Iconoclastic Individualism - Henry David Thoreau (part 1)

[Phanerozoic1]

"Like winds and sunsets, wild things were taken for granted until progress began to do away with them. Now we face the question whether a still higher 'standard of living' is worth its cost in things natural, wild, and free. For us of the minority, the opportunity to see geese is more important than television, and the chance to find a pasque-flower is a right as inalienable as free speech."

- Henry David Thoreau

Incredible man.

[telltalemse]

I recently published my book and if you're into Thoreau's messages about humanity, or his piece "Walking" or other writers like Gibran, or Orwell, you will most probably enjoy the messages in my poetry too. Specifically those of Part 1, and Part 3. I would appreciate it so much if you could take a second to check it out...

htt ps: // ww w. createspace. com /3675787

[HobbesTamThanh]

Enjoy his writing, but individualism is the disease of the modern world.

[b3n1614]

I appreciate this!

[Phanerozoic1]

@b3n1614

Jolly good.

[uprightking]

Looks like a his head is laying on a nest, pretty ballsy beard.

[SPARTAIN088]

LOL his beard looks fake

[CaptionMode]

Thumbs Up If RayWilliamJohnson Brought You Here

[142vids]

@CaptionMode thumbs up if you are learning something

[DystopianUtopia]

@CaptionMode

how?

[mepaleoindian]

"Unchained from the constraints of external influence the individual retains governance over him or herself to develop freely in thought and direction, independently" -indigenousman

[ouluvme2]

Explain the reference of "not doing the Crev Coeur (sp) not zipping West".

What is this about? I get the overall point but elaborate please.

[trentspirit1]

Thoreau was a genius!

[Thoreau4ever]

Now if only more people could be educated about such Truth. It's sad to see society's affect on ignorance. I honestly believe that if Thoreau's *artful* ideas were spread, countless problems would be solved. We need to learn to let go of our influences and just *be*.

[Shadapaga]

amazing lecture, truly life changing.

[annieandrun]

beautiful

[rabino3]

truth



[MrSkate4weed]

I think by myself but not for myself...

[ric0211]

thank you for this great video

[NonHereGetsOutAlive]

In my opinion, Thoreau is among the greatest writers ever.

"There are nine hundred and ninety-nine patrons of virtue to one virtuous man."

-Thoreau

[essex216]

"We the people" are now under the total control of a government and court system run by a handful of politicians- left and right - we must find a leader who will declare ALL political parties unlawful and disband them - giving rise to the individual office seekers who can raise no more than $100 per registered voter in their respective races and no one else!

[rspaulding]

This voice sounds VERY familiar.. almost like Bill Mahr.. or Wallace Shawn.. anyone know who?

[TonyTritone]

@rspaulding he also sounds allot like bill cooper.

[um22w22]

I wish you were my teacher!

[TheGlass50]

Thanks for posting this..I'm connecting with nature and I've never felt so right and free. It's helped to make a humanist...

[Jags2468]

The best things in life are not things at all.

[UpasanaKaDasi]

me and him both.

[myersjohn1974]

maybe our government should take notes. what the irony is our government was founded and the reasons for our freedom was to have freedom from foreign country. taxes was the main reason. We are doing the same things to ourselves.

[timwsc]

Many errors! I don't believe you ever studied Thoreau!

[Omar1487]

Is this Danielle pipe reading this?

[MemeScythe]

@Omar1487

[LaGranLibertaria]

limpegno del voto dunque, non va mai oltre quello della convenienza. Perfino votare per il giusto è non fare niente per esso. E solo un modo di manifestare debolmente agli uomini il nostro desiderio che il giusto prevalga. Un uomo saggio non lascerà il giusto alla mercé del caso, né desidera che esso prevalga attraverso il potere della maggioranza.

Cè ben poca virtù nellazione delle masse Disobbedienza Civile H.D Thoreau

[LaGranLibertaria]

limpegno del voto dunque, non va mai oltre quello della convenienza. Perfino votare per il giusto è non fare niente per esso. E solo un modo di manifestare debolmente agli uomini il nostro desiderio che il giusto prevalga. Un uomo saggio non lascerà il giusto alla mercé del caso, né desidera che esso prevalga attraverso il potere della maggioranza.

Cè ben poca virtù nellazione delle masse H.D. Thoreau

[LaGranLibertaria]

la legge non ha mai reso gli uomini più giusti, neppure di poco; anzi, a causa del rispetto della legge, perfino le persone oneste sono quotidianamente trasformate in agenti dellingiustizia

[leesard17]

I could do without such a thorough detail of the wildlife around him and the exact manner in which he ploughed his beans, but his philosophy is sublime.

I'm tempted to quit college and live out in the wild, reading and re-reading philosophy and the classics.

College is an obligation and when I have fulfilled it, I will flee to the mountains.

[Raford146]

you sound like Chris McCandless.

[leesard17]

Thats the kid who went up to Alaska, isnt it?

Heard about his story, what an inspiration!

I've just about had enough with society and materialism and all these obligations. I suppose, I hear another drummer:)

[solarcabin]

Visit my solarcabin videos when you are ready to do that.

[jaredsalzano]

@leesard17 me as well

[tokatharma]

greetings from revolutionary GREECE..

[Msoolala]

Tell us what is happening there please. I am about to embark on a civil disobedience campaign - I have already put the banks and the credit cards companies in a spin...

[tokatharma]

@Msoolala The government here fuck it up already, they r trying to raise the consumption in the market at the same time reducing deficits. i dont know where it can lead us.

[tokatharma]

@Msoolala what about the campaign can you give any info?

[tristramshandy3]

thoreau would have LOVED Southern Utah and its five national parks.

I guess I will just have to enjoy it for him :)

[ApronFlowers]

I typed in individualism and up popped HD Thoreau,i hadnt heard of him before now but i think he would have a few things to say about how we simply live in our natural surroundings today.Freedom only exists in the mind and maybe he needed to go to prison for the day to understand that.Nothing as improved since the day he died we still live an unjust state therefor i conclude that nothing is going to get better reguardless of what anyone says.Thankyou and goodbye....

[tristramshandy3]

some things have improved. there are no longer debtor prisons- women and children no longer slave for 12 hours a day in dirty factories.

people HAVE and will CONTINUE TO make a difference in the world.

Have a nice day. read Walden- it's fantastic.

[ApronFlowers]

I understand what you say about things having improved but yesterday i watched a video on youtube called

 "Nigeria security forces kill 'unarmed civilians' you should watch it if you havent seen it because if things like that are still happening i cant see change,not change that is needed anyway.Iconoclastic Individualism im sure it as its place in all this somewhere....

I will checkout Walden and thankyou for your reply and you have a nice day also....

[PreservingLiberty]

Thoreau and Emerson, transcendentalists like them have reinvigorated the spirit of the individual. I truly appreciate knowing that it only takes me to be free.

[fakeman345]

There is a policeman inside all our heads,

he must be destroyed...

Freedom is only possible through a detachment from all previous systems and organizations of thought.

No one can tell u how to achieve freedom -- only u can figure that out.

When ur mind is free you will be surprised how foolish & completely unnecessary many 'essentials' actually are.

A truly free individual is the most powerful force of change on this planet; and also the largest threat to all standing institutions.

[dunngar]

aint no policeman in my head.. there'd have to be 187 in this cranium on that biatch if there was

[ilovejohnnydepp2010]

I have always loved Thoreu. So much food for thought in his writings. There is a new author that I just discovered. Andrew London. Critics are comparing him to Hemingway, but he reminds me more of Thoreau.

[ThoughtXdMyMind]

Individuation: "In general, it is the process by which individual beings are formed and differentiated"

In other words, labeled for processing.

[chrisny15]

disobedience is truly a brilliant defense against any authority, however we must overcome the fear that has been placed down on us from the false beliefs about authority itself to find ourselevs courageous enough to engage in disobedience

[ZatSpazz]

Awesome video

[KeybladeWielder6584]

May I ask who is speaking in the video and who made the video so I can have an accurate citation of it?

[TSM8088]

Simplicity. May we all find our Walden.

[Ashiman12]

The price of freedom is eternal vigilance, and that means standing up and speaking out against injustice, authoritarian government, needless warfare, etc.

[rbpolsen]

As much as I agree with you, I must say that the powers that be are in no position to loose the control they hold...

[tristramshandy3]

of course they are. power is the most elusive, slippery substance on the planet.

I am sure people thought the french nobility was untouchable in 1780. By 1789- they were being summarily executed.

[catgumart]

You need to be able to speak out against any form of authority..the government, the rich, the powerful, parents, siblings, friends, spouses, family, any type of repressive or oppressive force...

[definemaybe]

Thoreau weened me off of Capitalism as a kid. Thank God for my poverty of worldly things

[daizee106]

@definemaybe Beautiful Comment

[InfantryFodder93]

@definemaybe We all need to learn what Hardship means.

[DackBev]

@definemaybe Thoreau was for laissez-faire capitalism.

[Willredd94]

@definemaybe What the heck? Mr. Thoreau opposed any form of collectivism and he hated egalitarianism. The two basic concepts in socialism and planned economies. If anything, Mr Thoreau shouldve made you a laissez-fairre capitalist with strong moral leanings, opposed to corruption and materialism/

[ErikNorseman]

@Willredd94 Henry David Thoreau (and Thomas Jefferson for that matter) were strongly in favor of agrarianism however, while laissez-faire capitalists tend to favor industrialisation and consumerism, which agrarians loathe.

[Willredd94]

@ErikNorseman I agree.

[TMaw345]

@definemaybe What does capitalism have to do his philosophy? He's not unwilling to pay/trade for items or services received; he's unwilling to pay the tax on those items to support a government he disagrees with. Capitalism is about private profit and private loss - investing money in return for a product; a product who's value is decided by society or a single person.

And if you want to find out more about capitalism, try researching an Austrian economist.

[quetzalamaru]

We just can't call our selves freedom fighters or the good-guys because we are told so. We can celebrate freedom by challenging unjust and immoral authority at home before we head out and campaign for freedom to the world. It is a in deed a duty to do so in honor of those that have sacrificed their lives, for us; they have kept the candle lit for the safe keeping of that inconceivable dream.

[quetzalamaru]

The most American thing a person can do is speak out and proclaim the right to disagree with what the government is doing.

[signofthehammer]

I would say the most human thing a person can do

[treemania]

thats such a novel idea...we shouldn't have to pay taxes for things we don't want.

[jimmerly]

A detail: Walden Pond is not really near Boston, it's a walk from Concorde, Mass. Concorde was Emerson's and Thoreau's home town. Thoreau is so clear about his life-long relationship to this small town that it's odd that the speaker doesn't know or note this. To Thoreau, Boston was a quite distant metropolis..

[sheepblitzer]

i dont think the extension of slavery is the only reason he opposed the war with mexico. it was also an aggressive, expansionist war that he saw as unjust.

[deritpeehs]

to me hd thoreau is a hero and always will be. too bad the Godless mafia can't stand him.

[Yoetah]

Very good listen.

Have we as a race traveled just far enough away from our original nature that being led further from our "origins" is far too easy for those who'd have us "believe" we're tethered to a post?

("Believe" is KEY here-perception is everything}

"TV tell me what to do, what to say, what to wear, what to think!" It's NATURAL to be selfish.

"Acting" self-less takes much effort and hard to sustain "puttin' on the ritz."

Hmmm aren't I the selfish one?

[Yoetah]

"For I have sworn upon the altar of god,

eternal hostility against every form of tyranny over the mind of man.

But this is all they have to fear from me: & enough too in their opinion, & this is the cause of their printing lying pamphlets against me, forging conversations for me with Mazzei, Bishop Madison,

&c., which are absolute falsehoods without a circumstance of truth to rest on; falsehoods, too, of which I acquit Mazzei & Bishop Madison, for they are men of truth.

-Thomas Jefferson-

[TheAmericanEvolution]

Nice job - check out these ideas on TheAmericanEvolution. Warm wishes, Connie Baxter Marlow

[MrDuffy81]

I do not believe in "ISMs"; I believe in Everything.

[vegnagunL]

then its "everythingism"

[MrDuffy81]

Read the explaination on the right hand side of my channel, if you please.

ISM seperate and divide.

ISMs manipulate your logic.

ISMs are the anti truth.

[vegnagunL]

You are not wrong, but "isms" so to speak are not the problem, "thinking" is its source..

memories are recorded by the mind as we experience the world, the flow of this memories is what we call "thinking", and since this experience is limited, memories are limited, so thinking and everything created by it also is, thats why ,like you said, there always higher mountais to climb...

[sheepblitzer]

the problem with "ISMs" is they often become merely a label for someone or something.

once a label is established it can be applied to anything or anyone. it can be applied where it doesnt make sense or not be applied where it does. the label, just a WORD, becomes detatched from the original MEANING.

this is also true with words that dont end in "ISM"

[vegnagunL]

Well, this happend to most of our words in many languages. The problems is that people try to hold on words, forgetting that they only are vessels of meanings, they are a symbol, far from the real thing.

With this in mind, you can understand that in the moment you choose a "ground" to fight for, you are wrong.

[MrDuffy81]

I mean the left! LOL

[Matey3]

Thanks very much for the post/upload.

I love this guy, he thinks just like me in a lot of matters. (well I guess I think like him since he was here first) But I never knew any thing about him until some one told me his name and I just found it by google.

I want to read/learn more about his ideas tho. I bet these New World disOdor idiots cant stand him!? Or he'd be as famous as darwin!(or other clowns oops I mean authors on "Their" payroll)!

Thanks again, I am enjoying this video very much!

[veginater]

Thanks to you im going to get an A, thanks

[BrutusCass]

We must always analyse that which we think is best, this will always take us forward. If we are not capable of critical thought then we are doomed to following a second best acceptance society.

[gothicadada098]

he is such an ambitious person,on a very personal level.

[poopyfour]

blah blah blah stop calling Thoreau a liberal. his politics are not comparable to ours today. just concentrate on how much we can learn from him plz!

[aewester]

And liberalism is not concerned with modern U.S. politics either. Thoreau was, indeed, a classical liberal. Clearly. He believed in the freedom of the individual. Hence, classical liberalism.

Modern U.S. politics have bastardized and perverted nearly all political terms, theories and concepts. For instance, modern "libertarians" are pro-capitalist, but almost everywhere else in the world, and here until the mid 1900's, "libertarian" was synonymous with "anarchist", which meant anti-capitalist.

[mcmilr]

how can i watch the video

[benngarcia]

Omar you are exactly right. If you read Father Le Clercq essay "You tell us France is an Earthly Paradise" you will see that you are right. We are trying to become what Natives already were.

[OmarThePug]

Wow...it took hundreds of years of Europeans and empire and fighting to create one American Indian!?  Wow! That says a lot about Indians...er, (American) Indians. Those no named masses of people who occupied North America.

[SEATTLEGRL1]

Thoreau was considered a naturalist NOT just a nature writer "cosmanthony21".

[SEATTLEGRL1]

I could listen to lectures about Thoreau all day. An intriguing naturalist and writer.

[cosmanthony21]

nature writer

[ElsieMaze]

same here

[ElsieMaze]

same here

[ataraxia151]

From 'On the Duty of Civil Disobedience'- "that government is best which governs not at all". Thoreau was a libertarian, not a liberal in today's sense of the word. For more, find a copy of F. Bastiat's 'The Law'.

[aewester]

Thoreau was only a libertarian in modern America's sense of the word...

[dfmrrd]

Mahatma Gandhi was greatly influenced by Henry Thoreau book and essay; "Walden" and "Civil Disobedience".

[rebpharoh]

great work my friend.

[citizenwangpeng]

Again, thanks for posting this excellent presentation on Thoreau. I don't agree with all of Thoreau. But his work is inspiring and brings me hope in resisting the group-think in our society. Who is the presenter?

[MemeScythe]

Thanks

the presenter is Joseph F. Kobylka

[citizenwangpeng]

Thank you

[PiperAtTheGates1967]

This is very well done. Thank you for putting it up.

[campusguy]

awesome, thanks!!

[Gu3rr1lla]

Thanks for these!!!!!!!!!! Henry David Thoreau is my hero!!!!!!!

[MemeScythe]

thanks for your comments folks :)

[iweirjkdkfmk]

@MemeScythe Hello , can you write subtitles under video when you wrote his bigraphy?

[riley501111]

Thanks for sharing this video. I enjoyed this and your others, and hope you continue adding more.

[ihateyotube11]

Great video. Thanks for uploading.