SNORT!
If you ever dated an intelligent girl in college you probably have a dusty little book named WALDEN sitting on the shelf right there next to your computer.
You don't even have to read beyond the first chapter to realize it's a work of true genius. I've never needed to read any further. That first chapter alone stokes you up enough to throw the book down and git er' dun, so to speak.
Here's just a few choice cuts... all from the first chapter.
But men labor under a mistake... laying up treasures which moth and rust will corrupt and thieves break through and steal. It is a fool's life, as they will find when they get to the end of it, if not before.
Most men, even in this comparatively free country, through mere ignorance and mistake, are so occupied with the factitious cares and superfluously coarse labors of life that its finer fruits cannot be plucked by them.... They have no time to be anything but a machine.
The mass of men lead lives of quiet desperation.
...(I)t appears as if men had deliberately chosen the common mode of living because they preferred it to any other. Yet they honestly think there is no choice left.... It is never too late to give up our prejudices. No way of thinking or doing, however ancient, can be trusted without proof.
Most of the luxuries, and many of the so-called comforts of life, are not only dispensable, but positive hindrances to the elevation of mankind.
None can be an impartial or wise observer of human life but from the vantage ground of what we should call voluntary poverty.
To be a philosopher is not merely to have subtle thoughts, nor even to found a school, but so love wisdom as to live according to its dictates, a life of simplicity, independence, magnanimity, and trust.
Try saying "magnanimity" 5 times fast!
I got only my labor for my pains. However, in this case my pains were their own reward.
...(I)nstead of studying how to make it worth men's while to buy [stupid shit], I studied rather how to avoid the necessity of selling [stupid shit].
I substituted "stupid shit" because long-dead HTD was talking about selling baskets. My mom sells baskets so I can't rag on that, even unintentionally. Her baskets are beautiful.
Equipment for kiting, skiing, and climbing isn't stupid shit. They get people out of the box. Farting around with them is a celebration of freedom and the beauty of life. Recreation recreates reality, and one perfect moment will stay with you for life.
Lookin' good, Benny.
I could quote HTD all night long (with the book in hand) by just flipping pages. The whole book oozes freedom, simplicity, and the joy to be found in the natural (aka actual) world.
Its time for bed, however. All this stress and the cold, shitty fall weather is making me sick. And reminding me its past time to go.
Skiddily,
Max
