Walden begins with the narrator informing his audience that this book was written in answer to questions posed about his two-year stay at Walden Pond. He hopes to explain the spiritually rich life he enjoyed and, at the same time, through presenting the example of his own life, teach his readers something about the shortcomings and possibilities of theirs. While living at the pond, he had the opportunity to view society from the outside and see that, in contrast to his happy situation, most men "lead lives of quiet desperation." While continually perfecting his life by living simply and close to nature, he could see other men wasting their lives by frantically scurrying here and there, foolishly chasing after wealth and social status which could never fulfill their deepest needs. He can only regretfully conclude that modern man, obsessed with material gain, has "not leisure for a true integrity . . . he has not time to be anything but a machine." The narrator is especially saddened that even farming, an activity which allows men to live close to the spiritually elevating influences of nature, has lost its noble character and has become simply another enervating and dehumanizing way to accumulate wealth and property.
The narrator's stay at Walden taught him that no one need resign himself to a dreary, drudging life; no man has to be "so occupied with the factitious cares and superfluously coarse labors of life that its finer fruits cannot be plucked." The narrator found that all men may confidently hope for a better life. They need take only the first step toward perfection: self-criticism. For all men, there is hope if they are willing to take a critical view of their lives, as the narrator has so acutely done, and then set about reforming themselves.
The narrator believes that once a man critically reviews his life he will immediately discover a major hindrance to personal growth and happiness: the blind acceptance of traditional, conventional ways of living as handed down by previous generations. Too many individuals unquestioningly accept what their parents and grandparents believed to be the meaning of life; this is the root of man's present predicament. The narrator scoffs at the materialistic view of life that enjoys such popular currency. He advises his readers to embark on life as he has done, approaching it as a unique, personal experiment. No one should be tied down by society's definition of himself or life, but should confront life in a new, fresh way. By discarding those values of society which are worthless and sometimes dehumanizing, each individual would be able to discover life's meaning for himself. This is exactly what the narrator achieved by living at Walden, and it is what made possible his consequent spiritual growth as an individual.
The most dehumanizing of our traditional values, the narrator says, is the emphasis placed on property. To those smothered and enslaved by property, he offers the lesson he learned from critically evaluating his life: freedom to adventure upon the real concerns of life comes only after one has reduced his belongings to those things which are absolutely "necessary of life." While other men spent all of their time and energies piling up luxuries and maintaining their superabundant property, the narrator moved to Walden, reduced his needs to a bare minimum, and thus had the time and peace of mind to approach seriously the task of creating a fulfilling way of life. He knew that clothing, shelter, food, and fuel were the basic essentials for survival. And, unlike others, he did not slave his life away to acquire the latest clothing from Paris, a palatial estate, luxurious food, and costly fuel. He wore inexpensive but durable clothing. He borrowed an axe and built a simple, comfortable cabin for $28.12½, and kept his furniture to a minimum: a bed, a table, three chairs, cooking utensils, a lamp, and a desk. At first he kept a piece of limestone on his desk, but later he threw it away when he discovered how much time had to be spent in dusting it. He cultivated a small garden of beans, potatoes, corn, peas, and turnips that provided him with most of his food, and made a profit of $8.71½ by selling his surplus produce. He collected his fuel, free, from the woodside. What little extra money he needed, he earned from various day-labor jobs; he found that a man is able to support himself for a year with what he can earn in a few weeks. He advises his readers to follow his example by similarly simplifying their lives. Once out of the economic rat race, he said, they will have the leisure and tranquility to study, meditate, enjoy nature, and begin creating a spiritually rich life. Like the narrator, they will find that life can be a cause for celebration; life does not have to be a reason for weary complaint.
The narrator concludes this chapter by advising his readers not to go out and try to change the world once they have thrown off the fetters of tradition and materialism. The beginning of all real reform, he says, is the perfection of each individual. Once an individual has critically observed his shortcomings, his first step in reforming his life should be to turn inward, as the narrator did when he left society, and discover what he, alone, is capable of being. Within his self, he will discover a near-infinite potential for spiritual perfection which can be actualized. If, like the narrator, he designs his life to realize his potential for spiritual perfection, and avoids the world of trade which "curses every thing it handles," life will become a constantly growing state of ecstasy.
