146 
WALDEN. 
we seek to hear them, and we do not hear them; iden¬ 
tified with the substance of things, they cannot be sepa¬ 
rated from them.” 
“ They cause that in all the universe men purify and 
sanctify their hearts, and clothe themselves in their 
holiday garments to offer sacrifices and oblations to their 
ancestors. It is an ocean of subtile intelligences. They 
are every where, above us, on our left, on our right; 
they environ us on all sides.” 
We are the subjects of an experiment which is not 
a little interesting to me. Can we not do without the 
society of our gossips a little while under these cir¬ 
cumstances, — have our own thoughts to cheer us ? 
Confucius says truly, “ Virtue does not remain as an 
abandoned orphan ; it must of necessity have neigh¬ 
bors.” 
With thinking we may be beside ourselves in a sane 
sense. By a conscious effort of the mind we can stand 
aloof from actions and their consequences; and all things, 
good and bad, go by us like a torrent. We are not 
wholly involved in Nature. I may be either the drift¬ 
wood in the stream, or Indra in the sky looking down 
on it. I may be affected by a theatrical exhibition ; on 
the other hand, I may not be affected by an actual event 
which appears to concern me much more. I only know 
myself as a human entity; the scene, so to speak, of 
thoughts and affections; and am sensible of a certain 
doubleness by which I can stand as remote from myself 
as from another. However intense my experience, I 
am conscious of the presence and criticism of a part of 
me, which, as it were, is not a part of me, but specta¬ 
tor, sharing no experience, but taking note of it; and 
that is no more I than it is you. When the play, it 
