Assignment 3: Taking Thoreau´s lead, can you imagine ways in which our technologically affected lives can be wedded with a sensual acuity for nature?

In nature beauty is perceived everywhere. In all places and things, variety of flowers, animals, birds, plants, even in unexpected areas on earth; nature is vividly colorful. This beauty can be found in all creations of God.  Henry David Thoreau observes this beauty day-by-day at Walden Pond.

“I did not read books the first summer; I hoed beans. Nay, I often did better than this. There were times when I could not afford to sacrifice the bloom of the present moment to any work, whether of the head or hands. I love a broad margin in my life. Sometimes, in a summer morning, having taking my accustomed bath, I sat in my sunny doorway from sunrise till noon, […], in undisturbed solitude and stillness, while the birds sang around or flittered noiseless through the house, until by the sun falling in at my west window, or the noise of some traveller´s wagon on the distant highway, I was reminded of the lapse of time.” (Thoreau 72).

He takes much pleasure in listening to various sounds around him which makes him feel closer to nature and its beauties. This enjoyment in observing nature´s beauty has the effect to imagine the simple pleasures which can be taken out in only slowing down life and esteem the surrounding. “I had this advantage, at least, in my mode of life, over those who were obliged to look abroad for amusement, to society and the theatre, that my life itself was become my amusement and never ceased to be novel.”(Thoreau 73).

With technology, whose role has enlarged rapidly in nowadays lives, nature seems to be forgotten. Furthermore, life without technology is unthinkable, only imagining one day without it would freak a lot of people out. So many humans are addicted to it that all their lives depend on it. Even early in the morning it starts with an alarm clock to wake up, until the middle of night where your last look goes to your phone to check it the last time before sleeping (and very often it is the case that this smartphone keeps you away from sleeping because you eventually start to play games or read the news just to fall asleep, but actually it keeps you away from it). Technology keeps the world going. But what happened to nature?     

Present human beings are so distracted and influenced by technology that nature fades into the background and is seen only by a few. Thus, it is disappearing all around us because it is easier to sit in front of a screen for hours of entertainment than to go outside and experience it. Spending your time with “Facebook” and wasting hours of your lifetime is not worth it. Nature is also part of our lives and should be appreciated and valued more with its full impact.

Thoreau, Henry David. Walden; or Life in the Woods. USA: Dover Publications, 1995. Print.