I thought it might be fun to distill Chapter 1 of Thoreau's Walden into modern language, on Twitter.

What follows is my attempts to translate some of his ramblings and insights into something a bit simpler, twitter-friendly and fun to read and learn from.

Let's dive in

People have been asking what the hell I've been up to so I'm going to tell you. I'll talk about myself a lot, unlike my other writings.

People seem to work a lot and because of this, fail to enjoy some of the "finer fruits" of life. They have become machines.

Few people consider that they are the ones placing the biggest limits on themselves.

"Public opinion is a weak tyrant compared with our own private opinion"

Many people walk around in a state of despair or quiet resignation, scared of living fully. The despair is evident in how surface-level our amusements and games are. We desperately want to play, yet hold back because that wouldn't be seen as serious.

We are so deeply in this trap, that most people cannot imagine living any other way. This is a mistake. We should look for proof that the way we live is the best way.

"No way of thinking or doing, however ancient, can be trusted without proof."

I'm thirty and I haven't heard a single sentence worth a damn from people who are older than me. Isn't it shocking that no one seems to have any sort of wisdom worth listening to?

It seems that we've been coming up with stupid rules to make life more frustrating and to distract us from how beautiful it is
- Romans had rules over the ownership of acorns
- Hippocrates had all these damn rules about how to trim your nails

The anxiety and strain of so many today is a form of disease. We exaggerate the importance of the work we do and yet, we do so little!

We are so obsessed with the idea that we cannot change. We should recall Confucius , “To know that we know what we know, and that we do not know what we do not know, that is true knowledge.”

At the same time, we are not special. Our skeletons are the same as our ancestors.

"Most of the luxuries, and many of the so called comforts of life, are not only not indispensable, but positive hindrances to the elevation of mankind."

We see all that all these ancient philosophers, Chinese, Hindu, Persian, and Greek civilizations had rich inner lives.

Yet now we have professors of philosophy, but not philosophers.

"it is admirable to profess because it was once admirable to live."

We now have masses of people that have rich outer lives and missing inner lives

I've done lots of gigs, including reporter, volunteer weather spotter and wild animal keeper. I tried to land a cozy job but gave up. I dabbled making some baskets, but realized selling them was overrated.

"The life which men praise and regard as successful is but one kind."

So I decided to move to Walden Pond not because I wanted to live cheaply or simply but to to do business with minimal obstacles. I've always been a fan of teaching myself skills and thought I could dabble in the railroad and ice trade.

(Lots of thoughts on clothes)

People worry too much about how they look. They worry how others think of them and this blinds them to the fact that they don't have things worth doing.

"All men want, not something to do with, but something to do, or rather something to be."

(More thoughts on clothes)

It's kind of crazy that we make all our clothes in factories. It seems we are turning into the Brits and worrying more about enriching the corporations rather than dressing our citizens.

Shelter is now a necessity for life, but there are plenty of cases where this is not true. Also, kids love being outside, what is wrong with all the adults?

I used to see these 6'x3' boxed by the railroad and thought most people could make it in these, but I am being harsh.

Native Americans had it figured in the 1600s. Gookin, from the Massachusetts colony noted that, “The best of their houses are covered very neatly, tight and warm, with barks of trees.. I have often lodged in their wigwams, and found them as warm as the best English houses."

Now we have people spending the same that might buy a whole damn village of Wigwams! Crazy. People will literally work 10-15 years just to pay off a house. The Native Americans wouldn't trade places in a second!

Now lets talk about the farmers of Concord. They toil their whole life to become "owners" of their farms but then never really own these farms because they are in a permanent debt. I can't find a dozen people who own their farms free and clear. This is insanity!

This is something no one ever stops and thinks about. The formula for which these farmers are trying to solve the problem of "making a living" is more complicated than the actual problem of making a living!

The crazy thing about houses is once people own them they are often stuck. I know a couple on the outskirts of town who have been trying to sell to move into the village. They will likely die before they accomplish this.

Houses HAVE gotten better but they haven't actually done anything to improve the people inside them.

Palaces without kings, queens and nobility.

Amidst all this we have many people who make themselves poor because they convince themselves they need what their neighbors need.

We've made this weird transition where people have become the "tools of their tools"

Instead of picking fruit, we farm

The best art is about freeing ourselves from this, but we have forgotten the "higher state" so its a bit hopeless

Something about the Dutch living in holes in the ground in the 1650s but then as they discovered agriculture built handsome houses costing a lot of money.

So instead of just carrying these ideas I went to Walden pond in March 1845 and chopped down some trees. I borrowed the axe, which was kind of cheating (but I did return it sharper than I received it). There was some ice, but it melted on April 1st and I heard a goose cackling.

The house was finished over the coming months and I moved in on July 4th.

(lots of opinions about architecture)

COSTS
Boards $ 8.03½
Refuse shingles 4.00
Laths, 1.25
2 second-hand windows w. glass 2.43
1,000 old brick 4.00
Two casks of lime 2.40 (more than i needed)
Hair 0.31
Mantle-tree iron 0.15
Nails 3.90
Hinges + screws 0.14
Latch 0.10
Chalk 0.01
Transportation 1.40

Total: $28.12½

I will one day built a better house than all the other houses on main street in Concord but the key thing here is that this costs me less than a years worth a rent (ex. $30 a year at Cambridge College) and I own this thing forever!

I think more scholars should build their own houses and engage with the world. Really they should "live it from beginning to end" rather than study it or "play" life. It is a bit wild if you think about it that people who study Adam Smith or Ricardo put their parents in debt!

(makes the point he can walk places faster because people have to earn the wage to pay for the trip first)

I hoped to earn $10-12 from farming on my plot of land. My results:

Output: Twelve bushels of beans, and eighteen bushels of potatoes, beside some peas and sweet corn.

Revenue: $23.44
Costs: $14.72
Earnings: 8.71½

The next year I did even better!

Here are the expenses of some of the food I had on hand:

Yes I ate $8.74 worth of food!

In addition to the crops I sold, I also did odd jobs which earned me $13.34. So a total $36.78 earned altogether!

I invented the FIRE movement as you can tell!

(lots of comments on food)

(comments on furniture, which he built himself)

I was offered a mat to wipe my feet but considered that the beginnings of evil.

Back to the point...I more or less was able to cover my cost of living by only working about six weeks in the year. This gave me winters and most of my summer for studies.

I tried going to school but it was a pain to dress correctly. I tried trade but that would take ten years to be underway.

I used to try to confirm myself to the wishes of my friends to fit in, but have since learned trade curses everything it handles.

I will pause to comment here that it does appear some people really do love working. More power to them. But if you sense you won't enjoy your leisure, why not work twice as hard and earn your freedom? Hmm.

My take is that maintaining one's life on this earth is more like a pastime than a hardship and that if we live simply and wisely we probably wouldn't have to work so hard!

It still amazes me that people tell me they wish they could live like me if they "had the means." It seems this is a lack of imagination and we just follow in our parents footsteps.

We all should seek to find our own way!

People attack me for not doing enough good, though people misplace money for doing good. People should "spend themselves" with the money if they really cared.

Thus, philanthropy is overrated. We should pay attention to those whose lives and works are a blessing to the world.

I close the chapter with this poem