Emerson_and_Thoreau,_How_They_Would_View_My_Life

What would happen if you brought in infamous Henry David Thoreau and Ralph Waldo Emerson in the same room from their pasts and had them critique your life' Well, I believe that Thoreau and Emerson would highly disagree with the way I am living my life because I am living a complicated life, I do not question the ways of authority, and I aim to be well known as a hockey player. To start with, both Emerson and Thoreau would disagree with my abstruse life. Henry David Thoreau tests the ideas of Ralph Waldo Emerson about nature by living alone at Walden Pond. There he realizes that living simply upon nature deepens the mind, brings the soul up to its fullest potential, and influences the imagination to change our lives. Furthermore, in Nature, Emerson says, “Standing on the bare ground - my head bathed by the blithe air and uplifted into infinite space - all mean egotism vanishes. I become a transparent eyeball”. In this point Emerson describes that a simple life creates deeper thoughts and one is able to see more clearly. In my complex life, four things take it up, eating, sleeping, studying and playing hockey. I wake up at 3:30 every morning, go to hockey practice, go to school, eat, and do homework until I fall asleep at around 8:00 PM, and it starts all over again. According to both philosophers, I should stop this life where I have no free time to develop my mind, my soul, and my imagination. Thoreau also says, “We do not ride on the railroad; it rides upon us”. This means that some things which we believe make our lives simpler actually make it more complicated. Both these men believe that in order to understand the meaning of life you must live simply. In summary, both these wise men would tell me to live a simpler life in order to develop my mind, soul, and imagination, “Nothing is more sacred than the integrity of your own mind.”- Emerson. Not only would they ask me to live a simpler life, but they would also ask me to question my complicated one. To end with, Emerson would attempt to steer me away from perusing my dream of becoming a professional hockey player. Emerson views greatness differently from me and society. We see greatness as a way of happiness and exhilaration. However, Emerson views things differently, “Crossing a bare common, in snow puddles, at twilight, under a clouded sky, without having my thoughts any occurrence of special good fortune, I have enjoyed a perfect exhilaration.” In this we see that Emerson does not believe that greatness brings happiness, be believes that living amongst nature does. Living a simple life fueled from nature brings happiness. “To be great is to be misunderstood…” as Emerson says. “What I must do is all that concerns me, not what the people think… you will always find those who think they know what is your duty better than you know it.” Here Emerson explains the negatives of fame, how society will always misinterpret your actions. “Is it so bad to be misunderstood' Pythagoras was misunderstood, and Socrates, and Jesus, and Luther, and Copernicus, and Galileo, and Newton, and every pure and wise spirit that ever took flesh.” Here Emerson lists a number of great people, outlining his point that to be great is to be misunderstood, that it is more beneficial to live in solitude. “It is easy in the world to live after the world’s opinion; it is easy in solitude to live after your own; but the great man is he who in the midst of the crowd keeps with perfect sweetness the independence of solitude….” In summary, Emerson’s views of greatness greatly contradict my own, therefore leaving me with the question, is it worthwhile to be great if I will just be misunderstood'