All people can live a simple life without abandoning the civilized context by just appreciating nature. Choosing a simple life is the surest way to reduce costs and cleaning time by eliminating all the things that consume space yet are not valuable. Simple living encompasses a less hectic, procedural, and systematic life in decluttered areas that are not overflown by stress-causing junk. Many believe that living a simple life is only meant for the poor and is not enjoyable. On the contrary, the article “Where I Live and What I Lived For” explains that simple living is deliberate. Henry David Thoreau, the main character, decided to settle in a forest on the shores of Walden Pond to live to what nature could afford and live deliberately. His life shows the important basics of avoiding hectic and complicated life based on the lessons one could acquire from different places. Material wealth and possessions are fleeting and petty, and people should look for more deliberate reasons to live other than acquiring wealth. To make a simple living, one could help the needy and stay healthy to appreciate nature.
Living simply and deliberately helps an individual to be strategic and purposeful in their life. Notably, this is because it helps stabilize and have a more purposeful life. Deliberate simple living is related to making sole decisions rather than following orders around. Individual living purposefully identifies what they want and develops strategies on how to get it. At the same time, they welcome change and understand the significance of striking the iron while it is still hot. An article by Palacios suggests that “deliberate and purposeful living should include an individual’s vision and mission” (2). Thus, human life consists of a radical responsibility to create authentic life by deliberately choosing values and moral principles. Without such aspects, life is determined by external forces such as wealth, friends, and colleagues. In “Where to Live and What to Live For,” Thoreau discovers that he wants to live in the woods. For this reason, he abandons his civilized life and decides to live in the woods and reduce material desires that do not define his life purpose. Thoreau stated that “I wanted to live deep and suck out the marrow of life,” to describe his need to establish his primary goal in life (98). In other words, dying without meeting the sole life purpose would mean that an individual had not lived completely.
Living simply and deliberately allows an individual to search more within themselves. As Federico Lauria states, “people can find their passion, desires, and dreams while living a simple life” if they culture the willingness to make the best out of it (13). Thus, living means taking risks, digging deep, and making bold moves that people would call crazy. For example, an individual in the law field may desire specific legal actions in their country. With this, they may spend their lives digging for information on achieving their life goals till they win and leave a legacy. The first computer was created from desires, passions, and dreams, making the internet of things launch the global security of the information age (Zandbergen). The unfortunate thing about life is that most people are alive but not living. Notably, they run the basic daily activities without necessarily asking themselves what they want and move in the same direction as everyone else standing in their lines, living their life in a default state. Following desires and passion can make individuals happy since they get what they want (Lauria 10). Happiness comes from satisfying personal desires and being successful in risky actions. Hence it cannot be coerced, forced, or induced by other people.
Thoreau discovers that his life is in a default status and decides to take the risk of preceding all his material and wealth needs. In this pursuit, he abandons his civilized life and decides to settle “in a forest on the shores of Walden Pond” (Thoreau 93). While living in this village, David hoped that life would teach him something in line with his passion and desires. Thoreau states that “I went to the woods because I wished to live deliberately” to explain the desires and passion learned from a life without social conviction and obligations (93). While living in those woods, Thoreau achieved much through home owning and gaining more knowledge through reading, including the importance of learning English. Thoreau states that “reading true books in a true spirit is a noble exercise that customs an individual’s daily esteem” (95). Nevertheless, he understands that the exercise should be a deliberate exercise reserved by writers whose passions and desires are accompanied by reality, simplicity, and intentional actions.
Even with the positive aspects associated with deliberate and simple living, it influences a lot of individual freedom. In particular, this freedom can make people have irrational decisions that, at times, cost them their life. Some of the deliberate intentions they make in their lives can be influenced by emotions or social surroundings. Purposeful life can be negatively impacted, especially when people follow the desires and passions of others. Palacios claims that counseling specialists catalyze the renewal of relationships between someone and their livelihood purpose (3). For example, a child may live a non-purposeful life, becoming a medical practitioner to fulfill their parents’ desires.
To some extent, purposeful and simple living can also bring about pride. For instance, in the article “Where to Live and What to Live For,” Thoreau despises his townsmen for spending more time on body ailments than mental nourishment (Thoreau 82). Nossaman claims that Thoreau ignores the sacred writings of other religious groups like Hindus since he heavily believes in the “Holy Hebrew scripture” (855). Besides, he thinks that the art of reading has given him much power, making him blame the local class system for breeding noblemen rather than honoring the greater population (Thoreau 80). Worth noting that some of the actions performed by Thoreau could display some wrong aspects of living a simple and deliberate life.
Generally, Henry David Thoreau’s life in the article “Where I Lived, and What I Lived For” clearly suggests that people live purposeful and deliberate life. Life should not consist of just waking up and going to class or working daily. Instead, it should be clear goals and objectives that an individual wants to achieve before they die. People should have life essentials, and dreams, passions, and interests should guide their activities. When they follow the basic schedules and activities, then it means that living has a common purpose of achieving financial stability and gaining wealth. Deliberate, simple, and intentional living means that an individual can be innovative in thinking and take measurable risks to help develop ways to achieve particular goals. This is the access to facilities to substitute home experiences, including electric showers and spiced foods (Michael). According to Nossaman, Thoreau was innovative and creative enough to educate people about the importance of forest trees (584). Notably, this is a clear example that shows that following dreams and passion is worth living for and following. Despite the great advantages that come along with following own goals and desires, people should despise others. People should not resemble David Henry, who despises his Hindu townsmen simply because they do not have spiritual Hebrew books.
Works Cited
Lauria, Federico. “The “Guise of the Ought to Be”: A Deontic View of the Intentionality of Desire.” The Nature of Desire, edited by Federico Lauria and Julien Deonna, Oxford University Press, 2017, pp. 1-26. Web.
Michael, Chris. “How we Live Now: Inside the Revolution in Urban Living.” Guardian News & Media Limited, 2016. Web.
Nossaman, Lucas. “Laura Dassow Walls, Henry David Thoreau: A Life.” Christianity & Literature, vol. 67, no. 3, 2018, pp. 583-586. Web.
Palacios, Alfredo F. “A Life Deliberately Lived: An Existential Portrait of Authenticity, Freedom, and Responsibility in Counseling.” The Journal of Humanistic Counseling, vol. 60, no. 2, 2021. Web.
Thoreau, Henry David. “Where I Lived, and What I Lived For“. The Illustrated WALDEN with Photographs from the Gleason Collection, Princeton: Princeton University Press, 2015, pp. 81-98. Web.
Zandbergen, Dorien. “We Live in an Information Age: What does that Actually Mean?: Code of Future Internet Lab.” Wang Technology and Society, 2013, Web.