I was thinking about how much I love good quotes. I love them all. Wise ones. Funny ones. Dumb ones. (Get a lot of these from Dubya Bush). And, I thought about doing a sort of "Quote of the Day" type thing on my blog. But, I know I won't do it everyday. So, it's just going to be whenever I think of it or want to. Thus, quote of the moment.
Quote for the 23rd minute of the 19th hour of the 20th day of the 10th month of the year 2008:
"A man is rich in proportion to the number of things he can afford to let alone."
-Thoreau-
I really like the philosophies of Thoreau. Christopher McCandless, the subject of the book and recent film, "Into the Wild," often quoted Thoreau and, it is widely believed that he lived by many of Thoreau's teachings. I loooooooovvvvvvvvvvvveeddddd this book, as well as the movie.
I've talked about it before. I won't bore you. If you want to know my thoughts, refer to my blog entry titled, "What's it all for?" I believe the simpler and less cluttered our lives are, the happier we are. Stuff, at the end of the day, is still just stuff.
I think this quote has something to do with that. Honestly though, I'm not sure I totally get it. What do you think?
I've included a video, from youtube. It is clips from the "Into the Wild" movie" set to some music from the soundtrack. The song is simply titled, "Society," and is sung by Eddie Vedder. It's become one of my favorite songs of all time. The message is powerful. More important, I believe the message is true.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
4 comments:
I like it. Especially the video. Hey I learned "Hard Sun" on guitar. There is one guitar tab site that has several of the songs from the "Into the Wild" soundtrack. I think they have society too. Anyway I could show you what I know next time I am over.
Ohhh and also, I also found this site that has a virtual guitar tuner that is awesome. Now I don't have to dig mine out every time Lincoln turns the pegs on my guitar.
http://www.chordbook.com/guitarchords.php
Just click on the link that says "TUNING [edit]" in the upper left hand corner. Then just click on the button representing the string you are tuning then it just keeps playing that note until you click it again. It is sweet. Also a helpful chord program as well on the main page.
Peace out.
That's a great song. Good quote too. I think you got the meaning exactly right. I went online and read some other people's explanations, and they were all along that line. Basically that you are richer when you can live with less.
This is a concept that I totally agree with, but find hard to live by. I have a little sister who I think does a lot better on this. She lives a very vegan, natural lifestyle in general but also just doesn't seem to feel the pressure to have lots of things. She recently moved to Kanab from Seattle to work at an animal shelter because it was her dream job. She doesn't make much, they have a car that is as old as she is, they live in a tiny apartment, their bed is the only real furniture they own, and yet she is one of the most content people I know.
I catch myself thinking thoughts like, this will be better when... I actually have things I have owned for years and never used because I have this vision of where I would use them in my dream house and it's like I feel that if I use them now I'm giving up that dream. Yet I should just be enjoying what I do have now.
I'm not sure how you get to that place of feeling content with what you have, but it's a place I would like to visit and someday live.
I just watched this movie, pretty powerful stuff. I have to say I was kind of sad through the movie. I felt that he was making a point that you can't let other people determine your happiness, which is a huge problem I have. Being able to feel happiness even when you are alone. I felt a little more hopeful in the end when he said that happiness is only real when it is shared. I guess the goal is to try and find the balance. Striving towards the saying that you can only someone else, if you love yourself. Finding that love for yourself not as you relate to other people, but just as yourself. Finding the balance between living in society and becoming part of society.
Post a Comment