摘 要

《瓦尔登湖》是美国十九世纪哲学家、超验主义作家亨利·大卫·梭罗的代表作品，在美国文学史上具有重要地位，记录了梭罗在美国马赛诸塞州瓦尔登湖湖畔，为时两年的自给自足的独居生活以及随想。这本书是对回归自然环境以及简朴生活的思考的记录，是对一项关于独自生活、降低物质需求、探索精神世界的实验的记录。如今二十一世纪，随着科技、经济、以及媒体的发展，消费主义、拜金主义、物质至上的思想兴起并逐渐盛行于全球。然而物质生活水平的提高并没有给多数人带来幸福，相反，现代人在物质的洪流中逐渐迷失自己，正面临着空前的精神危机。本文主要探讨《瓦尔登湖》中的一些思想，如简朴生活、回归自然等，为解决现代人的精神危机能够起到的作用。

关键词：《瓦尔登湖》；亨利·大卫·梭罗；消费主义；现代精神危机

Abstract

Walden is the masterpiece of Henry David Thoreau, an American philosopher and transcendentalist writer in the 19th century. It records Thoreau’s self-sufficient life about two years besides Walden Pond, Massachusetts, America. The book is also a record of a life of going back to nature and simplicity, and of an experiment of living with self-reliance, restrained material needs, as well as explorations of human’s spiritual world. In the 21st century, with the rapid development of science, economy and media, consumerism, money-worship and materialism has emerged and are now prevailing all over the world. However, a richer material life does not bring happiness to most of people. On the contrary, modern people are getting lost in the overwhelming trend of material, and are facing an unprecedented spiritual crisis. The paper discusses some thoughts and ideas in Walden, such as life of simplicity, return to nature, combined with the psycho of masses that can works in saving modern people from spiritual crisis.

Key Words: Walden; Henry David Thoreau; consumerism; materialism; modern spiritual crisis

Contents

1 Introduction 1

1.1 Thoreau and American Transcendentalism 1

1.2 Thoreau and Walden 2

2 The importance of the masses, the psychology of masses 4

3 Current situation 7

3.1 Social factors of the “Walden” time and nowadays 7

3.2 Modern spiritual crisis 8

3.2.1 Materialism 8

3.2.2 Consumerism 9

3.2.3 Spiritual wasteland 11

4 Connection between Walden and modern people 14

4.1 The ideas in Walden that can fit modern society and benefit modern people 14

4.2 Negative opinions about modernization in Walden 17

4.2.1 Negative opinions that worth learning 17

4.2.2 Negative opinions that cannot fit in modern society and weakness of Walden 19

Conclusion 21

References 22

Acknowledgements 23

Walden- A Medicine for Modern Spiritual Crisis

1 Introduction

1.1 Thoreau and American transcendentalism

Thoreau’s philosophy can be seen generally as transcendentalist philosophy. There are three main viewpoints of American transcendentalism: First, the transcendentalism believes there exists an ideal spiritual entity that transcends experience and science, that is, the over soul. The over soul contains everything, exists in everywhere, everything originates from it and belongs to it, and human spirit, which is consistent with the over soul, can grasp and understand it through intuition. Second, individual is an essential part of society, social changes and developments must be achieved through the cultivation and perfection of individuals. Third, to look at nature from a new perspective, to think that nature, which has its own life, is a symbol of the over soul and God, and is of vital importance (Ba, 2017). Therefore, people should use their intuition, should return to nature, integrate themselves into nature, and achieve the harmony between nature and human being. In short, the transcendentalism advocates that all things are dominated by the "over soul", that everything in human world is a microcosm of the universe, and that people can transcend feeling and reason and directly understand the truth. It can be said that transcendentalism is endowed with the function of "mirror" of nature, through which humans have the opportunity to communicate with God, and nature can be regarded as an intermediary carrier for human beings to convey spiritual needs (Fu, 2017).

Henry David Thoreau believes that it is because of the nature's feeding that human beings can survive for a long time. Therefore, there is commensalism that exists between the essence of human beings and nature (Gan, 2018). People are a part of nature and should live in harmony and intimacy with nature and all natural creatures. People should, based on love, awe and adore nature. Based on what have been mentioned above, Thoreau decides to devote himself to the nature and practice transcendentalist doctrine, so that he reaches the Walden Pond to live a simple life that integrated into nature. During this period, he tries to figure out what he lives for and to understand the essence of nature and life.

1.2 Thoreau and Walden

Walden, the most famous masterpiece of Henry David Thoreau, a 19th century American writer, philosopher and representative of transcendentalism, has a profound influence on the history of American literature as a product of a new and exceptional way of thinking and living. Thoreau begins his residence at Walden Pond from the end of March 1845, though for the rhetorical and dramatic purposes he announces in Walden that he starts his abode in the woods on the Independence Day, on 4 July 1845. He stays in his cabin until 6 September 1847 and spends exactly two years, two months and two days at Walden Pond.

The work Walden, presenting the period of sojourn at Walden that is condensed into a fictional one year, is a record of description, observation and moral instruction that begins with Thoreau’s declaration of independence and ends with the autumn next year. Thoreau watches the process of seasons and records it in Walden. In Walden, there are changes in plants and animals as summer moves into autumn, autumn into winter, then winter into spring, thus indicating the cycles of the nature and emphasizing the symbolic relationships between natural and human. The reason he leaves the pond is as good a reason as he went there. Thoreau says it seemed to him that he had more lives to live, and could not spare any more time for that one near the pond (Thoreau, 1854).

By moving to Walden Pond, Thoreau shows his refusal to live a life of middle-class comforts. Actually, his attitudes are often refusing, which can be found in his refusal to pay the poll tax, a tax that he thinks will be given to support war and the corrupt state. His refusal often shows in his political attitude. If the guiding question of political theory is the question “why ought I to obey the state”, Thoreau’s reply denies both the question and the subject (Claridge, 2003). Nevertheless, this aspect in Thoreau indicates that he is optimistic about human nature, for he believes that the natural goodness of human being can guide people’s behaviors better than parties and social institutions. His thoughts about human lives and conditions, as well as his optimism, are governed by his morality, which has much to do with him as a transcendentalist.

2 The importance of the masses, the psychology of masses

As one of the beliefs of American transcendentalism, individual is an essential part of society. During the progress of human societies, there are a good many of examples that a social change is led by of the thoughts, works, or discoveries of a particular person or a special group. This can certainly confirm the great power of individuals. Therefore, if individuals are gathered, the power of groups, or masses, will be beyond imagination.

When people gather, their feelings and thoughts all turn into almost the same direction, each individual’s personality will disappears, thus forming a group psycho (Le Bon, 1895: 3). Meanwhile, the individual who is in the group will also feel an overwhelming force, which gives him courage to let out his primitive desires that he must restrain when he acts as an individual. It is difficult for him to prevent himself from the temptation of the idea that the group is anonymous and he therefore does not have to be blamed for what he will do. As a result, the sense of responsibility that always disciplines individuals almost disappears completely. That is why the intelligence of individuals will be weakened, and thus their personality is weakened in group psychology. People are easily driven by all kinds of thoughts, feelings and customs, which can be called human nature. The systems and laws of a society are the external manifestations of human nature and reflect its needs (Le Bon, 1895: 2). The various systems and laws - the product of human nature and characteristics - cannot change their producer. The only important change that can lead to a transformation in a civilization is the change of people’s thoughts, ideas and beliefs, which is, in other words, the change of group psychology. An unforgettable historical event is nothing more than the visible consequence of an invisible alteration of group psychology. Therefore, great attention must be paid to group psychology, a powerful force that surges in every society every day. Even though it can seldom be fierce enough to subvert a society or a civilization, it can still degenerate the general mood of a society and do harm to all the people in that society - not in a superficial way since people are making themselves more decent with the development of commercial, social media and economy, but make them lose their minds in the tide of modernization and deprive them of happiness.

However, as it has been discussed, what can truly govern group psychology is not those indifferent and inalterable rules, regulations or laws, but something that can attract people. Nowadays, the world is almost completely under the command of money worship and consumerism. Considering the common interests of human beings along with what have been mentioned above about group intelligence, the reduction of subjective well being and the corrupt of human beings tend to proceed even faster. The singularity of the environment can cause the singularity of group psychology, which is hard to change. Social developments must be achieved through the cultivation and perfection of individuals. In order to stop the degeneration of modern society and modern people, individuals should inject themselves some fresh thought and ideas – thoughts and ideas that can sweep away the dust of materialism and consumerism in their minds and guide them to pay more attention to spiritual world and to achieve spiritual richness. Individuals form groups, groups form masses then a refreshed masses psycho will be formed, thus the general mood of modern society be refined, and modern people be saved from spiritual crisis.