– Task 1: Compare and contrast these two perspectives. Are they contradictory or complimentary?

The earth is about 4.5 billion years old. It is the home to all living being that the human mind knows of – including us, the humankind itself. In contrast to earth humankind is just about 2 million years old. But humans consider themselves as the centre of the universe, as an extraordinary species, to which all rights are reserved.

Even thought the writers Henry David Thoreau and Marylinne Robinson, lived and worked at a different time, they both seized the idea of the universe’s life to also discuss the human life in proportion to its worthiness (compare: Robinson 1; Thoreau 9). Thoreau celebrates the autonomy of the individual that will lead him or her to real intellectual freedom and spiritual rising. Robinson, on the other hand, seems to understand individual prosperity as a mere consequence of a prosperous, and in itself confiding community.

Robinson’s and Thoreau’s discretion are neither contradictory nor complementary, but they can be seen as suggestions that should be considered in equal measures. We most likely will not be able to live an equally austere and self-sufficient life as Thoreau did, and find as much happiness or intellectual freedom as he did, but we need to consider it a possibility. Simultaneously, Thoreau’s autarky is somewhat an easy elopement from social responsibility. As Robinson stated: 

“Western society at its best expresses the serene sort of courage that allows us to grant one another real safety, real autonomy, the means to think and act as judgment and conscience dictate. It assumes that this great mutual courtesy will bear its best fruit if we respect, educate, inform and trust one another.”

At the same time she does not eliminates the possibility of letting “ourselves be the reflective, productive creature we are, unconstrained and uncoerced.” (Robinson) This means that we should grant each other the advantages of autonomy, but that, at the same time, we have a responsibility for others – for our society. This kind of interplay and independence of the human individuals and their community is one aspect that distinguishes the human from other living beings – and, thus, it might be the reason for, what we understand as our extra-ordinariness.

The earth will most likely be a part of the universe for another 4.5 billion years, maybe even more. But a long time before the expiration of the earth all humans will have become extinct. We are just a breath of hot air in the long inhale of the universe. Nothing will be reminiscent of our existence, and all that has been accomplished or ruined by our actions will soon be forgotten. All that we can do – and it will solely be for our own pleasure – is to “earnestly live [life] from beginning to end” (Thoreau 53) in a way that is fitting for our individual sentiment.

Robinson, Marylinne. "Night Thoughts of a Baffled Humanist". In: The Nation, 2011. Web. 12 January 2014 <http://www.thenation.com/article/164466/night-thoughts-baffled-humanist>

Thoreau, Henry David. Walden. New Haven/London: Yale University Press, 2006. Print.