“The Mass of Men Lead Lives of Quiet Desperation.” This is a famous Thoreau quote from his book Walden. I have been sitting with this statement for a bit. For me there rings a lot of truth in it. It stems from a simple life with simple needs which Walden was finding in time alone. There is an essay written on this saying by Mike Turitzin on his site. Mike goes on to say “He (Thoreau) thinks misplaced value is the cause: We feel a void in our lives, and we attempt to fill it with things like money, possessions, and accolades. We think these things make us happy. When they don’t, we just seek more of them.” I agree with his thought and I have experienced it.
Men look for their fulfillment outside of themselves, and perhaps Thoreau in his silence, found the fulfillment inside of himself.
To take this idea further I came across this Joe Rogan YouTube video, embedded below. He goes on to say it is one of his favourite quotes. He just wants to run away, how to get stuck there? Bills, commitment, car lease, mortgage, kids, he goes on to responsibilities of material world crush your freedom to be. One takes the safe path, not chances on your true calling, the safe path leaves you stuck in quiet desperation selling insurance or some other soul sucking job. Most people don’t go after what they truly want, the consequences of not doing is horrific. Joe does bring up some great points, and they resonate for most people.
Taken to a Higher Perspective.
There is a passage on page 75 of Neale Donald Walsch’s Conversations with God book 1. It helps to read the book to this point and grasp the truth of who you are, as most people do not understand this if they have not committed to the spiritual path and awakened themselves to God consciousness. The conversation brings this concept full circle.
“The promise of God is that you are His son. Her offspring. Its likeness. His equal.
Ah…here is where you get hung up. You can accept “His son,” “offspring,” “likeness”, but you recoil at being called “His equal.” It is too much to accept. Too much bigness, too much wonderment-too much responsibility. For if you are God’s equal, that means nothing is being done to you-and all things are created by you. There can be no victims and no more villains-only outcomes of your thought about a thing.
I tell you this: all you see in your world is the outcome of your idea about it.
Do you want your life to truly “take off”? Then change your idea about it. About you. Think, speak, and act as the God You Are.
Of Course this will separate you from many-most-of your fellow men. They will call you crazy. They will say you blaspheme. They will eventually have enough of you, and they will attempt to crucify you.
They will do this not because they think you are living in a world of your own illusions (most men are gracious enough to allow your private entertainments), but because , sooner or later, others will become attracted to your truth-for the promises it holds for them.
Here is where your fellow men will interfere-for here is where you begin to threaten them. For your simple truth, simply lived, will offer more beauty, more comfort, more peace, more joy, and more love of self and others than anything your earthly fellows could contrive.
And that truth, adopted, would mean the end of their ways. It would mean the end of hatred and fear and bigotry and war. the end of the condemning and the killing that has gone on in My name. The end of might-is-right. the end of purchase-through-power. The end of loyalty and homage through fear. the end of the world as they know it-and as you have created it thus far.
Living a life of quiet desperation not full realization of who you truly are. Your true self, your higher self, your soul knows this but most choose to forget who they are. They end up in their lifetime taken the safe conforming path. Wishing, dreaming of a different life, their true calling, and settling for a life of mediocrity.
Further in Conversations with God on page 140, there is a discussion on relationships. The idea of what is wrong with falling head over heals in love and never thinking about it….
The answer is as follows:
Nothing. Fall in love with as many people as you like that way. But if you are going to form a lifelong relationship with them, you may want to add a little thought.
On the other hand, if you enjoy going through relationships like water-or, worse, yet, staying in one because you think you “have to,” then living a life of quiet desperation-if you enjoy repeating these patterns from your past, keep right on doing what you’ve been doing.
Another expression of what Thoreau may have been trying to convey is in the following by my personal favourite Alan Watts.
When we finally got down to something which the individual says he really wants to do. I will say to him, “you do that, and forget the money. Because if you say that getting the money is the most important thing, you will spend your life completely wasting your time. You will be doing things you don’t like doing in order to go on living that is to go on doing things you don’t like doing. Which is STUPID! Better to have a short life that is full of what you like doing than a long life spent in a miserable way.”