Thoreau's Higher Laws

The Higher Laws Analysis The overall message for Thoreau’s chapter of Higher Laws is, “although natural, and animality is hard to overcome, it must be overcome.” Primitive instincts must be overcome in order to reach a spiritual purity in oneself and reach perfection throughout. To Thoreau spending time out in nature made him realize that he himself has a savage and animalist side that he will never be able to fully remove from himself and could be describe more or less as “a strange thrill of savage delight.”(136) Thoreau longed for the wildness of nature, “ranging the woods, like a half-starved hound, seeking some kind of venison which I might devour.”(136) Of course Thoreau is not literally hungry, he just wishes to be primitive and

Thoreau gave up flesh to begin a form of self purification taking influence from Jainism and Asceticism, he gave up hunting and fishing as he now sees it as “unclean” and started his new diet of strictly ascetic foods and a limited intake with fasting involved. “We are conscious of an animal in us, which awakens in proportions as higher nature slumbers.”(142) Despite all his efforts to purify himself Thoreau knew he would never fully be rid of his wildness and instead accepts both as equals.Even though Thoreau gave up flesh and a wildness life styles he admitted to not pitying the fish nor the worms, “Not that I was less humane than others, but I did not perceive that my feelings were much affected.” ( 137) Even though Thoreau claims to be higher and more spiritual he still is just a man and one who cannot balance out his spirituality and animal instincts at that. Jainism requires for its followers to care for all living creatures and Thoreau contradicted the most basic concept of the religion he is borrowing from. Thoreau’s other main topic is that all men are gradually evolving towards a more spiritual life and to achieve that young boy should become close to nature surprisingly through hunting, “and when my friends have asked my anxiously about their boys, whether they should hunt, I have answered, yes… make them hunters, though