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Add to FavoritesCan Thoreau's Simple Life Work Today?
In Walden, Henry David Thoreau chronicled his personal experiment of simplifying his life in a society that was becoming increasingly complex, materialistic, and "noisy." He believed that "Most of the luxuries and many of the so-called comforts of life are not only not indispensable, but positive hindrances to the elevation of mankind."
Those words could just as easily be applied to twenty-first century America - maybe even more so - and Thoreau's experiment is just as applicable now as it was in his own day. He retreated to a quiet, woodsy setting in Maine, where he could eliminate every unnecessary modern luxury of his day. Reevaluating his needs, he pared down his life to the essentials, raised his own food, took long walks and engaged in other outdoor activities, and in the process renewed himself spiritually through solitude and contemplation. Simplifying one's life in this way, I think, is something we could all benefit from. Nature has a regenerative effect on the human soul, and Thoreau believed we need to connect with the natural world to be fully human.
Thoreau's time certainly seems simpler than our high-tech globalized world. But in the mid-1800s, when he wrote Walden, America was undergoing dramatic social upheavals as it began its transformation from an agrarian to an industrialized urban culture. Great technological advances brought economic benefits, but at a very high price of social disruptions, filthy overcrowded tenements, sweatshop-like working conditions, an exploited working class - both slave and free - and rampant materialism in all aspects of life.
Thoreau was part of the Transcendentalist movement, which saw God everywhere in nature. Though the Transcendentalists didn't reject technology and human society, they resisted American society's obsession with commerce and "progress," looking for a more authentic and spiritual life. It certainly isn't as easy today to find a truly secluded place to "get away from it all" as it was in Thoreau's time, but we don't need to cut ourselves off from the rest of humanity to be in touch with nature. We don't need to live like hermits or forsake all of civilization's conveniences to simplify our lives and free our minds from the maddening clamor of modern culture. Walden was, after all, only a couple of miles outside of a village, and Thoreau was far from isolated.
The roots of Thoreau's philosophy of economy, self-reliance, and communion with nature go far deeper than the New England Transcendentalism, most powerfully expressed by Thoreau and his good friend Ralph Waldo Emerson. European Idealism and Romanticism and Eastern mysticism were woven into his writings, and many world religions share the pantheism of the Transcendentalists. In fact, since the dawn of civilization humankind has struggled to find some balance between the desire to rise above nature and separate ourselves from the "beasts," and the need to keep our feet planted firmly in the natural world, recognizing the oneness of all living things.
Each scientific advance may make our lives easier, but it also takes us one step further away from nature and toward greater dependence on technology. And with all our time-saving devices and sophisticated technologies, we seem to have less time than ever and less freedom in our daily lives. In the early years of the Industrial Revolution of Thoreau's America, factory workers and manual laborers toiled endless hours in gloomy factories and under harsh conditions, with little free time to enjoy life. Today, we often work in unfulfilling jobs to make money to buy things we don't need. Leisure time spent interacting with electronic gadgets or in front of a TV screen can leave us just as isolated from nature and an authentic life as the Industrial Revolution's exploited workers. When our modern lifestyle leaves us feeling spiritually empty, reassessing the choices we've made is an easy first step toward the kind of simplicity Thoreau wrote about.
Thoreau's idea of simplicity is not merely rejection of civilization and society. He was no hermit, and he fully embraced the intellectual life as well as the simple spiritual connection with nature. Though he advocated civil disobedience against tyranny and injustice and spoke out passionately against slavery, he wanted to reform government and make it more humane and just, not abolish it. But individual citizens need to cultivate self-reliance, solitude and contemplation to free themselves from the life of quiet desperation so many live.
We can still practice Thoreau's principles of simple living - hiking, gardening, enjoying the outdoors, quiet contemplation and solitude. Above all, Thoreau believed in freedom, justice, and the "native rights" of all living things, and these principles are as essential today as they were in Thoreau's day. We become truly free and reclaim our natural dignity, according to Thoreau, only when we break free from the chains of commerce and the "herd" society and begin to think and live for ourselves.
In the hard economic times we face today, more and more people are feeling the need to reject our culture of commerce and consumerism. The looming crises of global warming and dwindling resources are also making Thoreau's call for simplicity, austerity, and spiritual renewal through quiet communion with nature more relevant than ever.
Martin Luther King, in his 1964 Nobel lecture, said that "Our problem today is that we have allowed the internal to become lost in the external . . . So much of modern life can be summarized in that arresting dictum of the poet Thoreau: 'Improved means to an unimproved end'." There will always be a need in human society to find sanctuary in nature, to meditate and contemplate the true meaning of life. We will always need to separate out what's important and essential in our lives from what is truly nothing more than an improved means to an unimproved end.
Learn more about this author, Dorothy Hoffman.
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Oh, yes. The simple life. What an easy concept, right? Take joy in the simple things, count your blessings, the best things in life are free...I could sit here and enumerate a long list of such simple, inspiring sayings that, I promise you, are easier said than done. When is the last time you didn't get all frantic during the holiday season, trying to outdo yourself and buy even more stuff than you did last year for your family and friends? When is the last time you told your kids "let's just do a family event together, instead of throwing you a birthday party. We'll just celebrate by going sledding and then volunteering at a soup kitchen." If these were your choices, then more power to you. That means you are a strong individual that can still hold on to the intangible values in life, a person that takes "the best things in life are free" to heart. A person that can withstand the pressures of a capitalist society that promotes mass consumption of, well, everything. Either that or you're broke and have no choice but to live a simple lifestyle, that only allows you to make simple choices. Unfortunate, but very much a reality. Most often than not, the only times we simplify, is when we are forced to. It is very rare that we make the conscious choice to live below our means and be satisfied with the simpler things in life.
A simplistic way of life means diferent things to different people, just like beauty, which we all know is in the eye of the beholder. A simplistic way of life is second nature to, say, a monk from Tibet. But a simplistic way of life is a difficult concept for westerners to grasp and live by. It goes against every fiber of their being. Not because they wouldn't want a simple lifestyle, but because that is simply not part of the western culture, it is not something that is promoted in our environment. Ok, well maybe now that the economy is at its worst in decades we're more aware that we should simplify, but let's face it, how many commercials are out there encouraging you NOT to buy anything? Um, none.
Let's make a comparison between two extremes: the monks from Tibet, and a westerner from the U.S. The Tibetan monks spend their lives in prayer and meditation. Their clothes are simple, their food is simple, and their overall lifestyle...you guessed it: simple. So if you asked them the question"can you live simply and be happy?", you would get a quick and concise "yes". But if you posed the same question to a westerner, who has the option of eating great, even late" and that of "red tag sales", you may see a perplexed look take over their face, and the answer would be somewhere along the lines of "what do you mean, simply?", or a simple and concise "no". You see, to most westerners, the thought of minimizing and living simply while being happy at the same time, never even entered their mind.
We are bred to follow a path that will bring us as much abundance as possible in life. Ever since we're kids, we are told we need to go to school so we can get a good job. Why do we need a good job? So that we can live as abundantly as possible. Why? Because to westerners, abundance equals happiness. Inanimate objects are given human qualities, like the power to bring us joy. We are continuously exposed to advertisements that convince us our quality of life is lower, unless we own whatever it is that's being advertised. We are in a constant race not only with the neighbors, but with ourselves, to do more so we can gain more, so we can buy more, so we can complicate our lives more. Living simply in today's age of technology and endless possibilities is almost impossible. It would take a very strong personality to make the conscious decision to simplify their lifestyle.
I can say from personal experience I have lived simply. Not because I wanted to, but because I had to. I was born in Europe, in a communist country, where the word "simplicity" is not a choice; it is a lifestyle created from need. Most of my childhood memories do not include watching television, because there were no programs transmitted. So I played outside with other kids for the most part. Trust me, it doesn't get any simpler than that. Because while we certainly have our kids play outside here as well, they have the latest sports gear, bikes or scooters. I played with sticks and rocks. Nothing fancy about that. I look at my twelve year old brother who was born in the U.S., and he has a laptop and a Playstation 3, among many other equally expensive items. I moved to the United States at the age of fourteen. Even though my family went through many spells where we could only afford to live paycheck to paycheck, my definition of a "simple lifestyle" had already changed. Even the most modest life in the U.S. was comfort and abundance in comparison to what I had experienced in Europe. Having grown up and becoming an adult in the western society, I found that it was harder and harder to hold on to the "simple" concept, and to live "simply". I wanted more. I tried to fool myself a few times, telling myself that the simpler things, like good ethics, caring for others, good relationships, are the things that truly bring me joy. And don't get me wrong, they do. very much so. But they are not the only things that bring joy to my doorstep. It is hard to escape that nagging thought in the back of your head that keeps saying "you deserve more, this is not enough". So I fell prey to this lifestyle. And i can't lie: I like it.
We are bombarded with thousands of commercials each day; it is embedded in our brains that the more stuff we have, the better our quality of life will be. We bury ourselves in debt, buying more and more. Technology advances, medicine advances. We want the cool gadgets, we want that plastic surgery, the one that will make us look ten years younger, we want the flashy cars. Why not, we work hard for it, don't we? That certainly does not describe a "simple" lifestyle.
We live in a capitalist world, with very few exceptions. We are bred to work and consume. Every day we are asked to work more, consume more, only to turn around and work more and consume, consume, consume. More. Living simply takes the kind of personality that is becoming a dying breed. It takes enormous self-control. It takes real insight about what really, I mean really brings us joy. It takes the kind of person that can stop once in awhile and truly count their blessings and get more joy out of that than they would out of a shiny tennis bracelet. It takes a breed that is almost extinct. If you are able to live simply in today's society, then more power to you; you have seen the light and probably have more time and less stress so that you can enjoy the only thing we all only get one of: life. Congratulations. You are on your way to becoming one of a kind.
Learn more about this author, Irina Diaconescu.
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