“Let us consider the way in which we spend our lives” Henry Thoreau once wrote in his essay “Life Without Principle”. That is what he did every day of his life, urging other people to do the same. He asked — in his journals, published essays, and the book Walden — penetrating, provocative questions that still challenge us to confront our own lifestyles and choices. You may disagree with his sometimes-acerbic observations, but his inquiries are hard to ignore — we are still searching for the answers. Using excerpts from Thoreauʼs writings, we will explore six of these questions with historical context and readings provided by the instructor. Part of each session will be a conversation applying these questions to our own lives in 2022.
1. What does it mean to be truly awake?
2. What does it mean to live deliberately?
3. What does it mean to be wild and free?
4. What does mean to live a principled life in society?
5. What does it mean to live a principled life in nature?
6. What does it mean to be Henry Thoreau? To be You?
Instructor Jayne Gordon is VP of Coastal Senior College, and a member of the Curriculum and Activities Committees, coordinating the Brown Bag lunchtime series. She has taught courses on Thoreau and Antislavery, Fact and Fiction in Little Women, and Transcendentalism and Education Reform. She has also taught four courses on Maine history and literature. Jayne lived in Concord, MA for close to a half century before moving to Damariscotta four years ago. She retired as Director of Education and Public Programs of the Massachusetts Historical Society, and before that was Executive Director of the Thoreau Society and of the Alcottsʼ Orchard House, and Director of Education at the Concord Museum. She has led countless classes, courses, workshops, and walks focusing on the world of Henry Thoreau. She is on the Board of Directors of the Thoreau Society, chairing the Education Committee.
Photograph from National Portrait Gallery, Smithsonian Institution, Washington
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