la vie en société. Il croit aussi à une liberté hors des fers de la société galopante, liberté réduite à la solitude en société et à un jeu en forêt. Il croit à une nature humaine meilleure lorsqu'elle a re-mythifié la vie quotidienne. Cela n'empêche pas le bonhomme de se balader avec plaisir des deux côtés de la voie ferrée, voyageant en imagination depuis New York dans ces terrains enneigés et gagnant sa vie comme arpenteur (comme le narrateur du Château de Kafka tiens) ou conférencier. Reste l'exhortation à "laver les carreaux" de son esprit, à en nettoyer le sol des ordures journalistiques (bonsoir Nice) et de tout le bavardage qui sert de noyau à toutes les conversations. Thoreau semblait être heureux de ce grand remplacement de son mobilier mental. Mais rien de neuf sous le soleil, si l'on retire le barda transcendantaliste, c'est le mode de vie philosophique qui est conté.
(juillet)
April 27, 2015
Resonates rare determination, very alluring yet easy to identify with -- "This world is a place of business. What an infinite bustle!... It interrupts my dreams. There is no sabbath. It would be glorious to see mankind at leisure for once. It is nothing but work, work, work. I cannot easily buy a blank-book to write thoughts in; they are commonly ruled for dollars and cents.... If a man was tossed out of a window when an infant, and so made a cripple for life, or scared out of his wits by the Indians , it is regretted chiefly because he was thus incapacitated for -- business! I think that there is nothing, not even crime, more opposed to poetry, to philosophy, ay, to life itself, than this incessant business.
There is a coarse and boisterous moneymaking fellow in the outskirts of our town, who is going to build a bankwall... and he wishes me to spend three weeks there digging with him. The result will be that he will perhaps get some more money to hoard, and leave for his heirs to spend foolishly. If I do this, most will commend me as an industrious and hardworking man; but if I choose to devote myself to certain labors which yield more real profit, though but little money, they may be inclined to look on me as an idler. Nevertheless, as I do not need the police of meaningless labor to regulate me.... I prefer to finish my education at a different school."
There is a coarse and boisterous moneymaking fellow in the outskirts of our town, who is going to build a bankwall... and he wishes me to spend three weeks there digging with him. The result will be that he will perhaps get some more money to hoard, and leave for his heirs to spend foolishly. If I do this, most will commend me as an industrious and hardworking man; but if I choose to devote myself to certain labors which yield more real profit, though but little money, they may be inclined to look on me as an idler. Nevertheless, as I do not need the police of meaningless labor to regulate me.... I prefer to finish my education at a different school."
June 20, 2020
Thoreau nos adentra en parte de su pensamiento con una lección muy clara: La única vida que merece la pena vivir es la vida que uno elige, y no la que marque la sociedad en la que vivas. Añade además, muy acertadamente (de forma estoica se podría decir), que dedicar la mente a cuestiones banales solo te aparta del que debería ser el fin más elevado de un ser humano: el saber. Henry tuvo el coraje de dedicarse a lo que verdaderamente le cultivaba el alma y a vivir en armonía con la naturaleza. No tuvo mejor premio en vida.
Leer a este pensador nunca deja indiferente. A pesar de errores de traducción en esta edición, el contenido es ameno, de fácil lectura y se lee en poco más de una hora si te detienes en ciertos párrafos. Lo recomiendo encarecidamente.
Leer a este pensador nunca deja indiferente. A pesar de errores de traducción en esta edición, el contenido es ameno, de fácil lectura y se lee en poco más de una hora si te detienes en ciertos párrafos. Lo recomiendo encarecidamente.
February 13, 2016
"We do not worship truth, but the reflection of truth; because w are warped and narrowed by an exclusive devotion to trade and commerce...which are the means and not the end"
"We must endeavor how to make a living not merely holiest and honorable, but altogether inviting and glorious; for if getting a living is not so, then living is not"
If an apple a day keeps the doctor away, then a daily page of Thoreau or Emerson will flush the consumer out of your system.
"We must endeavor how to make a living not merely holiest and honorable, but altogether inviting and glorious; for if getting a living is not so, then living is not"
If an apple a day keeps the doctor away, then a daily page of Thoreau or Emerson will flush the consumer out of your system.
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