Thoreau was a transcendentalist. One of the foremost characteristics of this philosophical movement is its concept that human beings should live close to nature. Another most important tenet of transcendentalism is that humanity is divine in its own right; and this is in complete disagreement with the Puritan Calvinists of New England. Self-trust and self-reliance were to be practiced at all times because to trust in self is actually to trust the voice of God speaking intuitively within us. The closer we are to nature, the closer we are to God.
Basically, these ideas represent a form of idealism or philosophical romanticism. All of these transcendentalist views can be seen in Thoreau's Walden. People need to simplify their lives and remove the frustrations of existence too far removed from nature. Thus Thoreau says: "The mass of men lead lives of quiet desperation. What is called resignation is confirmed desperation. From the desperate city you go into the desperate country, and have to console yourself with the bravery of minks and muskrats." (Thoreau 10) Most persons are not really free. They are frustrated by conforming thoughts and belief systems. The answer to this desperation and frustration is to refresh one's spirit by communing with and living close to nature.
And so Thoreau goes on to say: "Near the end of March, 1845, I borrowed an axe and went down to the woods by Walden Pond, nearest to where I intended to build my house, and began to cut down some tall, arrowy white pines, still in their youth, for timber" (Thoreau 32). This would bring Thoreau to a situation in which he could truly be close to nature. Thoreau could t
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