I liked how Emerson’s ideologies showed through in Thoreau’s writing; his writing exuded a sort of spiritual/meditative reflection on how better live out one’s life. One of my favorite quotes from the reading ended up being "nature is the opposite of the soul". It was intriguing how he could find pleasure in the act of simple, life-preserving tasks, such as, chopping wood for material to build his house with or taking a plain meal for lunch among the wood chips. I think it’s even more intriguing that Thoreau felt calm and got a sense of tranquility from building his house, especially after reading his exploration on the purpose of a house; his inquires on this is what struck me the most, while reading. He delves into why are we so focused on furnishing and cleaning our homes, and in the process making them bigger and better, instead of going outside and living; Thoreau makes a humorous comment about how there is no dust on grass that seemed to sum up this notion of living and taking in the world we live in to the fullest, instead of focusing on gathering more and more material possessions to collect dust. I also liked his idea on how books are noble and how they are "best of things, well used; abused, among the worst." He adds that they always look backward and not forward, and that genius always looks forward.
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