That’s exactly it. He gets more credit than he deserves. However, what he did was (help to) initiate a style of questioning civilization, like his buddy Emerson. To me, that’s the biggest take-away from Walden. Not solutions. Questions. Or not even questions. Maybe a style of questioning that goes way back to St. Francis of Assisi, or Jesus in the garden of Gethsemane, or Krishna… or … look at just about any hero myth. There is nearly always a wilderness moment in these stories. Go out in nature; get where it’s quiet; ask yourself, why are you doing life that other way, what about this way? Have a good look, why are you believing what you believe?
I think Thoreau cemented that in American culture. It was there long before America, though, and it’ll be here long after we’re gone.
