Thoreau lived a couple of years of his life away from the people, alone — minimalistic kind, like a hermit in the woods. Out of that experience, he was able to write “Walden”. When I heard about it the first time, I was equally stumped and impressed at the same time.
People disappoint you. That’s a given. Even the ones you think never will disappoint you. They say not to expect — that’s not possible and you know it. You should be either a real sage or a person in a comatose state to not expect anything. Relationships build expectation — in fact, relationships are built on expectations — big or small and is a continuous transaction. Over a period of time, they change. How one handles, fulfills or fails in handling or fulfilling the expectations decides what direction the relationship takes. That’s why relationships are a complicated affair.
Also, most of the people — even the ones that you love or those who love you are judgemental. There are few or if you are lucky enough a very few people who see and accept you the way you are. Mother Nature doesn't judge anyone. It embraces all. It is neither caring nor cruel, it just is. That's the beauty of nature.
Perhaps it’s a trade-off we all make — putting up with various disappointments, innumerable heartbreaks, the fakery of the so-called ‘civilized world’ just to be accepted. Then, there are various masks we don just to get along with the ways of the world.
All of us would have our own moment of 'running away from the world' — away from the drama, heartbreaks, judgments, disappointments marooned and cocooned all by ourselves. Jiddu Krishnamurti had a very different take on this topic and it's difficult to summarize a man like Krishnamurti; So, here's what he had to say on the topic
Thoreau did not run away from the world — he had rather chosen to make a radical change in his lifestyle. He perhaps lived like what Camus said — The only way to deal with an unfree world is to become so absolutely free that your very existence is an act of rebellion.
