Still we live meanly like ants;…it is error upon error, and clout upon clout, and our best virtue has for its occasion a superfluous and evitable wretchedness. Our life is frittered away by detail….. Simplicity, simplicity, simplicity!.... In the midst of this chopping sea of civilized life, such are the clouds and storms and quicksands and thousand-and-one items to be allowed for, that a man has to live, if he would not founder and go to the bottom and not make his port at all, by dead reckoning, and he must be a great calculator indeed who succeeds. Simplify, simplify. (Thoreau, Walden; Or, Life in the Woods. P.61. Google books http://books.google.com/books?id=wMDVLVduRdAC&lpg=PP1&pg=PP1#v=onepage&q&f=false)
There aren’t many things in my life that have had as well defined and long lasting effect as Thoreau’s Walden; Or, Life in the Woods. Judging, using one modern metric, from the difficulty of securing a blog using “simplifysimplify” or “simplicitysimplicitysimplicity” I am not alone.
When I read this passage in particular (about 15+ years ago), I had the rare, sought after but never found while seeking, sensation of the floor falling away, the clouds in my head clearing, the birds chirping, and the universe aligning. It branded itself into my mind instantly and never faded. And I’m someone who is terrible about remembering quotes, conversations, movies, or mystery plots. I quoted and discussed it incessantly, I gave gifts with the key phrases emblazoned on them, I wrote it places for self reminders, and it comes up for me again and again and again and is applicable to so many things; possessions, habits, relationships, routines, spending, patterns of thinking and behavior, conversations, actions. Did I miss anything? And I again think I’m not alone in realizing that we humans need simplicity yet tend to complicate, and are complicated.
So, that is going to be what I work on in this weblog, is these things that come up daily or show up as overall themes that benefit from a reminder to simplify.
What about you, (dear Reader, *ha!* couldn’t resist!)? What do you think about the passage, and how it applies to, or has applied to, your life? Or our society? What have you read or seen or heard that had a profound impact on you, that you carry with you? What universal truths have you uncovered and applied?
There aren’t many things in my life that have had as well defined and long lasting effect as Thoreau’s Walden; Or, Life in the Woods. Judging, using one modern metric, from the difficulty of securing a blog using “simplifysimplify” or “simplicitysimplicitysimplicity” I am not alone.
When I read this passage in particular (about 15+ years ago), I had the rare, sought after but never found while seeking, sensation of the floor falling away, the clouds in my head clearing, the birds chirping, and the universe aligning. It branded itself into my mind instantly and never faded. And I’m someone who is terrible about remembering quotes, conversations, movies, or mystery plots. I quoted and discussed it incessantly, I gave gifts with the key phrases emblazoned on them, I wrote it places for self reminders, and it comes up for me again and again and again and is applicable to so many things; possessions, habits, relationships, routines, spending, patterns of thinking and behavior, conversations, actions. Did I miss anything? And I again think I’m not alone in realizing that we humans need simplicity yet tend to complicate, and are complicated.
So, that is going to be what I work on in this weblog, is these things that come up daily or show up as overall themes that benefit from a reminder to simplify.
What about you, (dear Reader, *ha!* couldn’t resist!)? What do you think about the passage, and how it applies to, or has applied to, your life? Or our society? What have you read or seen or heard that had a profound impact on you, that you carry with you? What universal truths have you uncovered and applied?
you may have simplified too much if it has prevented you from posting more
ReplyDeleteYou inspired me
ReplyDeleteI have met my deadline, and am accepting no more. Now I want to live more thoughtfully and less chasingly, read more, and send letters. Simplify and pull out the fine pens.