Not Till We Are Lost: Thoreau, Education, and Climate Crisis (Mercer University Press 2024) by William Homestead is a blend of memoir, philosophy, and literary analysis. It weaves together the author’s college teaching experiences, his personal journey of self-examination, and an academic exploration of Transcendentalist thought, drawing from figures like Henry David Thoreau, Ralph Waldo Emerson, and Margaret Fuller.
The book’s title comes from a Thoreau quote:
“Not till we are lost,” Thoreau argues, “do we learn the most important things—who and where we are—before becoming lost again, ready for more learning, re-finding the compass.”
Homestead contends that many of us live under the illusion that we are “found”—that we have succeeded in life—yet remain unfulfilled. A key theme of the book is the destructive nature of consumerism, which Homestead sees as a major contributor to environmental crisis. He reminds us of Thoreau’s belief that the key to wisdom is simplicity: “his greatest skill was to want little.”
The author praises Thoreau’s Walden experiment, describing it as “essentially an education of deep listening leading to transformation.” He argues that modern society fails to appreciate the natural world, instead seeing it as something separate from ourselves, when in reality, we are “part and parcel of the natural world.” He writes:
“If the masses were desperate, it was because they did not have ears to hear the concert, had forgotten how to listen, or worse, had been socialized and educated out of it. They had dismissed such practice as romantic yearning rather than what it truly is: a profound openness to mystery, to wildness, and the ground of a life well lived.”
Homestead frequently draws on Emerson as well, citing his belief that “Nature always speaks of Spirit” and that to “know the most important things we must be in sympathy with the divine energy that streams through all that exists.”
A central argument of Not Till We Are Lost is that embracing mystery—acknowledging that we can never fully understand the universe—is essential to both education and personal growth. Rather than turning to organized religion, Homestead, like Einstein, finds meaning in the mysteries of the natural world. He reflects:
“A confirming moment occurred when I found that Einstein, our icon of science, wrote that a ‘cosmic religious feeling’ of wonder, unity, and beauty motivated his investigations.”
This perspective informs Homestead’s teaching philosophy:
“Science and religious feeling, then, are very much in dialogue, informing not only our exploration of the cosmos but also core questions of education: Why are we on earth, and further, what are we to do?”
Another major theme of the book is the environmental crisis. Homestead references Wendell Berry’s warning:
“We had better respect the possibility of a larger, unseen pattern that can be damaged or destroyed and, with it, the smaller patterns.”
The book’s final chapter opens with a quote from Gus Speth, former Dean of Forestry at Yale:
“I used to think the top environmental problems facing the world were global warming, environmental degradation, and ecosystem collapse, and that we scientists could fix those problems with enough science. But I was wrong. The real problem is not those three items, but greed, selfishness, and apathy. And for that we need a spiritual and cultural transformation.”
William Homestead
One of the Not Till We Are Lost’s strengths is its ability to connect the insights of great thinkers in a way that feels both personal and universally relevant. By sharing his own intellectual and spiritual journey, Homestead invites readers to embark on their own path—one that moves away from greed, selfishness, and apathy and toward a deeper engagement with nature, wisdom, and the divine. Perhaps, like Thoreau, we too will choose to follow our own river rather than continue “lives of quiet desperation.”
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