Holland Cotter, Lessons in Constructive Solitude" H D Thoreau in self isolation at WALDEN
Another important piece in NYT Friday, April 10, was the feature by Holland Cotter, “ Lessons in Constructive Solitude” Cotter's thesis is " Thoreau used his self-quarantine at Walden, to pursue an intensive course in self education. In the present pandemic moment, there’s plenty to learn from standing still.” // "...An intensive course in self education: “Books must be read as deliberately and reservedly as they were written.” The list he compiled was long, ambitious and culturally far – reaching, stretching from Classical Greece to Vedic India”… I would add, China. Many studies have been done on Thoreau in China…I traced his Chinese references while living there. “ In a letter to a friend he wrote: “The Yogi, absorbed in contemplation, contributes in his degree to creation; he breathes a divine perfume, he hears wonderful things. To some extent, and at rare intervals, even I am a yogi.” He made his life at W...