Thoreau, Whitman, and the Quest to “Live Deliberately”

Clay Jenkinson's signature retreat, an examination of two texts by Henry David Thoreau (Walden and "Civil Disobedience") and Walt Whitman's glorious poem Leaves of Grass. Walden is not only one of the greatest nature texts ever written, and the foundation of nearly all subsequent conservation writing, but it is the best mirror we can hold up to our lives to determine if we are awake, present, spiritually integrated, and leading lives of purpose and self-actualization. We will spend much of our time making sense of Thoreau's concept of "grossest groceries," i.e., what we really need (not just desire) and how much each material thing we accumulate costs--costs in years of labor, costs in lost spiritual growth, costs the workers who produce our goods, and costs the planet earth.

We will also luxuriate in exploring some of Thoreau's greatest passages in Walden, his other books, and in his magnificent Journal.

Whitman's Leaves of Grass is one of America's greatest and most enchanting poems, but its length and style make it feel intimidating to some first-time readers. We will explore some of its greatest passages together, and try to understand Whitman's place as the most democratic of poets.

Says Clay: "Lochsa Lodge west of Missoula, Montana, is one of the most beautiful places I have ever been. I can think of no better place to study Walden, not even Walden Pond, which I visited again in November 2019, surrounded as it is (and Lochsa not!) with all the noise of modern urban industrial civilization. If you cannot fall in love with Walden in the moderate temperatures and the soft snow of Lochsa Lodge, you cannot ever learn to love Walden."

This is not a writing seminar, but I encourage everyone to spend some of the spare time finding places in the Lochsa River valley to write about, and those who are willing will be encouraged to read short pieces from their journals.

January 17-22, 2021
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