Solitude
Last night when everything was settled finally, I took time to have a rest at the desk, and as usual held the book, Walden, in my hand to experience the fascinating world H. D. Thoreau reveals in front of me. At random I turned the page to
Solitude, and once again allowed myself to engross in it with no distraction.
It was quite quiet in the room, and even more when I was reading the book. Actually by and by I felt I myself was set in a deserted island afar. No one around.
No sound. No trace of being. But meanwhile it was soothing, because of his full-
of-wisdom thoughts. They are like elegant flowers blooming at night, sending out for whoever comes to them an unforgettable and everlasting fragrance.
I feel the like feeling, which I had experienced before, was well written by him
. What once I had thought was beyond words could tell was expressed by him both
precisely and coherently. Read this one: This is a delicious evening, when the whole body is one sense, and imbibes delight through every pore. I go and come with a strange liberty in Nature, a part of herself.
Haven’t you ever had such a similar moment? It doesn’t necessarily need to be
an evening, but every moment as you like. All of a sudden you feel that what is
around you becomes of no importance, only the thing made the feeling come to you
matters most. The thing could be a book, a song, or even just simply refreshing
Nature.
Thoreau told us that this whole earth which we inhabit is but a point in space,
how actually neglectable our so-called solitude was in comparison with the stars
afar in the remote sky, and instructed us by asking the question that what sort
of space that is which separates a man from his fellows and makes him solitary.
As it was said later, no exertion of the legs can bring two minds much nearer to
one another, if they meant not to be together. In life we may often hear people
complaining about how ennui and “the blues” bother him or her, and that how things would come to a change if he or she had someone as company.
But actually if we stop to ponder over it, we would find, as Thoreau said, that
solitude is not measured by the miles of space that intervene between a man and
his fellows. If ennui comes to one, it, more often than not, has nothing to do with whether or not he or she has got a company, and thus can be soothed by no others but the very one self.
Another thing that I also learn of Thoreau is that sometimes society is commonly
too cheap. As we dress ourselves and socialize around which we actually may have been able to avoid from, time has been lapsed with no trace left. And because
of it, we have to come close to each other that we may lose some respect for one
another.
It says with certainty that less frequency would suffice for all important and hearty communications. So if possible, why not like what the writer asserted, simplify, simplify, reduce all the redundant etiquettes to zero, whereas storing the time for future, or making use of it in some more worthwhile aspect?
“The value of a man is not in his skin (where he is), that we should touch him.
” Thoreau in this book always emphasized the importance of Nature. According to
his standpoint, many of us may have lived much simpler and more meaningful life
than we actually do, if we hadn’t limited ourselves in some things that we may
do without.
I can’t say that what the point of view the writer held stands for Truth, for one’s point of view tends to be influenced, more or less, by the times he was in
. Thoreau was born in America of 19 century, a time when a considerable amount of writers were affected by super-empiricism. So Thoreau was no exception.
But even so, who could ever deny that his works were not among the top list of books that not only changed his times but the times that followed as well, and not admit that his writings served not only as a record of contemplation of philosophy and life, but also as an appealing that called for people to read through the wisdom Nature and immoral works in the river of history which all somewhat had been forgotten long?
Caroline.
