June 29, 1852
In my experience nothing is so opposed to poetry – not crime – as business. It is a negation of life.
Now there's a provocative statement. It sounds anti-capitalist. And by extension, even anti-American? (You certainly couldn't get elected President saying things like that.) So, what can we make of this.
Say that you business is making chairs. What is your goal? What is your ambition? To make the best chair possible? At the most reasonable price possible? Or is it to make as much money as possible? Do you use the best materials? The materials that offer the best value-to-price ratio? Or the cheapest materials possible? How do you treat your employees? Hire the best craftsmen possible, and promising young carpenters? Or hire the cheapest labor available? Maybe outsource to a third world factory? Who are you serving? Your customers, or yourself? In Thoreau's view, business was mostly about making money.
Thoreau's family had a pencil business, and HDT worked for it at times. He was instrumental in finding better graphite, to make a better pencil. Even so, it was never more than a business to him. And he no doubt felt his time could be much better spent doing other things -- his daily explorations of the world around him.
Here's a poem by Buddhist-American poet Gary Snyder that I've enjoyed teaching for years that you may find relevant:
THE TRADE
I found myself in a massive concrete shell
lit by glass tubes, with air pumped in, with
levels joined by moving stairs.
It was full of those things that were bought and made
in the twentieth century. Layed out in trays
or shelves
The throngs of people of that century, in their style,
clinging garb made on machines,
Were trading all their precious time
for things.
Now there's a provocative statement. It sounds anti-capitalist. And by extension, even anti-American? (You certainly couldn't get elected President saying things like that.) So, what can we make of this.
Say that you business is making chairs. What is your goal? What is your ambition? To make the best chair possible? At the most reasonable price possible? Or is it to make as much money as possible? Do you use the best materials? The materials that offer the best value-to-price ratio? Or the cheapest materials possible? How do you treat your employees? Hire the best craftsmen possible, and promising young carpenters? Or hire the cheapest labor available? Maybe outsource to a third world factory? Who are you serving? Your customers, or yourself? In Thoreau's view, business was mostly about making money.
Thoreau's family had a pencil business, and HDT worked for it at times. He was instrumental in finding better graphite, to make a better pencil. Even so, it was never more than a business to him. And he no doubt felt his time could be much better spent doing other things -- his daily explorations of the world around him.
Here's a poem by Buddhist-American poet Gary Snyder that I've enjoyed teaching for years that you may find relevant:
THE TRADE
I found myself in a massive concrete shell
lit by glass tubes, with air pumped in, with
levels joined by moving stairs.
It was full of those things that were bought and made
in the twentieth century. Layed out in trays
or shelves
The throngs of people of that century, in their style,
clinging garb made on machines,
Were trading all their precious time
for things.
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