Home
About Us
First Arm
Second Arm
Contact Us
Videos
History
Books
Membership

The New Walden:

Socratic Trucker’s American Experience--

 

Book Description: An otherwise intellectual man assumes the persona of a big-rig trucker in order to travel throughout the US and converse with his fellow Americans in the spirit of Plato’s Dialogues. Through his Walden-like project, he brings to his society new conceptual treasures out of his deeply practical approach to philosophy.

Prelude:

The engine brakes roared as the eighteen-wheeled machine fought against the relentless pull of gravity, doggedly claiming its 72,000 lbs on a narrow and winding highway, somewhere above the Pacific North West and heading down, down into a city which moments before looked like a speck but now appears as a sea of light, from a mountain hidden in the dark, otherwise towering silently in the void of night. Had I liberty to reflect in my usual manner, I would surely wonder how an intellectual got here, but I would immediately recall that before all else I am a spiritual being for whom life entails twists which may even at times appear violent. 

The spirit of philosophy finding expression within the condition of the trucker testifies to the truth that our world is yet in its infant stage with regard to the human potential; that all persons are no less than diamonds in the surrounding rough of our still primitive social environment. Indeed the immediate disbelief that the next great work of American literature might come out of the experiential condition of a common trucker is itself an unfortunate result of such special anomalies in the human experience. Yet great voices not afraid of such paradoxes have long appealed to the human conscience in an attempt to awaken us to our potential, men bridging the ages from Socrates to Henry David Thoreau. Herein therefore follows yet another such voice—the voice of the Socratic Trucker’s—reminding us once more of our hitherto unexercised potential, and calling us, again, to a new awakening…

 

Table of Contents:

 

Prelude: A short statement about the paradoxical nature yet forward looking aim of this project. 

 

Introduction: Some short words aimed at introducing the reader to the auto-biographical origin of the project. 

 

Sir Intercept: Socratic Trucker’s first encounter, a middle-aged male therapist in Richfield, Ohio.

 

Madam Giver: Socratic Trucker’s second encounter, a college-aged female student in Lakeland, Florida.

 

The Old Soldier: Socratic Trucker’s third encounter, a retirement aged, African American veteran in Sulfur Springs, Texas.

 

Freeia and Burn: Socratic Trucker’s fourth encounter, a homeless couple on the streets ofSalt Lake City, Utah.

 

The Teacher: Socratic Trucker’s fifth encounter, a retirement ready trucker at a truck stop in Albert Lea, Minnesota.

 

Sir Austere: Socratic Trucker’s sixth encounter, a middle aged man, having converted to the Amish lifestyle in Bern, Indiana.

 

Conclusion: Some inspirational words aimed at wrapping up the project’s final significance.

 

                     --Go to the Contact Us page and contact Roger Farinha for information on purchasing this manuscript--

 

**By purchasing this manuscript, you will be making a statement that you believe in the work of Mr. Farinha as an up and coming Artist, Visionary, and Social Entrepreneur. Minimum offering is $50, but you may pay as much more as you are willing to state your belief in the author. All manuscripts will be signed and dated, with an optional special note of acknowledgement of the patron's recognition of the caliber of the artist, as demonstrated in offerings above $50-- towards the purpose of establishing a collector's item.