With these words, Henry Thoreau ended his world-famous masterpiece, "Walden", neatly summarizing the essence of both his book and his life: that we are all on a journey of awakening to the divine fullness of Life. Like the writings of great saints and mystics through time, "Walden" is less one man's philosophical musings than it is the ecstatic outpouring of a soul that has "dipped into the well of eternal Truths" and held up the dipper for the rest of us to drink from.
But the real wonder of "Walden" is that it speaks even more to the problems of our nation today than it did 150 years ago -- that we are living "lives of quiet desperation", our souls drowning in a sea of materialism and media messages, our natural environment poisoned and obliterated before our slightly-open eyes. We are out of touch with the rhythms of nature and with our own beingness.
Yet Thoreau does not merely describe the problems of our time, he gives specific solutions -- solutions that are increasingly respoken if not practiced: Follow a different drummer. Follow not your neighbor nor your parents nor anyone else, but follow the genius within yourself. Sit still and listen to the divine music within. Simplify.
There's a reason Thoreau's "Walden" has never been out of print since the 1860's, and possibly never will: it's a message we need to hear, more than ever.
