There is such a villager in Leshan Town, Zunyi, Guizhou Province, who has lived in seclusion in a cave for five generations for hundreds of years, and the government pays him to move out, but he refuses. They live a warm winter and cool summer, and live a life without contention, as if living in a "paradise."
This villager's name is Zhu Yingguo, and they live in wooden houses in the mountains, which are supplied with natural mountain spring water, and there are not even mosquito bites. Raising livestock and making wine are the main sources of income for the family.
In the eyes of outsiders, how comfortable it is to move to the town and how hard it is to be in this cave, but for the elderly, although they are not rich, they cannot experience the joy of living in nature.
It can be seen that a person's happiness is not completely based on material foundations, and a simple life can also be very happy.
This reminds me of a recently read illustrated collector's edition of Walden's Walden, which is the masterpiece of Thoreau, the "father of nature essays and poet of the earth".
At the end of March 1845, Thoreau came to Walden Lake, built a cabin, cultivated a small plot of land by the lake, surrounded himself by nature, and began his simple seclusion for two years, two months and two days.
During this period, in addition to doing things to maintain a minimum of life, he spent the rest of his time studying the flora and fauna in the forest, listening to the revelations of the natural world, and reading and writing. The first draft of A Week on the Concord and Merrimack Rivers was born, and he wrote Walden based on what he saw, heard, and thought on the shores of Walden.
This is also the main purpose of Thoreau's trip to Walden, to get away from the hustle and bustle of the world, and to do what he wants with as little distraction as possible.
When a person is far away from the hustle and bustle of the world, reduces material desires, unloads heavy burdens, simplifies life, and frees up time to embrace nature and taste life, he finds that all the troubles in this world are added to himself, and the simple life can be so interesting, and the original life can be lived like this······
Think about it, how many things in life are unnecessary, how many troubles are self-inflicted? Think about it, are you forced by life to become a machine, constantly running, never stopping to enjoy life? Think about it, are you overwhelmed by mortgages and car loans, and live a stressful life every day?
At present, we are just like the cat described by Natsume Soseki in the book "I Am a Cat" - human beings are too extravagant and wasteful, and they struggle to toss in terms of food and clothing, and in the end they complain that they are forced by life. It couldn't understand what humans were trying to do. And he said that he was very busy all day long! Obviously asking for trouble, almost exhausted to deal with it, but he shouted "bitter, bitter".
Judging from the bookkeeping of Thoreau's life for more than two years, you will find that there are many things in life that you don't need, and a lot of pressure comes from wanting to have those superfluous things, so that you are too busy to enjoy life and enjoy the gifts of nature.
Thoreau said, "Life is so precious, I don't want to live a life that is not life, I don't want to resign myself to fate, I want to live calmly, I want to live deeply, to suck out all the essence of life." I want to live tenaciously and reduce the living conditions to a minimum. ”
He believes that life is to be simple, simple, simple! simplify, simplify, simplify! simplify things into two or three things, not hundreds or thousands.
That's what he thinks, and that's what he does.
By simplifying everything, he can feel happiness that others can't. For example, in the morning, the thrush in the trees gives him a little song, in the woods, the wind plucks the pine needles like someone plucking the strings of a harp, making a buzzing tremor, and the distant mooing cow cry is like a singer serenade, which sounds beautiful and pleasant······
The hut where he lived had no yard, only unenclosed nature that led to his threshold. He immersed himself in nature, with the flora and fauna of the lakeside forest, and freely observed, listened, read, meditated and revered.
This also made me understand why Zhu Yingguo was reluctant to move to the county seat and stayed in the cave to live.
If you are busy and sad every day, you might as well squeeze out some time to watch "Walden", I believe you will understand how to live a more meaningful life.
Write at the end:
To read a book is to read the classics, to read the kind of books that can cleanse the soul and inspire oneself, and to choose a book with high appearance, just like this illustrated collector's edition of Houlang Literature, with hard shell binding, with exquisite illustrations, coupled with the original restoration of the translator Sun Zhili, it is extremely enjoyable in terms of vision and reading experience.
Whether it's reading or collecting, it's a very good choice.