Political Resistance and the Inward Life
Thoreau recognized that he could not fight every injustice. For that reason, he stated his principle: Resist the law and the State when these require you to commit injustice to others. And even as he resisted slavery and the Mexican-American war actively, he recognized that he had other lives to live.
For these reasons, in Resistance to Civil Government he wrote: "As for adopting the ways which the State has provided for remedying the evil [of unjust law], I know not of such ways. They take too much time, and a man's life will be gone. I have other affairs to attend to. I came into this world, not chiefly to make this a good place to live in, but to live in it, be it good or bad." He did not want to spend his time petitioning conniving politicians to act on behalf of justice. He resisted what merited resistance, at once.
But he also lived his other lives. When he was arrested for not paying his poll tax, for example, he was in the midst of conducting his experiment in living at Walden Pond. Importantly, that was an experiment not only in outward but also in inward living - in the cultivation of his inner life.
This theme strikes me as important. The strength of conscience, heart, and will to resist injustice relies on the cultivation of an inward life, of an spiritual source from which to act. Perhaps the fact that Ghandi and MLK both drew from rich inner lives in order to lead vast movements of political resistance reveals something about this link between the inward sources of outward resistance.
This thread of reflection deserves development. For the moment, on this wintry Sunday morning I ought to take the train up north along the Hudson River, meet some friends, and go for a hike in the woods. The woods and their company will restore me inwardly.
For these reasons, in Resistance to Civil Government he wrote: "As for adopting the ways which the State has provided for remedying the evil [of unjust law], I know not of such ways. They take too much time, and a man's life will be gone. I have other affairs to attend to. I came into this world, not chiefly to make this a good place to live in, but to live in it, be it good or bad." He did not want to spend his time petitioning conniving politicians to act on behalf of justice. He resisted what merited resistance, at once.
But he also lived his other lives. When he was arrested for not paying his poll tax, for example, he was in the midst of conducting his experiment in living at Walden Pond. Importantly, that was an experiment not only in outward but also in inward living - in the cultivation of his inner life.
This theme strikes me as important. The strength of conscience, heart, and will to resist injustice relies on the cultivation of an inward life, of an spiritual source from which to act. Perhaps the fact that Ghandi and MLK both drew from rich inner lives in order to lead vast movements of political resistance reveals something about this link between the inward sources of outward resistance.
This thread of reflection deserves development. For the moment, on this wintry Sunday morning I ought to take the train up north along the Hudson River, meet some friends, and go for a hike in the woods. The woods and their company will restore me inwardly.
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