"Higher Laws"

I found this piece of Thoreau's writing to be extremely enjoyable and interesting. Unlike most of his other essays I thought that this one was very relevant in the sense that assesed human nature and natural law, versus a greater sense of being and a higher law above all of us. Thoreau's purpose in this piece was to address the possibility of a higher order of thought that we as humans posses. I think that it is very interesting that he brought religion into context to support his argument. Thoreau speaks of a higher order that we belong to, but at the same time we are all still mammels of the same creation and cannot help our predesigned insticts to act like animals, "We are conscious of an animal in us, which awakens in prportion as our higher nature slumbers (Thoreau 11). His point is that we aer the only creature on this planet that has been gifted with the ability to conceive a higher order amoung ourselves. That is why we have laws that help to maintain order. Thoreau's tone in this piece is also very intriguing because he sounds like someone's advisor. He talks about how we kill and eat animals for nourishment, but at the same time we often kill for pleasure, such as hunting. His tone and feelings toward this subject is that we cannot let our animalistic insticnts take control of us, that we must think and make decisions using logic and reason. Thoreau makes a good point that, " We are most interested when science reports what those men already know practically or instinctively, for that alone is our true humanity, or account of human experience" ( Thoreau 2). The style of his diction adds a sense of stone faced honesty to this piece and that this is a purposeful message. Thoreau states that, " Goodness is the only investment that never fails" (Thoreau 10). Also that, "There is never an instant's truce between virtue and vice" (Thoreau 10). All of these statements adding a sense of urgency to his purpose in this essay. The private experiences that Thoreau had found to be enlightening are when he fished. He notices that, " There is unquestionably this instinct in me which belongs to the lower orders of creation: yet with every year I am less a fisherman, though without more humanity or even wisdom: at present I am no fisherman at all" ( Thoreau 5). he notices that as he delves deeper into this idea of a higher order that things in which he used to find pleasure no fill him with disgust. The audience that Thoreau addresses is all of humanity, for which he feels that he should enlighten them with this new concept. In the essay Thoreau mentions that people ask him if they should let their boys hunt, and responds yes, because, " No humane being, past the thoughtless age of boyhood, will wantonly murder any creature which holds its life by the same tenure that he does" ( Thoreau 3). Thoreau's main point being that humans may hunt their fellow creature for sport, but at some point, sooner better than later, they need to realize that we as humans are on a higher order of existence, and that it is our purpose to protect them as much as it is to ue them as a resource for our survival.