The American philosopher, poet and essayist Henry David Thoreau (1817-1862), left behind sentences that remind us of this what it really means to live. An overview of its meaning and why it explains a lot about human relationships.
Author of “Civil disobedience” (1849) and “Walden” (1854), was Surveyors, naturalists and even pencil makers. He was known for his defense of simple life and nature as well as individual freedom, advocating peaceful resistance to the state.
His thoughts were rediscovered a few years ago the publication of new editions of his works from different publishers and from diverse and even contradictory philosophical approaches (from environmentalists to liberal-libertarians, from communitarian progressives to anti-state radicals).
Documents about the author define him as “individualistic anarchist“, who never married or had a known partner. For Thoreau, there was no way to create a more individual yet equal bond than through love between friends, something that a noble or a king cannot use due to their asymmetry with their subjects.
In March 1845 on land that belonged to his friend Ralph Waldo Emerson (both figures of Transcendentalism) began building a cabin with his own hands on the shores of Lake Walden in Massachusetts. He lived there for two and a half years.
“I went into the woods because I wanted to live with one purpose: to deal only with the essential facts of life, to see if I could learn what he wanted to teach me, and not to find out when my time will comewho had not lived,” he wrote.
On its website the Spanish magazine bodyminda specialist in literature, psychology and other topics, emphasizes that his already named book Walden is “a defense of the simplification of life, the connection with nature and a criticism of modern society.”
This book was his most famous inspired by this experience in the woods, where he “contemplates the joys of solitude, self-sufficiency and the beauty of nature and criticizes society by advocating a simple and conscious lifestyle,” the text says.
Furthermore, they point out that “your ability to find deep meaning in the everyday aspects of life, his love for nature and their pursuit of a fulfilling life in harmony with nature continues to inspire generations.
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