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Mystical
Experiences of Henry David Thoreau
(1817 - 1862)
Did
Thoreau have mystical experiences during his years exploring
nature? William James thought so. In his seminal work,
The Varieties of Religious Experience, James pulls
this passage from Walden:
- "Once,
a few weeks after I came to the woods, for an hour
I doubted whether the near neighborhood of man was
not essential to a serene and healthy life. To be
alone was somewhat unpleasant. But in the midst of
a gentle rain, while these thoughts prevailed, I was
suddenly sensible of such sweet and beneficent society
in Nature, in the very pattering of the drops, and
in every sight and sound around my house, an infinite
and unaccountable friendliness all at once, like an
atmosphere, sustaining me, as made the fancied advantages
of human neighborhood insignificant, and I have never
thought of them since. Every little pine-needle expanded
and swelled with sympathy and befriended me. I was
so distinctly made aware of the presence of something
kindred to me, that I thought no place could ever
be strange to me again."
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Quoted
in James, William. The Varieties of Religious Experience
(London: Collier Books, 1961), p. 222.
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