Rainy Days

I found it hard the last few days to take my solitary walk because of the massive amounts of rain that we have had. Fortunately, last night was a goegous night out and I felt it the perfect time to take a walk. Even though the ground was still wet and a light sprinkle would come every so often, I found it to be one of the most relaxing, serene walks I've taken in a long time. The great thing about the night is that it's mysterious and dark and there are many things that you seem to miss that you wouldn't normally. I think that this also makes you notice things more because you're a little more alert than normal. I guess it really depends on the person that you are. For me, walking last night really made me pay attention to the things that I couldn't really see. I found that in walking by tree lines and dark streets, I was drawn to look down them and really try to figure out what was hiding in the darkness. What really came to my attention was the eeriness sourrounding the darkness and really got me thinking about the idea that there are so many things about our life in which we cannot answer, things that remain in the darkness and although we search and search, a lot of times, there is no answer to be found. Another thing that I really took notice to were all of the stars in the sky. I know, it sort of sounds cliche to think of the stars as guiding lights or things to look to, but to me, they seem to represent some sort of line between the mortal world and what we think or hope comes after. We always think of the sky as some sort of gateway to heaven or afterlife (whichever you prefer to believe), but in all it's vastness, we tend not to be able to comprehend something so great as an eternity or the absence of time. In a way, the stars become this reminder that there is something else out there and by being able to see them as humans, I feel that we find some sort of comfort and are able to ground ourselves and have faith in the unknown, even though we can't see it or feel it.

So I suppose you're wondering how I tied this all into Thoreau. I found the ending of Walden to be incrediably insightful, full of philisophy and metaphors. The parts that really stood out to me was when Thoreau chose to discuss the depth of Walden pond and how he, at one point, thought it to be bottomless. Out of curiosity (I'm guessing), Thoreau decides to measure the depth of the pond, and even after finding a depth, still feels that there is a degree of mysteriousness about what lies under the surface when he writes, "I am thankful that this pond was made deep and pure for a symbol. While men believe in the infinite some ponds will be thought to be bottomless" (pg. 269). If we think of Thoreau's curiosity as a means to find an answer, his search for the depth of the pond is like man searching for answers to "the infinitie" or what comes after this life. Because we usually can't see down to the bottom of bodies of water, it is easy to think how they could be considered bottomless, in the same way that because we can't see what comes after we die or what is beyond the sky, that our search for reasoning becomes merky and most times, unanswerable, in a way remaining "bottomless" like the pond. Thoreau asks, "What if all ponds were shallow?" (pg. 269). If this were the case, there would be no reason to go searching for the depth, same as if heaven or afterlife could been seen or understood now, there would be no reason to go looking for it or try to make sense of it. This passage becomes a sort of metaphor for the way in which we as humans search for answers and sometimes, there are things that remain in the darkness, things that are unanswerable. From here, Thoreau uses water again as a metaphor, claiming that, "the life in us is like the water in a river" (pg. 311). I find this even more interesting because it furthers the idea of water as a metaphor. We are constantly changing and having periods of good and bad and we move with time, the same way that a river is constantly moving and changing, sometimes for the good and sometimes for the bad. I find it most interesting that Thoreau chose to use a river rather than a pond in this passage because a river is constantly moving, whereas a pond is moving, but the bulk of it is stationary to a specific area. The pond represents an unchanging place where time doesn't matter, whereas the river represents time and the movement that comes along with it. I don't find this passage as deep as the previous, however, I find it most intriguing that Thoreau uses these two bodies of water to try and explain two concepts that we have perhaps the hardest time grasping; the afterlife and fate of human existance and the passage of time.