Author | Jin Shan Yue
Anchor | Fan Deng Reading · Jia Luo
Interpret the trailer
Meet · Meet your unknown self in the book.
Good evening to all book lovers, welcome to the reading column "Encounter" produced by Fan Deng Reading.
When it comes to loneliness, what comes to mind?
The American writer Thoreau has a classic saying: "If I really speak to the clouds, you must not be surprised, the city is a place where millions of people live alone together." ”
Today I would like to share with you Thoreau's collection of essays, Walden Lake.
May you walk with loneliness and give the heart the space and time to settle down.
More than 170 years ago, a 28-year-old American young man carrying an axe came to the White Pine Forest on the shores of Lake Walden.
Here he cut wood and built houses, opened up land and cultivated land, and began a life of isolation.
In the next two years, he accompanied the mountains and rivers and stars, talked with the fish of Asuka Lake, and used ethereal brushstrokes to write the bitterness and pleasure of seclusion into a collection of essays "Walden Lake".
And this person who runs counter to mainstream society and dares to go against the current is the "naturalist" - Henry David Thoreau.
Thoreau once said:
A man will only succeed if he moves in the direction that his dreams guide and strives to live the life he wants.
In the marathon of life, everyone runs in different directions and paces.
Only by running in our own rhythm can we steadily pass through the storm and enter the warm halo.
Thoreau lived in an era when the economic development of the United States was on the rise in the 19th century, and the whole society made great strides towards industrial civilization.
In the turbulent era, everyone chases after me on the track of life.
Some people look at the timing, quickly accumulate wealth, and lead the times; some people keep their ancestral business and barely fall behind;
Some people, returning to their hometowns to cultivate the land, directly give up catching up; some people, no matter how hard they try, are far behind.
Thoreau is the "jogger" who is left behind, and the "poor man" who can never run in front.
After graduating from Harvard, Thoreau worked as a newspaper reporter, but his manuscript was never approved by the editor-in-chief;
Followed his brother to run a private school, but went bankrupt due to poor management;
Later, he followed his father to make pencils, and finally achieved small results, but he took the initiative to give up.
For Thoreau, whether it was a farmer, a merchant, a teacher, or a surveyor, it was not his ideal.
He didn't want to be like everyone else, enduring the torture of work and the persecution of life for a beautiful house or a big meal.
As a result, as the people around him became richer, Thoreau became poorer and poorer, and he couldn't even afford to pay the rent.
Whenever he was advised to learn from others, Thoreau would say indignantly:
I'd rather sit on a pumpkin than squeeze in a velvet chair with you.
I'd rather be free in an ox cart than take a luxury cable car and breathe with you.
In his view, the most important thing in life is not to surpass others, but to run out of their own rhythm.
In 1845, Thoreau bid farewell to the bustling city and came to Concord, Massachusetts alone.
With the help of friends, he owned a wasteland on the hillside next to Walden Lake.
In the book, Thoreau confesses that his purpose in Walden Lake was not because of the low cost of survival, but to live an ideal life.
In the arena of life, everyone's rhythm is different.
Some people start to win, some people are late, some people are mediocre, and some people are eliminated.
A person's dreams, abilities, luck... We can all become the variable that distances us from others, and we can never be in step with everyone.
On the road to success, there may be a difference between fast and slow, but as long as you take life seriously, the meaning of life is not high or low.
No one has to live for others, you just need to step on your own drum and lead life.
When Thoreau first arrived at Walden, he was confronted with countless problems that needed to be solved.
The first is residence.
He had to build a house as soon as possible, so early in the morning he took an axe into the black primeval forest, cut down the logs, and carried them down the hill.
These physical strengths are really unbearable to live, but Thoreau feels that the physical energy that has been suppressed for many years is instantly awakened, and there is no end to the energy every day.
Because of the limited budget and the lack of time to cultivate the land, for a long time, he could only eat purslane and corn flour to fill his hunger.
Many nearby villagers advised him not to live here, saying that a man who left bread and pork could not live at all.
But Thoreau told them in action that even if he only ate coarse corn flour, he could still be physically strong.
In fact, the real test for Thoreau was not hunger, but winter on Walden.
Winters here last for three or four months, and on snowy days, Thoreau's cabin is as cold as an ice cellar.
But he had a way, he climbed into the snowy forest to carry the dead wood home, lit a fire day and night, and thickened the walls with stucco.
There were few visits throughout the winter, and every cold night, Thoreau stood alone with the jumping flames, listening to the wind outside the house.
He seemed to hear the tones from the wind sweeping the ridge, and they were like tragic epics, and he seemed to see the goddess in the long skirt fluttering, dancing on the mirror surface of Walden Lake.
In this way, Thoreau lived happily in his ideal country like an ascetic.
Many people have advised him to seek a "legitimate" career, even if it is to go to the farm to do odd jobs.
But Thoreau said:
"I would rather go to the mountains and pick up berries aimlessly, I don't ask for much, so why do I do something I don't like and let myself be exhausted?"
The hard days of Walden Lake, instead of shattering Thoreau's original intention, gave him a stronger idea and allowed him to devote himself to his life.
Once a person is determined to live for himself, he will maintain a calm and optimistic attitude in the face of all kinds of difficulties.
They will walk in their own rhythm, not flustered, not impatient.
Neither will the outside world be disturbed by the noisy sounds of the mind, nor will it be frightened into surrender by the dilemma in front of us.
No matter what kind of life you choose, you will inevitably have to meet the challenges of fate.
What we need to do is to cultivate a strong heart and inspire ourselves to go on bravely.
In the book, Thoreau tells us eloquently about his first boating on Walden Lake.
It was a summer morning, and he was holding a flat boat, swaying on the mirror-like lake.
When he reached the center of the lake, Thoreau lay down on his back, and before he knew it, he fell asleep.
When I woke up, I found that the waters of the lake had pushed the boat to the shore.
He said that his heart was as free as a bird, as if he were sleeping instead of sleeping, and felt the god of fate flashing in his dreams.
Although the days on Walden Lake were hard, Thoreau experienced a quiet and joyful experience that he had never experienced before.
Every day he was here, he received an invitation from nature.
Sometimes it's a breeze with the scent of flowers, sometimes it's a shy reed bird, sometimes it's a stupid rabbit who gets lost.
Whenever Thoreau walked into the forest, he felt that the primordial life force was awakened, and the whole person was refreshed.
In Walden, Thoreau also played a "Song of the Evening" for us.
When the night is dark, first from the far side of the horizon, there is the mooing of cattle.
Immediately after, dogs barked and birdsong accompanied by the sound of wind and water.
This symphony of nature makes Thoreau not lonely on a lonely night.
In the book, Thoreau can't help but sigh:
"My heart is free, and joy and happiness fill my cabin."
In a free state of mind, Thoreau began to meditate and meditate, looking outward at the heavens and the earth, and exploring the nature of the human heart inward.
He read many books, wrote many essays, and met many people of insight.
The days of Walden have reshaped Thoreau.
He is no longer a "loser" who has achieved nothing, but has lived himself as a spruce that takes root downwards and does not forget the sky.
Thoreau's story reminds me of a passage by Haruki Murakami:
No matter what everyone in the world says, I think that my feelings are correct, no matter what others think, I will never disrupt my rhythm, I can naturally stick to the things I like, and what I don't like can't last long.
Only by doing what they like can people feel true and eternal happiness.
If we always copy the lives of others step by step, even if we succeed, we will give up our self-determination.
Let's not look for ourselves after we have been wronged.
We must see our hearts clearly from the beginning, abandon external interference, and plan an ideal path for ourselves.
A reader once wrote to Thoreau after reading Walden, saying that he wanted to follow in his footsteps and go to the wild to live alone.
Unexpectedly, Thoreau resolutely refused, and told him:
"Everyone should follow their hearts and live a unique self."
There are no two identical leaves in this world, and there are no two identical people.
Only by taking our own path and being at our own pace can we live this life well.
As Tagore said:
"The best things always come out of nowhere, so you don't have to rush to the road, at your own pace, and walk through every day."
Click "Watching", see yourself clearly, and bravely fly over the lofty mountains, like a free bird, flying to your peak.
Column Director | Come slowly
Typography | Zheng to the north
Music | believe