If we weren't so content with mediocrity and keeping the status quo, perhaps Thoreau's vision would be realized. But like I have stated repeatedly in this blog: we as a human race are strapped down by the forces of fear. One of the main purposes of this blog is to get the message out so that we take an honest look at the role fear plays in our lives at the individual level. It would be nice to affect change in the world, but this is mainly about what a single person can do to make a real change for him or herself. And I think Thoreau has some good suggestions.
"...find encouragement and inspiration in precisely the present condition of things, and cherish it with the fondness and enthusiasm of lovers"
Forget the past, stop worrying about the future. Life is right here; it's happening now. There will never be a time in your life that is not right now. So embrace what ever is happening. Forgive the people who you say have done you wrong because that keeps you stuck in the past and hurts only you. Who knows why people do what they do? By not forgiving you are asserting your own false ego by saying that you are better than they are. And that is never the truth, just a shadowy, imaginary thing that keeps you stuck. If you claim that you know for sure that everyone is not always doing the best that they can, you are living in a false reality where somehow you have been given the knowledge of God to judge. And worrying about the future is equally as futile. Accept fully everything that happens as if you planned it exactly to be that way. Because you have.
"Live in all respects so compactly and preparedly that, if an enemy take the town, he can, like the old philosopher, walk out the gate empty-handed without anxiety"
Henry is encouraging us to give up attachment to things. The material objects of the world are transitory and we have spent a large part of our culture becoming a slave to inanimate objects. If all of the contents of your home were robbed, would it really be such a big deal? What is it that you truly need?
"This spending of the best part of one's life earning money in order to enjoy a questionable liberty during the least valuable part of it, reminds me of the Englishmen who went to India to make a fortune first, in order that he might return to England and live the life of a poet. He should have gone up garret at once."
It completely amazes me that as a society we are content with handing over our lives to corporations or ways of making money that are unsatisfying, stressful, and unfulfilling. It amazes me even more that I didn't question this idea more strongly and spent years and money towards a career that was absolutely NOT what I wished to spend the best part of my life doing. What is going on? Why do we do this to ourselves? Well, the obvious answer is fear, but more importantly it's the fact that we are sleeping our way through life. Working for the weekend. Working to make money to do fun things that we scarcely have the time to enjoy. Is money that precious or are we guilty, like I am, of not investing the energy and thought in the direction of those things that light the fires of our passion? Thoreau says, "Let not to get a living be thy trade, but thy sport."
"All nature is your congratulation, and you have cause momentarily to bless yourself"
Take the time to appreciate nature. It seems that it is an innate characteristic of being alive that we are abundantly blessed with the ability to take joy in our natural surroundings. Go camping. Get a birdfeeder. Go for a walk and find your favorite tree. Henry is probably rolling in his grave at the sight of how disconnected from nature we are. There is a satisfying and awe-inspiring effect that nature has on our lives. We simply just have to notice : )
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