Attaining the Pastoral of Thoreau's "Walden"

“Both place and time were changed, and I dwelt nearer to those parts of the universe and to those eras in history which had most attracted me.”

~ Henry David Thoreau, Walden

After growing up in a city where the only dirt that hadn’t been covered in asphalt was littered with glass and rusted nails, I would welcome the opportunity to go barefoot in the grass. This desire is not unique, and the reason that so many people—artists, poets, musicians—have focused on nature is that it is a universal ideal that transcends cultures and time periods, as the quotation above suggests.

Thoreau suggests a solution to how we can attain this idyllic life. Instead of adding or even changing anything, he says to “simplify, simplify.” Our mistake, in pursuing technological progress and artificial development, trying to create paradise, is that it already exists. Nature is our ideal environment.

Source: https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg57ApmXvvuFqskpXGa99AzIUGDkq2Bk7wArjjxj9nyqmUG2N_GFRRgYzZIe3E-Fd2Xve-w4F1drhxZ16vzZaCqCD2S8WLTnr1_Lr0OikPIRWTwanOGfHKUUFAzir9F-skfZf3uaefamGg/s1600/simplify+pun.png

I’m uncertain about whether this is a viable solution, particularly today. Even if my ideal life could be created on a small scale through simple living, enacting it on a global scale would be considerably harder. And I don’t think that I, even in the perfect environment, could be content with the knowledge that the rest of the world was mired in corruption and turmoil. Also I really really like YouTube.