One idea that would be considered very prevalent in Henry David Thoreau’s Walden is the awareness of how society creates a religion of materialism and unnecessary proprietary ownership. This is shown in the sense that man will work vigorously to achieve a goal that has no essential value but rather a superficial one. A man will work himself to exhaustion for something as frivolous and unnecessary as a new hat or firearm, knowing well enough that he already has one in perfectly good condition. Although there are several ideas presented in Walden, the focus of this assignment will be on how Thoreau believed that people lived for the wrong things in life. Before analyzing this idea and how it relates to society, it must be known why Thoreau
…show more content…
Instead of wasting your paycheck on a new sofa, it could be spent on buying necessities like food and clothing. Instead of spending six hours watching television, you could spend that time reading the works of Hegel and adding new beliefs to your personal philosophy. In short, people today could benefit greatly by becoming less materialistic. Many religions believe that in order to find happiness, people must stray away from materialistic belongings. In Buddhism, it is believed that by letting go of worldly possessions, one could reach spiritual perfection in the afterlife. Puritans believed in living plain and simple lives that were devoted more to religion than to possession, although it could be argued that their devotion to religion could go against this idea due to their extreme devotion having an effect of limiting personal philosophy and individual freedom. This idea can be seen in many forms of modern entertainment. The book, and later film, Into the Wild by Jon Krakauer is based on an autobiographical account of a man, Christopher McCandless, who wished to live in the wild with no contact from the outside world in a sense to better himself by disconnecting with the modern world, however he died shortly into his journey. During the 1960s, folk music contained many Transcendentalist themes about awakening one’s self from a materialistic and superficial
Instead of wasting your paycheck on a new sofa, it could be spent on buying necessities like food and clothing. Instead of spending six hours watching television, you could spend that time reading the works of Hegel and adding new beliefs to your personal philosophy. In short, people today could benefit greatly by becoming less materialistic. Many religions believe that in order to find happiness, people must stray away from materialistic belongings. In Buddhism, it is believed that by letting go of worldly possessions, one could reach spiritual perfection in the afterlife. Puritans believed in living plain and simple lives that were devoted more to religion than to possession, although it could be argued that their devotion to religion could go against this idea due to their extreme devotion having an effect of limiting personal philosophy and individual freedom. This idea can be seen in many forms of modern entertainment. The book, and later film, Into the Wild by Jon Krakauer is based on an autobiographical account of a man, Christopher McCandless, who wished to live in the wild with no contact from the outside world in a sense to better himself by disconnecting with the modern world, however he died shortly into his journey. During the 1960s, folk music contained many Transcendentalist themes about awakening one’s self from a materialistic and superficial