The Noble Experiment: Henry D. Thoreau

The noble experiment!

Henry D. Thoreau believed the only necessities of life were food, clothing, shelter, and fuel (Thoreau, 11.)[i] Although he conducted his great experiment to prove this theory in 1845, could we survive today on Thoreau’s base necessities and would we be happier if we did? In his book Walden, Thoreau describes life in a home that he built himself at Walden Pond, where he remained for two years and two months, away from the luxuries of civilization. Thoreau hoped to prove in order to get more out of life we needed less. One can agree that physical survival is dependent on Thoreau’s base necessities. However, to survive emotionally, to be happy, and to reach “self-actualization” as defined in “Abraham Maslow’s hierarchy
“To the bison of the prairie it is a few inches of palatable grass, with water to drink; unless he seeks the shelter of the forest or the mountain’s shadow. None of the brute creation require more than Food and Shelter.” (Thoreau, 11)[iii] What Thoreau does not mention is that even in nature there are more needs than this. The bison also requires companionship from its fellow bison and the security of family. The bison have their own pecking order in which every bison have a place. The warmth and proximity of fellow bison in the heard provides “heat” to the bison and protection from predators. While true that the bison will occasionally wander away from the heard in search of food, it never strays too far, which would put itself in a situation of danger and leave itself open for attack. Man is no different. Humans also require the “heat” of others to be truly happy, the warm friendly smile of a good friend, the sultry, incandescence of a passionate lover and the sweltering love of a child, which all serve to ignite the fire in our souls. Although humans have no natural predators we are our own enemy and therefore create herds or families to protect ourselves from ourselves in the shelter of love and nurturing. Thoreau himself left Walden Pond several times in need of the companionship of
It is this increase in our capacity for knowledge along with the drive for survival which fuels the need to become better that the animal next to us. It allows us to use our cleverness to create new and better ways of doing things. This innate propensity for creativity makes society better as a whole. Inventing new industrious ways to make work easier makes it easier to compete. While anyone can agree with Thoreau that many individuals are lost in the so called rat race of society it is only because the cheese that moves humankind through the maze is the wrong motivator. When I refer to the rat race I mean people’s drive to work to get money to buy things to be better than the neighbor next to him. Thoreau believed the cheese in the maze of life for humans is monetary gain and believed as a society we should instead seek to become self actualized. However his experiment had little impact because just as it was in 1845 when Thoreau conducted his experiment, in today’s society people go to school to gain knowledge in order to make more money. Without employing the radical steps Thoreau took, there needs to be a shift in society aimed at gaining knowledge to better mankind as a whole, to increase comfort, and to learn the secrets that are out there in the ether of space. Unfortunately at this time there is no greater motivator for society than the almighty dollar. Therefore the