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Henry David Thoreau's masterwork, Walden is a collection of his reflections on life and society. In 1845, he moved to a cabin that he built with his own hands along the shores of Walden Pond in Massachusetts. Shedding the trivial ties that he felt much of humanity condemned themselves to, Thoreau reaped from the land both physically and mentally. Unlike others, who blindly accepted the conventional ways of civilization, he pursued truth, not in newspapers or business, but in the quiet nature, the simplicity of animals, and art from the likes of Homer. In Walden, he explains how separating from the world of men can truly awaken the sleeping self. Thoreau holds fast to the notion that you have not truly existed until you adopt such a lifestyle--and only then can you reenter society, as he did, an enlightened being. These simple but profound musings--as well as 'Civil Disobedience,' his protest against the government's interference with civil liberty--have inspired many to embrace his philosophy of individualism and love of nature.
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