Transcend This! A Quantitative Interpretation of American Transcendentalism

February 17, 2024February 21, 2024 Barefoot KenAmerican Trancscendentalism, art, books, Henry David Thoreau, John Burroughs, John Muir, poetry, Ralph Waldo Emerson, Walt WhitmanLeave a comment

How to Allocate Your Time, Avoid Burn-out, Boost Your Spiritual Power, and (Possibly) Make it to the Other Side

The word “transcend” is derived from the Latin “trans” (across) and “scandere” (to climb). In a sense, the word means to cross a mountain range. Like the scout William Lewis Manly, who found a route across the Panamint Mountains bordering Death Valley, made it to coastal California, and returned with food to save his comrades who were starving. This was in 1849.[1] Go back further in time, and it’s not hard to imagine our hunter-gatherer ancestors staring at a mountain wall, wondering what they would discover on the other side. If they could find a route across.

Today we use the term, “self-transcendence,” in a more general sense, wondering if we could become tomorrow, in some way, better, stronger, happier, and more productive than we are today.

American Transcendentalism was a 19^th century philosophical movement which included authors such as Ralph Waldo Emerson, Henry David Thoreau, Walt Whitman, John Burroughs, and John Muir, among others.

The central premise of Transcendentalist philosophy was that people could achieve self-transcendence by drawing spiritual power from nature. In this regard, the Transcendentalists were reacting to problems they perceived in 19^th century America, where industrialization and urbanization were spreading rapidly, and the frontier was shrinking and would soon close. Among the clerks, mechanics, priests, professionals, and others who spent their days indoors, Thoreau remarked on what he perceived as “lives of quiet desperation.” Emerson railed against the conformity, timidity, anxiety, and toxic egotism he associated with conventional society. Whitman was blunt – writing under the pen name Mose Velsor, he warned that a sedentary indoors lifestyle devoted purely to mental work was “death.”

Fast forward to today. The Transcendentalists are still remembered, but the popular narrative has shifted. The new philosophy is Transhumanism – the hope that we will transcend our limitations through technology. Transhumanism culminates in the “Singularity” – the point at which humans and machines merge.

Exhibit 1: Search Trends Show Transhumanism Eclipsing Transcendentalism

Source: Google Trends

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If you want to be a Minimalist, you’ve got to be Fit

August 28, 2023 Barefoot KenChatGPT, ThoreauLeave a comment

169 years later, Thoreau’s commandment still echoes across the surface of Walden Pond — “Simplify. Simplify!” The logic has stood the test of time. Seriously, could anyone want more complexity in life?

But that doesn’t mean simplifying is easy.

To simplify means to “make something easier to understand,” according to the first online dictionary definition that popped up when I typed the word into the search bar. Understanding takes effort. And time. Both of which are in short supply. So simplifying is a good thing — indeed, it’s the key to solving problems. In this regard, simplify has a similar meaning to compute. Continue reading “If you want to be a Minimalist, you’ve got to be Fit” →

Go Minimalist. Declutter Your Mind

August 12, 2023August 27, 2023 Barefoot KenShawangunk Grasslands, Walt WhitmanLeave a comment

Minimalism is a modern incarnation of an ancient philosophy — the premise is to simplify. The minimalist would have you declutter your home. Buy fewer things. Save money. Throw out unneeded stuff and create for yourself extra space and time.

Now let’s talk about decluttering your mind. The minimalist would say, be skeptical. About what you hear on the radio or see on TV or read in mainstream and social media. Beware of experts with financial interests. Let go of outdated ideas. Discount conventional wisdom and conformist thinking. Let go of your own rationalizations driven by ego and insecurity. Free yourself from all that mental baggage.

You see, the mind is like a garden that’s gone to seed and needs some weeding.

Or is it?

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Go Minimalist. Save the World.

July 28, 2023 Barefoot KenChris Ryan, Minimalism, Minimalist Fashion Challenge, Narrative of Perpetual Progress, Use Things Love People, Yuval Noah Harari2 Comments

The concept is typically presented as a lifestyle choice – buy fewer things. Declutter. Adopt the spirit, “less is more.” Fight back against the forces of rampant consumerism. You could limit your wardrobe to 33 items for 3 months and see if anyone notices (this is called taking “the Minimalist Fashion Challenge”). You could live in a tiny house. Or out of a pack.

Minimalism is nothing if not pragmatic. Calculate the benefit of owning any consumer good, net of the costs of acquisition, storage, and disposal. You will find the net benefit is often negative… Continue reading “Go Minimalist. Save the World.” →

The Little White Lie in Joseph Conrad’s Heart of Darkness

July 18, 2023 Barefoot KenHeart of Darkness, Joseph ConradLeave a comment

Heart of Darkness ends with Marlow calling on Kurtz’ fiancée in a dimly-lit mansion in an unnamed metropolis which Marlow calls merely the “sepulchral city.” Still in mourning more than a year later, she wants to know Kurtz’ final words. Marlow tells her that Kurtz called her name. But this is a lie – as he lay dying, Kurtz whispered, “The horror! The horror!”

Marlow’s little white lie was meant to shield a woman’s feelings from an ugly truth. By the end of the narrative, however, the author Joseph Conrad’s made the point that civilization is based on lies – although we may call them faith, beliefs, ideas, or “the great and saving illusion.” And we need these lies, he implies, to shield us from the primeval darkness which lies deep within the soul.

But is this really the case? As someone who spends a lot of time in wilderness, this question nags at me. I recently reread Heart of Darkness, as I was preparing for a trip to Maine, a place that seems plenty mysterious and primitive, if not quite so far off as Africa. Continue reading “The Little White Lie in Joseph Conrad’s Heart of Darkness” →

Barefoot in New Hampshire

July 5, 2023 Barefoot KenBarefoot Hiking, Earl Schaeffer, Mt. Madison, peak bagging, Presidential Traverse9 Comments

It’s been a long, steep, rocky, wet climb up the mountain’s northern shoulder, and now I’m nearing the AMC hut tucked in a col beneath the summit of Mt. Madison. Another 500 feet to go, and I will have completed my quest – to climb all 48 of New Hampshire’s 4,000-footers, and to do so barefoot, which is how I hike and run these days.

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Hyper-reality and the Desert of the Real

November 13, 2022November 20, 2022 Barefoot KenBlissfeel, Cypher, George Catlin, Haruki Murakami, Hyperreality, Isa-tai, Jacques Ellul, Jean Baudrillard, John Burroughs, Manhattan, The Desert of the Real, the matrix, Walt WhitmanLeave a comment

Flying into LaGuardia, the City shimmering outside the airplane window — labyrinth of light beneath squid-ink sky. Bridges spanning black waters, buildings silhouetted against dark vistas, boulevards radiating in concentric directions. Circuit board of the digital economy.

“City of hurried and sparkling waters!” sang Walt Whitman, “city of spires and masts! City nested in bays! my city!”

But it’s not my city. Not anymore. Never really was… Continue reading “Hyper-reality and the Desert of the Real” →

Homeless in Dallas

October 30, 2022November 23, 2022 Barefoot KenAlly's Wish 5k, Andrew Brown Park, Gary Snyder, Henry ThoreauLeave a comment

Black tarmac slips into view — tires impact — with jolt and bounce we arrive. I’ve left New York behind, and with it, family, friends, routines, familiar places – in a word, I’ve left behind my home. Traded it for a city with a herd of larger-than-life bronze bulls and a brassy sun. By the way, I like it here fine. For a two-week stay, anyway. The issue is, splitting my time between two places – not to mention other travel too – leaves me feeling spread a little thin. Like Bilbo Baggins, who told Gandalf, “‘Why, I feel all thin, sort of stretched, if you know what I mean: like butter that has been scraped over too much bread.” Then he briefed Gandalf on his plan: to leave his home in the Shire, to see the mountains one last time, to find a place to rest, and maybe finish writing his book. Continue reading “Homeless in Dallas” →

More Nature, Less Technology

October 23, 2022 Barefoot KenClarence King, Edward Abbey, Ernst Schrodinger, Gary Snyder, Hoot Owl, Intergenerational Discussion, Jacques Ellul, John Burroughs, John Zerzan, Schrodinger's Cat, Spravato, Technology, The Technological Society, Walt Whitman, Worse is Better11 Comments

“You’ll be the troublemaker.” Arif gave me a sly look as he guided me to a far corner of the restaurant, and I nodded, because surely life is too short for small talk.

There were six of us seated at the table. Four middle-aged women — each one attractive, intelligent, engaging, successful. A quiet-spoken serious young man with a shock of brown hair. And me, wearing camouflage-colored Yankees cap and a few days’ worth of stubble.

This was an “intergenerational dinner,” hosted by the Hoot Owl, a cozy restaurant in upstate New York with a loyal local following. The event was organized around a series of questions designed to elicit discussion.

Anne had been tasked as the table’s guide, and now she opened with the first question – what makes you feel most alive? Continue reading “More Nature, Less Technology” →

Whitman and Wilmington

April 30, 2022May 2, 2022 Barefoot Ken100 Marathon Club, 100 Marathons, Barefoot Marathon, Barefoot Marathon Runner, Barefoot Running, Delaware Running Festival, Manly Health and Training, Moses Velsor, Song of the Open Road, Walt Whitman, Walt Whitman Bridge, Walt Whitman Gravesite, Walt Whitman Service Area3 Comments

By Barefoot Ken

Surprise. On the way to (yet) another race, I’ve pulled off the New Jersey Turnpike — desperate for coffee, water, a break from unpredictable traffic (speeds of up to 95 MPH) — and here I find myself, suddenly, in the Walt Whitman Service Area. Whitman being, to some, the greatest artist America has produced. The singer of the open road. The poet of Democracy. I did not know there was a Service Area named for him. After the race I’m planning to visit his gravesite, which lies a few miles distant. First, though, I must complete the Delaware Running Festival Marathon in nearby Wilmington, my 100^th event of marathon distance or longer. Which begs the question — what next?

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The Long Brown Path

Peak-bagging, running, barefooting, exploring, and other minimalist adventures in nature

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