Brothers,
Seated by the shore of a small pond, Thoreau--Emmerson's contemporary--took up his abode in a log cabin amidst the tall pines of the New England forest. He lived for two years, from 1845 to 1847, in an area just south of Concord, Massachusetts in order to withdraw from society and its obligations.
During that time, he used nature as his inspiration to "rift" his way "into the secret of things" (68). Each morning, he awoke to greet the dawn with a renewing bath in the waters of Walden Pond. He watched the sun rise, "throwing off" the "nightly clothing of mist," to reveal the soft ripples of water that reflectled the light of that "divining rod" in the dome of the great sky.
Thoreau's surroundings were "pasture enough for [his] imagination" (61).
That said:
What is pasture enough for your imagination? Where would you go to live deliberately, as Thoreau did? Would this place of refuge be one of solitude? Or would you have company? What would you do with your time in such surroundings? What would you take with you, if anything? What would be your dwelling place?
Be sure to use metaphor in describing your surroundings. For instance, if you describe the ocean's waves, how is it that they crash? Do they lay like blankets upon the soft bed of the shore? Or the trees of the forest: Does the sun's light pour through branches like droplets of rain from the roof of a house?
Where would you go to live deliberately?
BRob
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If I were to choose a place in order to live my life deliberatly it would not be to far from a place in which I live now. I would live in community of people whos company I enjoy and who enjoy my company. I would have a decent sized house an preferably wealthy. With my wealth I would do my best to make thos around me happy. I would have long periods of vacations and free time in which was able to do and think as i pleased. To live life deliberatly i would have a very relaxed lifestyle so i could ponder for what i should do to live my life more deliberatley. I feel that to live in solitude is to live sefishly. To deprive yourself of the world and to deprive the world of yourself. i would share my deliberate lifestyle with others and always try my best to have strong loyal relationships to with others. always doing my best to help other and learn what they can teach me.
If I had a choice of where I could live deliberately,, I would go to the beach during morning hours. The sun rising on the beach represents a new birth each day, in which we look past yesterday and get ready for our future. With no worries in the past, we respect the sound of waves and watch the repetitive wave motion observing the power of nature at work, yet at ease as well. We see in the water a tamed beast which has enough power to wipe out earth, but it only moves back and forth. The only thing I would do there is reflect, for only an hour for which I would think, without worries, alone, in hopes to find answers that we are all searching for, or maybe just something to help along the way. We all have questions and are desperate for answers, about what does not matter, but we all need answers. No matter what I have done in reflection of the past, I will look upon these questions of yesterday, and build for answers for today, for a better tomorrow.
As the monks recite their evensong in the chapel up the road, I offer my tribute to twilight with a brisk walk through the fields. Now bare in the winter of another year, the earth humbly awaits the dawn's coming in a new season of life. Around these brown fields of decayed stalks, the world buzzes like a bee at work. But I am alone, and yet not alone. God speaks in the silence of the abandoned siloe that once held freshest grains--wheat to feed the masses that go unaware of this place beneath the mountains. I am a monk and the farmland is my chapel; the river below a harp to sing God's praise in gurgling. And as the red fades to black on the blue horizon, the twilight beckons my softest song, a sigh. On the grounds of this monastery, the Spirit moves in the priests who tilled its soil. Though they toiled not, taking from the land only enough food to offer thanksgiving. And so from them I learn what it means to live deliberately, to walk in the quiet of an Advent evening on property whose namesake is the Holy Ghost.
Personally i would move to a very secluded island. There i would live alone as if i had never met anyone in my life before. Being secluded, i believe will help me become a better person and become more independent at the same time. Later, when i turn 57 i would return though back to living within my community. After returning, i expect to have grown not only physically, but mentally, and spiritually as well. The weather, on the island where i would live, would be warm with the sun always shining and the moon setting meant the end of one lifetime and the sun rising meant the beginning of a new one. On this island, i would bring my baseball glove, food, clothes, and the Bible. Everyday for about two hours i would set aside time to looks over Bible passages, and then reflect on how God has graced me with a family and different talents.
If i had a choice to live deliberately i would chose to live in Anegada in the British Virgin Islands. I would want to live here because it is peacful and tranquil. It is a very desolate island and it is also isolated from the entire world. You can walk along the beach and not see a single person for miles. The waves crash on the outer reefs like lightning. This sound is very peacful to me. I would want to live alone because i could spend more time communicating with God and also reflecting on my own life. I would not want to be wealthy because there would be no reason to. All i would need would be the essentials of living, like food, water and clothes. I would only want a basic house with basic operations. I wouldnt be spending a lot of time in my house because i would spend my days reflecting on the beach.
If I were to go somewhere to live deliberately it would be a nice, quiet, and secluded place where I could live in meditation and reflection. I would probably choose to live in a mountainous woodland area, where is it peaceful and serene. I would like to live in a quaint, little cabin where I could live in harmony with nature and reflect on my existence. I chose a mountainous forest because the tall trees and majestic mountains overshadow me and reach into the sky just as I would do trying to find in myself. I would not take any unnecessary items with me, just what I need to get by as I try to live deliberately in my cabin in the mountains.
If I were to choose a place in order to live deliberately I think it would have to be in the hills of California. I go to california every year and the scenic beauty of it is wonderful. On top of the mountains it is as if you are on top of the world viewing all the action. Almost as if you are floating above everyone else as the divine. I would live in conjuction with the other people who previously inhabit that area. To pass the time I would mainly relax and think about the meaning of life as each day passes. As a source of release I would participate in athletics which is where I feel the most at home and comfortable. On an athletic field I feel as if I have no worries especially when I am playing lacrosse.
To live my life deliberately I would abandon my everyday routines, and travel alone to the ocean shore. There the water seems to wash away what I have accomplished and I am free to begin new opportunities and new risks. Some moments I just hear the sounds of the waves as they comfort me with their steady sounds. No words are needed here because strength comes from appreciating what the shore connects to. It connects to a larger body that seems not to be measured just as I am connecting to the shore and its sounds. I understand that the ocean shore shows me that risk is a good thing. The waters go out to the unknown and yet somehow return over and over again. I too, can go out to the unknown, take chances in my life and feel safe that I, like the ocean will return to the shore. Here I can live my life deliberately, feeling safe in the unknown because the present is offering to me peace.
if i could go anywhere to live i think i would go to the highest hill in a jungle where at one end the hill dropped in a waterfall into a cove. And the other end looked over the entire forest full of trees. i would go there because not many people would be there, and it would bepeaceful. i would beable to relax in the cove in the mornings and free to eplore during the day whether it be physical exploration or spiritual. and at night when thesun set and the purlpe and orange and red colors fill the sky i would sit at the top of th water fall and think about whatever came to mind. and i think i would have to bring someone with me because nothing is worth anything if there is noone to share it with...
if i was gonna live deliberately i would probably go on a permanent road trip. just keep driving throughout the country and all. the house would be the car and anywhere else i could crash at. it'd be peaceful cause you could just drive forever seeing all the little back roads and places in the country you've never seen before. every time you went somewhere new it'd be like a new beginning cause no1 would know you. being out on the deserted old roads would be real chill and i could just enjoy life and my surroundings. it'd be a pretty fun time.
don't know if that really counts as a "dwelling place" though
If I was to live somewhere deliberately, I would live ontop of a mountain range with waterfalls pouring down into a large lake like a faucet spilling warm water into a sink. The tops of the mountains would have mist like a crisp morning in July. The lake would be as smooth as a fishes scales, with ripples of soft waves in the distance. Every night the sunset would have a vast number of colors and hues like the tydie shirts of hippies. My house would be a combination of marble and brick, with a rich mahoganey interior. If I lived in a place like this, I would certainly find myself, as well as eternal peace and tranquility.
Peace and quiet are hard things to find in the world we live in today, but one needs not find these places to live deliberately. My imagination stems from the everyday events that most people let simply pass through their minds. An action that is repetitive can often ease the mind when in times of stress, but these things inspire my life. This is more real to me than going to some far off beach to contemplate life. The day to day actions that some call dull bring forth reason and meaning as I use them to work towards my future. The things that the people around me say and do also give me a profound way to ponder my own life and surroundings, because of this I choose my own room as a place to live deliberately. It is a place to be alone for a short period of time where I can think by myself without any distractions, but then I can get right back into the world. This is my reality and this is where I will find my answers.
For me there would be two places that would be very hard for me to choose from to live deliberately in; the mountains in the winter and the beach in the summer (but without the crowd). However, in both of these locations I would choose to be alone and to not be bothered by other people. Both of theses locations I enjoy because they are calming and relaxing and hold almost no worries at all. The mountains would be very calming especially when it is snowing. I would prefer the peak of the mountain so that I could look down at all the land below. The snow falling and the wind blowing would absorb any noise and make it even more peaceful. The snow because of it's color would make the mountain seem "perfect" or "clean" as if removing sin. My dwelling would most likely be whatever I could find or use (and it it happens to be a cabin; great!). The beach would be very relaxing because of the continuous crash of the waves almost like the roar of thunder, the feel of the soft sand, and the warm salty air with every breath. I would rather my dwelling this time to be a house or something of that sort but, again, It could be anything I can find and anything would suffice. I would for the most part lay down all day and watch the scenery which would be when I'm not tending to a fire and cooking food.
I would like to stay in my own room because i can relax comfortably there . And if i need some food or a drink i dont have to use to much effort to go downstairs and get it. I think the less work you have to do is the more time you have to relax, think about things, talk to God, and to just enjoy yourself. However, if I lived in the woods i wouldnt be peaceful because of all teh bugs, and hunting or fishing for food, i dont think i would have any spare time for myself to think about things or to enjoy myself, to enjoy life. In my room i could do that relax listen to some music and just enjoy life while it lasts.
If i were to live deliberatly i would live in a house on a hill over the beach with a glass wall facing the ocean. The transparet wall would make me feel like i was on the beach even in the cold winters. My house would be high up so it towered over the beach like a skyscraper of a city. When people walked by they would say when i grow up i wanna live there. The waves would break on the rocks at the shore each one like the last. When you steped out onto the deck the sea mist and smell of the ocean would over take ur senses and place you in a state of trnaquility. Fianlly the sounds of waves breaking, seguls squawking, and the relaxing calm of the horizion would be all there was to think about. The house would also be pretty over the top like CRIBS style
In a deep forest isolated from the world, alone in everlasting peace. The grounds in which my body and soul find equilibrium...just as nature is one with the earth, I can be one with nature. The pine trees that stretch for miles in each direction grow to the heights of what some call the heavens. Of course, these mere trees are no match for the cliffs and peaks that watch over the majestic forest. Their overwhelming height lets one touch the stars. The stream that doesn't stop flowing is ever-moving and quietly trickling into its immenent disposal into the serene resevoir in the heart of the forest. The wolves and the bears live in harmony with the deer and critters of the wood. The loneliest of the animals, the wolf, can be heard howling his sorrows to the moon on a soft summer's night while the deer run and play in their playground of delight among the trees and the vines that swing lazily from the trees. This is the place that best suits me. This is the life that I can live deliberately.
A place that I would like to live deliberately in would be a large house away from most people with all the fixins (recording studio etc.). I would probably want some human interaction so my friends come over and jam with me cause if I was left alone for awhile I would probably go insane because humans need some sort of interaction. That being said as long as I have time to think and be at rest I can contemplate my many thoughts.
i would deliberatly live on the top of a mountain. on the mountain, i would be secluded from civilization so that i could come to aprectiate and understand nature. the mist drifting in the sky like a huge zepplin. the clouds so close they seem able to touch. and the cold wind in the night, sweeping over me as i rest. i would by alone with nature on this mountain. with all the elements, weather, plants, and animals. the mountain goats grazing and frolicing in the meadow, the birds looking for prey, and the bears sheltering their cubs. tp protect myself from the cold, i would dwell inside a tepee and live as the native americans once did to apprectiate another culture other than my own.
I would live in the house i live at now to live deliberately. I would live there because i could be in the company of my family, who i love so much, all the time. I have everything essential to living happily right now. I would take my time and think of ways to better my family life and the community arround me. I would live in my room. The sounds i i would hear would be the wind going through the trees late at night and the unique voices of my family. My family have distinct vocies that go through the air like angels when they're happy but when they are angry their vocies sound as violent as a pack of fighting wolves.
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