Assignment 1

Compare and contrast these [...]  two perspectives. Are they contradictory or
complimentary?

The universe is lifeless now and will be lifeless then, so insignificant is our presence in it.

The presence of humans is unquestionable, humans exist. But how did we get there, where we are at? Who created this world we identify our-self with and reside one day after the other as directed? David Thoreau desired to escape this self-created Universe. Hence, Thoreau acted and isolated himself for 2 years and 2 month at an uninhabited place – an area, far away from the civilization, named Walden Pond. His time at Walden Pond is characterized through isolation, self-reliance and independence. Moreover he lived his life as simple as possible and minimized his expenses to the bare minimum. For instance he lived on a diet based solely on fruits and vegetables, all given by nature. Marilynne Robinson still believes on the existence of people living their life as Thoreau experimented, but those people are abominated by the rest of the society.

Our life is dedicated to labor. According to Robinson, labor is the coin to purchase prestige and gives our lives value. Furthermore, she claims that the society is not aware of the fact why they perform as they implement- they create value and start to judge their surroundings. Similarly to Thoreau, who shared this side of mind and tried to observe firsthand the reason for the particular behavior in dedicating some of his life time not to labor, but to himself. He lived at the bare minimum, but at the same time consumed life to the fullest.

Humans insist to own things, politics promise to maximize happiness and develop inventions as the atomic bomb due to increase power and wealth. However, humans establish wealth through hard labor most of their lifetime - labor done by depressing wages - according to Robinson this is the life of modern society. In contrast is Thoreau’s experiment; an example and demonstration of the inner freedom not depending on tokens, but rather through live without the urge to buy and own "valuable" things; value is created by humans themselves. Although Thoreau showed that humans only demand food, shelter, clothing and fuel for living typically provided by nature itself, many members of the modern world value different ideologies higher.

Ideology is rational, a pure product of the human mind. According to Robinson humans create a world able to exploit minds and energies and are realized so many number of times. The only alternate is to acquire the same attitude as Thoreau described in Walden 150 years ago, where he proved in isolation the possibility of a life without the reach of a particular ideology. Just being one self and in result eliminating the competition between individuals and countries, as Robinson wishes it.

After all, Robinson is convinced that nothing significant occurs in isolation - humans depend on each other and unable to discover their inner freedom on their own. However, Thoreau represents a human-being that must first explore herself before she can attribute to the life of the others. One view that could not be considered by Thoreau is the development of the internet and the arising simplicity that Robinson appreciates and Thoreau perhaps, had wished for too. Another difference between both was that Robinson deems the goodwill and faith of institutions, but rejects the exploitation of these Institutions, whereas Thoreau wanted a simple life including nature and self-reliance - far away from social norms.