"I stand in awe of my body, this matter to which I am bound has become so strange to me. I
fear not spirits, ghosts, of which I am one . . . but I fear bodies, I tremble to meet them.
What is this Titan that has possession of me? Talk of mysteries! - Think of our life in
nature, - daily to be shown matter, to come into contact with it, - rocks, trees, wind on our
cheeks! the solid earth! the actual world! the common sense! Contact! Contact! Who are
we? where are we?" - Thoreau, ''Ktaadn and the Maine Woods,'' 1848.