Henry David Throeau
Henry David Throeau's continuous life theme was his struggle to survive in the world without selling out like he felt most of society had already done. From Thoreau's Resistance to Civil Government and Slavery in Massachusetts, I selected six principles that, taken as a whole, create a guide to life for someone who values the self and personal conscience above the group and collective rules.
Principle One: It is better to discern right from wrong, just from unjust, by
conscience than by simply following man-made laws.
Principle Two: Once truth has been discerned, fight for what is believed to be
morally right, even if it involves self-sacrifice.
Principle Three: There is no shame in being poor since virtue is not found in the
accumulation of monetary wealth.
Principle Four: Self-respect is attained when personal opinion is formed based on
conscience rather than external influence.
Principle Five: Look to a higher source than mankind for morality.
Principle Six: Actions reveal true character.
These six principles provide a revolutionary instruction manual for living and express expectations for humanity that are much higher than those expectations expressed by the government through the enactment of laws. This is not surprising since Thoreau was a transcendentalist. With this philosophical school of thought as his guide, he endeavored to live a life that transcended the law and looked to a higher substantial truth. His writing abounds with the transcendental principles of self-reliance, personal integrity and
spontaneous intuition.
A person who values the self above the group would rather choose the way they want to live rather than to live a life spent accepting the rule...
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... a class of their own, outside of the group. And, it is this that I used as my guide as I selected the six principles. I looked for ideas in the two works by Thoreau that, if followed, would set someone apart from the group. In order to embrace these principles, a person would have to expend the effort involved in the process of self-exploration. Subsequently, the evidence that a person lived by these principles would be reflected in the way they chose to deal with a society that is not righteously moral.
It is my belief that people who seek to discern the real truth through the self-explorative development of a moral conscience, intrinsically value the self above the impositions of the group. These people value the importance of the connection between the mind, body and spirit and would subsequently value these six principles as a morally true guide to life.