"I also have in my mind that seemingly wealthy, but most terribly impoverished class of all, who have accumulated dross, but know not how to use it, or get rid of it, and thus have forged their own golden or silver fetters."
Thoreau talks about the essential needs of man: food, shelter, clothing; putting them all under the category "warmth." Right before the above quote, he states that attaining these things should not lead to greater acquisition of the same things, but should lead to a freedom to explore and really live life.
His comment about the wealthy, although I am not fabulously rich, strikes at my heart. I am, compared to the world at large, wealthy and I live in a wealthy nation. The kicker is that my job, which funds my house, my car, etc. etc....all these things lead to confinement. I have to keep working this job, or I won't have money to pay the bills. I have to pay the bills or I can't keep my house and car. I have to have a place to live, and I have to have a car to get to my job. Marley warned Scrooge that his indifference created links in a chain of torture. Thoreau says our links are also of our own creation, forged from over-accumulation and, basically, just missing the point.
So after reading this, I think of Billy Crystal's character Mitch in "City Slickers." I think this movie should be a supplement to "Walden." Everyone should read the book and watch the movie at the same time. Because Mitch tells his wife that his self-forged chain of accumulation makes him "feel trapped" and he then proceeds to the wilderness to seek out "that one thing. Life is about one thing." Good parrallels.
Even as all these things swirl in my mind, the words of Jesus echo, "Go, sell all you have and give it to the poor." He knew the solution long before Thoreau thought of the problem.
How do we commit to that in daily life? How do we make that leap practically in the lives we're living? Is it possible to bring this philosophy into our lives, or do we need to leave our lives behind for something better? Just as Jesus, and Henry David, and Mitch discovered clarity in the wilderness, what can we do to go to the wilderness in our own lives (both literally and figuratively)?
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1 comment:
good thoughts.
I can't wait til we get to the "Spring" chapter of _Walden_. There is much there about the "need" for "wildness" and that's something I've thought hard about.
I too find that fight commence and I begin to wonder what the best thing to do is. Leave altogether? Slowly integrate? ... I hope this current reading of _Walden_ sheds more light on it.
-s.o
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