As I continue my reading through Walden, I struggle with words and phrases Thoreau uses to describe what he is saying. My first thought is that this is just a difference in era, but he points to it being something deeper. Thoreau suggests that depth feels foreign when culture becomes shallow. He wasn’t saying this to degrade other people, but to show how society was heading in the wrong direction. This brings us to Thoreau’s main concept in this chapter: what does it mean to become a deeper human being capable of understanding deeper language?
Thoreau believed that every human should live a life of learning, watching, and growing. Contrast this with the people of his own era, and even our current era. We live fast-paced lives that focus on to‑do lists, toxic productivity, and people/books that just tickle our ears instead of providing information and reflection that provokes us to look deeper into the meaning of life. I see this contrast in my own life as I’ve shifted from being fast‑paced to slowing down and making sure I understand what I am reading. I wanted to fully understand where Thoreau was coming from and what he meant.
Thoreau also believed that truth was immortal, as it surpasses time and is relevant throughout the ages. When one finds truth, they are able to touch immortality by living it out in their daily lives. But what Thoreau observed in his society was gossip, noise, and shallow speech. He is creating a difference between what he sees as lasting forever and what he sees as vapor that floats away the moment it is spoken. One helps build people up; the other is useless.
He believed that a society that does not think deeply will forget how to think deeply. Deep insight will become foreign, and people will not be able to find the “marrow” (the most nourishing part of the bone) of what they are reading. We see this mirrored in our own society, as some people wonder where critical thinking has gone. They sense something missing that was there before, which should make us wonder what the cause is behind this. That is what reflective reading and thinking is about: finding truth and following it.
An interesting point in the book is that wisdom is not just learned; it is grown into. I always thought wisdom was something you had to earn or learn from life, and I’m not saying I was completely wrong on that, but Thoreau points to it being much more than that. He called wisdom the “father tongue,” and he believed that one cannot read this type of language unless they become a deeper human being. I see this play out as I continue my journey through Thoreau, by slowing down and looking words up when I don’t understand them. His words are meant to be felt, not skimmed over.
There are more points that Thoreau makes in this chapter that I will omit, and encourage the reader to find them on their own. Read, wrestle with the words, suck the marrow out of them, and find the meaning behind Thoreau’s desire to write Walden.
If we are willing to become deeper people, the “father tongue” is still there, waiting to be understood. The next chapter continues that journey.
Mimic Nature 