God himself culminates in the present moment, and will never be more divine in the lapse of all the ages. all these times and places and occasions are now and here. We tend to 'esteem truth remote, in the outskirts of the system, behind the farthest star.' But, as the author writes in 'Where I Lived, and What I Lived For': He encourages the reader to begin right now. on the chart,' regardless of whether it proves to be good or bad, to investigate the 'continents and seas in the moral world to which every man is an isthmus or an inlet.' Actual voyages of exploration and discovery pale by comparison to the journey inward and upward. In the 'Conclusion,' Thoreau urges us to seek 'our own interior. The ultimate goal of the author's experiment at Walden is not to prove the economic advantage of living simply, but rather to nurture understanding of self and of the universe. I know of no more encouraging fact than the unquestionable ability of man to elevate his life by a conscious endeavor. by an infinite expectation of the dawn, which does not forsake us in our soundest sleep. We must learn to reawaken and keep ourselves awake. concealed even under what are called the games and amusements of mankind.' In 'Where I Lived, and What I Lived For,' he advises self-improvement, the cultivation of our intellectual and spiritual needs: He recognizes the pervasive malaise that results from society's suppression of what we might be - the 'stereotyped but unconscious despair. He points out the forces that dull and subjugate the inner man, materialism and constant labor in particular. He distinguishes between the outer man - the ephemeral physical being that 'is soon ploughed into the soil for compost,' and the inner man. In 'Economy,' Thoreau explains his purpose in going to live at the pond. It has peaks and valleys, periods of latency as well as of inspired perception. Walden chronicles spiritual growth, but the progress of this growth is not linear. He focuses on the search itself and the compelling need to make it. He does not - cannot - spell out for the reader the spiritual truth that lies at the end of the journey. Thoreau recounts his personal quest to demonstrate to his readers the possibility of surmounting the obstacles that materialistic society places in the path of the individual. Walden is, above all, the account of Thoreau's own exploration of his capabilities and his search for spiritual understanding. Thoreau's 'A Week on the Concord and Merrimack Rivers'.Selected Chronology of Thoreau's Writings.

Emerson's 'The Divinity School Address'.Selective Chronology of Emerson's Writings.Forms of Expressing Transcendental Philosophy.

Walden thoreau