My philosophical friend Henry David Thoreau headed back to town after living for only a couple of years at Walden and during his time at the now famous pond, it's said he made regular trips home to have his laundry done.
Be that as it may, others took his philosophical thoughts as gospel and many still do.
Two such people were Harlan and Anna Hubbard who took his words very literally. Go confidently in the direction of your dreams said Thoreau. The Hubbards did just that and more.
No living lives of quiet desperation for these two remarkable people. They went to the woods to indeed live deliberately and not when it came time to die, discover they had not lived.
As a young man, Harlan saw the industrial development in America as a threat to the natural world and as a result he completely rejected the consumer culture.
In 1929 he started writing a journal outlining his thoughts on society and in 1943 he married Anna Eikenhout who was to become the power behind the throne.
In 1951, at Payne Hollow on the banks of the Ohio River, they built by hand their basic but beautiful house which was to be home for the next forty years. They lived with no electricity or modern conveniences.
They ate the food they grew or caught.
There's more to see
here and
here about this remarkable couple who walked the talk.
Anna and Harlan Hubbard lived life as few people in modern times have and in doing so discovered at least two very rare gifts.
Contentment and freedom...
Happiness and freedom said Epictetus, begins with a clear understanding of one principle. Some things are within your control and some things are not.
