Lives of Quiet Desperation
February 3, 2025
You can probably tell by now that I do not pick these destinations. They pick me. It might have been a stunning image. Or a quote that deeply resonated. In an Honors English class my senior year in high school I heard a quote that both intellectually and emotionally resonated with me. “Most men live lives of quiet desperation and go to the grave with the song still in them.” There was no Google search in 1962 so it took me a while to find out who said that. It turned out to be a quiet Harvard University graduate by the name of Henry David Thoreau almost 200 years ago. Who, despite his modest station in life, had an enormous transformative influence on powerful change agents who followed Thoreau like Gandhi, Martin Luther King, and John Muir.
Thoreau had lived in Concord, Massachusetts. So, when I left Bangor, Maine Concord, Massachusetts was my goal. Even more specifically, it was Walden Pond. For it was at Walden Pond where at 27 years of age, Thoreau tested himself. You see Thoreau had authored another profound quote. And he lived by himself in a tiny cabin in the woods from July 4, 1845 to September 6, 1847. Note: this was prior to the Civil War. Life for Thoreau was simple – by choice. Thoreau was testing himself to see if he could live his life deliberately. On purpose. And following his solitary experience, he wrote an American Classic called Walden. This was almost 200 years ago.
At barely 20 years old, a large part of my odyssey was to get a deeper sense of high integrity men who helped lay the foundation for the America of the Greatest Generation. And in Thoreau’s case, literally the world. For example, Thoreau deeply influenced Gandi who ultimately liberated 300 million Indians. And Gandi, like Thoreau, had no high office or political power. He had only his own moral example. Gandi, in turn, powerfully influenced Martin Luther King, another powerful change agent. I drove the final 250 miles to Concorn and Walden filled with a deep curiosity to learn. Who was this man? What gave him this powerful moral suasion?
After an overnight in a cheap motel near Concord, and an early bacon and egg breakfast, I drove out to Walden Pond. As I got out of my car, it was chilly and quiet. There was not another soul. I mindfully walked around the perimeter of Walden Pond until I came to the replica of Thoreau’s original self-built cabin. His cabin was truly humble and small, 10 feet by 15 feet. It contained only the essentials. He lived there over 2 years isolated in the woods.
In his book Walden, Thoreau expounds on the virtues of simple living in a natural setting. Experiencing the setting and seeing the cabin replica firsthand, Thoreau clearly practiced what he preached. And seeing the interior of his self-made cabin, underscored his commitment. Being lucky enough to experience Walden free of any other people, I got a taste of the quiet, the peace and the serenity that nurtured Thoreau. He not only read a great deal, he practiced a daily walking meditation of at least an hour every day. He carried a notebook and a pencil to record his astute observations of Nature. When he returned to his cabin, he recopied his notes and refined his thoughts. These became a component of his book Walden.
The perimeter of Walden Pond is 1.7 miles long. Emulating Thoreau, I mindfully walked around the lake observing nature, smelling the fresh, clear air and appreciating the simplicity and lack of distraction. Thoreau enjoyed this environment alone over 180 years ago. It is hard to imagine just how serene it must have been back in 1845 to 1847.
Thoreau deeply knew of what he wrote. He had lived more than 2 years by himself in a tiny cabin isolated in the woods near Walden Pond. A deeply sincere man, Thoreau had committed himself to a fundamental proposition: to discover if he could live deliberately. And by so doing to discover when he died, that he had not missed his life. When I first became aware of Thoreau, what he stood for and that he had, in fact, lived his life according to his explicit intensions, he deeply resonated with me. And I began to incorporate his philosophy into my life and live it to the best of my ability. Thoreau and what he stood for was a major motivation for me taking this trip. I was drawn to his quiet determination and the fact that he did live his entire life according to this profound intention. I felt powerfully drawn to touch his world in some small way and recharge my own commitment.
His tiny cabin stood alone and isolated in the woods. There was not another soul around. The feeling was one of a zen-like calm. Walden Pond lay still and peaceful. When I left after several hours, I felt I had experienced a small sense of Thoreau’s deep and gentle humanity.
When Thoreau died of tuberculosis at age 44 in 1862, he was known primarily as a nature poet. It turned out that Thoreau biggest and most lasting impact came as a result of an essay he wrote called “Civil Disobedience.” Gandhi first read Walden in 1906. He first read “Civil Disobedience” while he sat in a South African prison for the crime of non-violent protesting. The essay galvanized Gandhi and he called Thoreau one of the greatest and most moral men America has produced.
Martin Luther King first encountered the idea of non-violent resistance reading “Civil Disobedience” in 1944 while attending Morehouse College. As Martin Luther King wrote “No other person has been more eloquent and passionate in getting across the idea of non-violent resistance than Henry David Thoreau.”
Thoreau’s influence deeply impacted John Muir, the protecting of Yosemite Valley and the founding of the National Parks enjoyed by millions of Americans and their families every year.
As you can see, this soft-spoken but deeply passionate man who “walked his talk,” whose 200th birthday we recently celebrated had and continues to have enormous influence with his example and his writings. My visit to Walden Pond in 1964 is still vivid and affecting today.
We can nourish ourselves and our families in many ways. Reading and traveling are two of my favorite. I encourage you to feed your body (with awesome JDD shakes) and your soul with visits to places like Walden Pond and books like Walden.
I wish you health and courage in your struggles.
Joe