Perhaps Thoreau remains relevant today because of, not despite, our increasing detachment from the natural world. In other words, we need our own “Walden” now more than ever.
“Do you have a favorite intimate place in Nature that you can go to for guidance, for sustenance?” Thorson asks rhetorically. “Where do you go to collect your wits? Because that’s what Thoreau’s Walden is all about. He goes there to collect his wits.”
Thorson believes you do not have to travel far to find such places. For him, it’s a small stream in the woods that flows between his house and the University of Connecticut campus, where he can pause and “take a deep breath” before starting his day.
Besides these daily doses of nature, other, grander sights replenish us. Thor-son is no stranger to Rhode Island, having lived on Jamestown for a few years, and one of his favorite spots is Sachuest Point in Middletown.
“It could be a tree you swung on as a kid,” he said. “For some people, it will be a hemlock grove.” The point is to find those “intimate places that are a part of our real lives,”
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