Sanctus Sanctorum: Thoreau's "Walking" and Pagan Philosophy

I have read several of of Henry Thoreau’s writings, and his insights never cease to amaze me.  Choosing a favorite would be an extremely difficult task, but of all of his works, I believe I identify most with the essay Walking.  This is perhaps because forested mountains are my favorite landscape, and indeed my Heart Home.  Or perhaps it is because, as a mythologist, a conversationalist and a syncretistic Christo-Pagan, I agree wholeheartedly with his assertion that humanity should not be fully cultivated or socialized, but should seek what he calls Beautiful Knowledge along with book knowledge.  We should experience our natural world and maintain our connection with our “vast, savage, howling mother.”

This “wild and dusky knowledge” is an important part of a Pagan philosophy.  In the uplifting, awe-inspiring and sometimes frightening realm of the outdoors, we experience the soul of creative energy and come face to face with our Mother.  In the rush and bustle of modern life, it is too easy to forget Her, too easy to become separated from nature, and to become disconnected from the part of ourselves hides in some wild corner of our minds.  We forget to take time to smell the roses.  We forget to throw that water bottle into the recycling bin rather than the trash.  We forget the sweet, sharp tang of ocean air, the careless music of a running stream, or the cool feeling of mud squeezed between our toes.  And those things are important.  As small as they are, they help to make us whole.

The Psychology of Nature, an article written by Jonah Lehrer and published in Wired Magazine last August, contains interesting illustrations of this.  In a study performed by Frances Kuo, the director of the Landscape and Human Health Laboratory at the University of Illinois, it was documented that women living in apartments with windows overlooking green space were psychologically healthier than women living in apartments overlooking buildings and parking lots.  The women were asked undergo several tests and take surveys intended to measure their emotional coping skills.  Those who had a daily view of nature ranked higher in all of the above.  Similarly, another study, this one conducted by Marc Berman at the University of Michigan, measured moods and psychological test scores of students.  All of them performed these tests shortly after taking a walk in either a busy city or an arboretum.  Those who had gotten a glimpse of nature before being tested had both better attitudes and noticeably healthier test scores.  It seems that even a brief foray into the wild world can enliven the mind.

Thoreau, I believe, innately understood the importance of such things.  He seemed to know, with that dusky and unfathomable knowledge he speaks about, that the mind and spirit both need to be refreshed by nature.  For, along with a comprehension of the mental benefits of the experiencing nature, he seems to have understood the sanctity of nature.  “When I seek to recreate myself, I seek the darkest woods… I enter a swamp as a sacred place– a sanctum sanctorum.”  Thoreau truly seems to have had the same reverence for the natural world shared by many Pagan faiths.

Those relative few who can truly appreciate the natural world were also accorded rightful honor in Thoreau’s mind.  “I have met but one or two persons in the course of my life who understood the art of Walking… Who had a genius, so to speak, for sauntering.”  He goes on the illustrate that the word sauntering is likely derived from one of two different terms involving an idle, meandering mode of walking– walking for the pleasure of it.  He compares Walkers to Knights Errant of old, and speaks of a separation from society and of a wild freedom that can only be found in nature.

Whether Thoreau realized it or not, this sanctification of the seemingly mundane is another thoroughly Pagan view.  Some people may have trouble understanding this nearly religious perception of pleasure walks, but to the Pagan mind it makes perfect sense.  Many of the belief systems lumped under the title “Pagan,” including Neo-Druidism, which is a part of my personal belief system, place importance on the idea that any act can be a sacred act.  Taking a morning jog, stirring one’s coffee, or even feeding the cat can become a sacred act if one takes the time to recognize the importance and meaning behind it.  Eating breakfast can be thought of as more than a quick bite of food to see one through until one’s lunch break.  It is the act of consuming formerly living things– plants, animals, bacteria, etc.– and making them a part of one’s own life.  In essence, it is the blending of another life force with one’s own.  Getting out of bed can become sacred of one recognizes placing one’s feet on the floor as being the first steps of the day.  Taking a moment at that point to decide consciously that those first steps will be taken with a good attitude which will be maintained throughout the day completes what could be considered a miniature ritual.

Thoreau seems to have understood Walking the same way, despite the fact that he wasn’t Pagan.  He knew nature, as well as the communal with it, were sacred things, and he embraced both wholly and fully.  He compares nature with the Holy Land sought by crusaders of old– not merely in the sense of the physical place, but in the sense of the sanctifying and uplifting experience many hoped they would receive there.  Drawing once again on his analogy of Walkers as Knights, he speaks of his own crusades into the wild lands, where he hopes to find a sort of enlightenment.

So we saunter toward the Holy Land, till one day the sun shall shine more brightly than ever he has done, shall perchance shine into our minds and hearts, and light up our whole lives with a great awakening light, as warm and serene and golden as one a bankside in autumn.

To an extent, I think it is safe to say that all of us experience a little piece of that each time we meander into a quiet, green, tree-filled space and embrace the  solemnity of Mother Earth.

Sources:

Lehrer, Jonah.  The Psychology of Nature. Wired Magazine, August 19 2010.  Web.

Thoreau, Henry.  Walking.  Arc Manor: Rockville MD, 2007.  Print.