Was Henry Thoreau Right?

Henry David Thoreau, American writer and Transcendentalist mystic, has for the greater portion of my life served as a heroic "reference point" for both my life and spirituality. His "retreat" to Walden Pond became, of course, his most famous book, but more, it has inspired succeeding generations in looking to nature and in listening to their "inner voice" in the crafting of their lives. 

Could he not be a guiding light for us today as we grapple with a pandemic and the collapse of our normal, daily, lives into something very alien to us?

​As social distancing is taking an uncomfortable charge of our lives, perhaps the Rebel Sage of Concord can lend us a word or two and so help us cope with these scary changes...

I don't need to actually pull my Thoreau books off the bookshelf to know what he'd likely say: Simplify! Simplify! Simplify! That this single word, repeated three times, is the heart and soul of Thoreau is known by all of his devotees -- even by the many who outright reject him as a crank, as a relic of a time that never really was...

But, on the other hand, this idea of "simplify" is the hallmark of both sanity and the sage... And, it has more to do with our minds than it does with the objects of either our work or our pleasure. To be certain, Thoreau held in disdain the rising of an industrial society built upon the necessity of slavery (and he was briefly jailed for his rebellious mind and acts of resistance). Thoreau's "simplify" was a simplification that would allow us to see clearly and to choose to live for those things of genuine value...

​A mind that chooses to begin to walk the path of simplify, is a mind that gives little account to the advertiser as to what the good life is: the advertiser is about the cultivation of endless wants: wants to put big money in pockets other than yours!

​A mind that chooses to begin to walk the path of simplify, is a mind that puts no man (politician, banker, CEO, and other so-called leaders) above her new ability to think! 

A mind that chooses to begin to walk the path of simplify, is a mind that puts neighbor and relationships above other supposed goods. Conviviality is not a real possibility in the midst of social distancing: but this absence only proves the point...

Henry Thoreau would object to me carrying on too much about his advice of simplify, because at this point in time, we should all be understanding that the core of our lives is in the simple pleasures that we take for granted -- too often! I once wrote a poem that I gave to a young man heading off to join a Buddhist monastery, and two lines from that poem perfectly describe our current "pandemic oppression" and Thoreau's philosophy: we are as rich as our next breath, and as poor as our last...

Thoreau's example of simple living at Walden Pond always included long walks to greet neighbors, to see the going-ons in town, and most importantly, to have supper with his Mom before sauntering off to his cabin once again... In our own different ways, we need to reach out to neighbors with our version of how 'ya doing? And call Mom, and everyone else whom you love -- perhaps even those you dislike -- and let them know that they are not forgotten... and that you care... for it is precisely in caring that we add true wealth to our inevitable last breath... 

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