It is an attitude Thoreau would have applauded. As he notes in his journals, “Sometimes, in a summer morning, having taken my accustomed bath, I sat in my sunny doorway from sunrise till noon, rapt in a reverie, amidst the pines and hickories and sumacs, in undisturbed solitude and stillness, while the birds sang around. I grew in those seasons like corn in the night, and they were far better than any work of the hands would have been. They were not time subtracted from my life, but so much over and above my usual allowance.”
From sunrise to noon is a considerable stretch of time, especially at the height of summer. One cannot imagine a contemporary writer squandering even a fraction of those hours. But Thoreau had a tremendous capacity for patience, as his friend Emerson understood. “He knew how to sit immovable, a part of the rock he rested on, until the bird, the reptile, the fish, which retired from him, should come back and resume its habits, nay, moved by curiosity, should come to him and watch him.”
~ Christian McEwen, “Searching & Dreaming” in World Enough & Time
Notes:
- Photo – Trevor Loren Olsen
- Related Posts: Christian McEwen
If modern living allowed that level of observation your art would improve no end
No doubt!
Immovable…to the point where you are no longer a threat to the nature around you. Perfect. Thoreau got it right. ❤️
Yes. He got a lot right…
as much a part of nature as everything else around him.
Wonderful, David.
It is Jean, thank you.
Mmmm Thoreau. A favorite.:) Thanks for reminding me.
Sometimes tough to ramp it down and just sit quietly, but always rewarding…
Ahh yes … may we all aspire with the same patience and grace. 💛
Such a wise and grateful man. Grateful for him.