Kelly Cooke: outside reading 12/3

Tocqueville Reading

Kelly Cooke


The tyranny of needs mentioned in the writing 'See my Journey on Facebook' reminded me of an excerpt from Alexis De Tocqueville, the author of 'Democracy in America.' While it does not seem relevant to the subject of spiritual journey, it is. The excerpt I am referring to discusses the tyranny of the majority and how they can control the minority of individuals in America. This tyranny of the majority can also be applied to long distance wilderness trails. While hiking, you can hypothetically surround yourself with other hikers the entire time, but it would not be beneficial to your spiritual and reflective journey. This is because the people and chaos surrounding you would be another version of the marketplace. The tyranny of the majority tends to shame other opinions until they stop being shared, this surrounding on through hikes could impede on personal growth and journey but is probably common. This type of tyranny exists in all facets of democratic society that allows free speech, which would also automatically apply to trails as well. Ideas of the group merge and everyone loses their independence of thought. While this seems plausible, I wonder if it is actually an occurrence on the trails or if the community is untouched by that aspect of life where it would remain a communitas.

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