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Walden
Pond: Then and Now I wished not to find solitude in Nature, but to lose myself in Nature. At my first glimpse of the pond, I was struck by the clarity of the water surrounded by an array of orange and yellow leaves composing the woods of Walden Pond. The beauty of the area was enthralling and I was eager to begin exploring the secluded place Henry David Thoreau had called home for two years during his notorious departure from the stresses of life's routine into the woods. My goal upon embarking on this journey to Walden Pond was to explore the woods with the intent of getting lost. I aimed to wander the woods as Thoreau might have done, thinking and pondering life's mysteries, and losing myself among the majestic trees. To accomplish my initial goal of getting lost in the woods, I first walked away from the beach and toward the edge of the woods. The trees formed one side of the path, and much to my dismay, a wire fence formed the other side. Eventually, the fence enclosed both sides of the path, separating me from the woods as well. I felt trapped in Nature rather than free to discover the beautiful woods at Walden Pond. Eventually, I found a break in the fence and walked up the path and into the forest. There, I hoped to find seclusion, but instead I found more barriers and neatly combed paths. The constraint imposed by the wire fences and the obvious placement of long logs on the ground to outline the path made it nearly impossible to accomplish what Thoreau felt was important for everyone to do in the Nature: get lost. During Thoreau's walks in the woods surrounding Walden Pond, he would often get lost. During these times, he found he did some of his best thinking. Thoreau felt as though "Not till we are lost in other words, not till we have lost the world do we begin to find ourselves, and realize what we are, and the infinite extent of our relations" (Thoreau, 136). When Thoreau spent his two years at Walden, he was free to delve as deep into the woods as he dared to venture because the man-made barriers did not exist. Thoreau was free to walk amongst the trees everyday for hours at a time, not only to exercise his body, but also to exercise his brain (lecture at Walden Pond). Trying to recover from my initial shock and disappointment of the restriction at Walden, I thought about Thoreau and what he may have thought about the impact of the wire fences on the woods he once inhabited. Perhaps Thoreau would have been disappointed at the lack of mobility at Walden, yet he may have also been disappointed that people were using his woods to discover themselves. Thoreau may have felt as though people should use his idea of losing oneself in nature to find their own woods in which they can discover and make new revelations. Another visitor of Walden Pond, Professor Jim Lang of Assumption College, felt as though "it [Walden] obviously serves an important historical function, but I think that historical function has eclipsed any possibility that it might serve as a place for people to commune with the natural world" (Lang, 2001). Walden was the perfect place for Thoreau to reflect on his life, but perhaps we need to find our own "Walden Pond" to reflect on our own lives. I found it nearly impossible to get lost in nature in Thoreau's woods. While walking in the woods, I was not content with remaining on beaten trails that had been discovered by the 500,000 visitors to Walden each year (Walden Pond State Reservation). I wished to get lost in the woods and thus discover my own little area of Walden. But by attempting to emulate his experience in his woods, I was setting myself up for disaster. It would be nearly impossible to find myself in someone else's woods and even more impossible at Walden, where wire fences and combed trails prohibit this. But by taking Thoreau's ideas, I can find my own woods to get lost in. Just by walking through a wooded plot of land, I may be able to get lost and thus find myself. Thoreau believed that, "In our most trivial walks we are constantly, though unconsciously, steering like pilots by certain well-known beacons and headlands, and if we go beyond our usual course we still carry our minds the bearing of some neighbouring cape; and not till we are completely lost, or turned round, for a man only need to be turned round once with his eyes shut in this world to be lost, - do we appreciate the vastness and strangeness of Nature". The groomed trails did not allow me the opportunity to take a wrong turn as Thoreau did. Thus I was unable to find myself lost and lose the ability to truly appreciate nature. Without the wire fence, I would be allowed the freedom to explore the woods as Thoreau did, without barriers. Yet, I discovered early in my visit to Walden this would be nearly impossible. Thus, in an effort to make the most of my experience at Walden, I sought to find a way I could lose myself in Thoreau's woods. In order to lose myself in the woods surrounding Walden Pond now, I had to put myself into Thoreau's mind. This nearly impossible venture led me to abandon my comfortable rock in the woods and set out to explore the pond. Standing at the edge of the sandbar, I stared out into the deep green water of Walden Pond. While it was possible to see the perimeter of the entire pond standing at one point, the feeling of confinement was much different than that of the forest. In the forest, the wire fences produced the feeling the trees were not infinite. While both the pond and the woods are clearly not infinite, the boundary of the pond is natural, therefore giving the notion that nature is infinite. Though the wire fences still exist, they remained to be unseen from this area of the pond, therefore the woods seemed to infinitely stretch into the distance and the notion that nature is continuous and extends forever was confirmed in my mind. Staring out into the mushroom-shaped body of water, the woods that line the perimeter are a reminder the pond is not infinite in length. The two canoes and two kayaks gliding across the water appear to be confined only to the diameter of the pond. Yet, if left to the imagination, the depth of the pond may be infinite. It is here that I was able to get lost in nature and thus uncover information about myself and about the world. Thoreau also felt as though the pond was a venue in which we could get lost in nature, "[he was] thankful that this pond was made deep and pure for a symbol. While men believe in the infinite, some ponds will be thought to be bottomless" (Thoreau, 227). Thoreau believed we should imagine the pond is infinitely deep and if we cannot, we would be just as shallow as the pond. The ability to imagine the depth of the pond extends forever is, in essence, getting lost in nature. Standing on the shore of the pond, I imagined pickerel, sunfish, and crayfish fluttering their transparent fins, swimming to the very depths of the pond as far as my imagination dared to take me. By losing myself in the imaginary depths of the pond, I was able to disconnect from the world, reconnect with nature, and uncover previously unknown facts about myself. While staring out into the infinite depths of the deep green water, I allowed myself the opportunity to get lost in nature. I realized that in my mind, I sometimes have a shallow perspective of life. This shallow perspective may be due to the fact that I usually do not take the time as Thoreau did and imagine that the pond is infinitely deep. In my life, this may apply to prejudging people I meet and not giving people the benefit of the doubt. Standing before the pond Thoreau had stood before over 100 years ago, I came to the realization that I should improve my shallow thinking in order to fully appreciate life. While I was not physically lost at Walden, I could take the time to reflect on my life and my surroundings. I found that by doing this, I was acting much in the same way as Thoreau had. I was finally able to understand that "Walden is both a closely circumscribed setting and also one of vast, unlimited extension" (Peck, 66). By using my imagination I was able to make an area that was initially perceived as small and finite seem limitless and unrestricted. Though I was using Thoreau's pond to find myself, it was possible because the depth of the pond and thus the depth of the insight into my inner self was left to my own imagination and was not limited to Thoreau's. I lost myself in nature, at least temporarily, and attempted to better understand myself. While it was not possible to lose myself in the forest as I had planned,
with a little thought and some reflection on Thoreau, I found I could
lose myself in depths of the pond and escape to my thoughts. I learned
that it is better to find my own woods to reflect in rather than someone
else's. While Walden Pond may not be the same place today as it was in
1847, it is still possible, with some thought and a little effort, to
see Walden as Thoreau did, a vehicle for free thought. The wire fences
may have prohibited me from enjoying the woods as I hoped, but the pond
provided me with the inspiration for which I had been searching. I left
the woods not only with a new reflection on myself as a person, but with
a new understanding of how to find what I need from Nature even when society
intrudes on the purity of the natural world.
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