梭羅最終為何離開瓦爾登湖？

03-08

梭羅那麼讚美瓦爾登湖，最後為何還是要離開？

梭羅自己曾給出過這個問題的回答。

先看梭羅到瓦爾登湖畔生活的原因，在《瓦爾登湖》第二章 Where I Lived, and What I Lived For 中他如是說：

「I went to the woods because I wished to live deliberately, to front only the essential facts of life, and see if I could not learn what it had to teach, and not, when I came to die, discover that I had not lived. I did not wish to live what was not life, living is so dear; nor did I wish to practise resignation , unless it was quite necessary. I wanted to live deep and suck out all the marrow of life, to live so sturdily and Spartan-like as to put to rout all that was not life, to cut a broad swath and shave close, to drive life into a corner, and reduce it to its lowest terms, and, if it proved to be mean, why then to get the whole and genuine meanness of it, and publish its meanness to the world; or if it were sublime, to know it by experience, and be able to give a true account of it in my next excursion. For most men, it appears to me, are in a strange uncertainty about it, whether it is of the devil or of God, and have somewhat hastily concluded that it is the chief end of man here to "glorify God and enjoy him forever."

翻譯：我來到樹林，是因為我希望過從容不迫，深思熟慮的生活，只面對生活的基本事實，看看是否能夠學到生活要教給我的東西，而不是到臨死時才發現自己並沒有生活過。我不希望過著不是生活的生活，活著是如此珍貴，我也不願過消極順從的生活，除非必須如此。我要深入生活，吸取它的全部精髓，堅定地，像斯巴達人那樣，清除一切不是生活的東西，清理出一大片寬闊地帶並仔細修整，把生活逼入角落，將其置於最低的條件中，如果它被證明是卑微平庸的，就把它全部真正的卑微平庸之處認識清楚並公之於世；如果它是崇高的，那就親自體驗它，並在我下一次的旅行中作出真正的描述。在我看來，大多數人對生活到底屬於魔鬼還是上帝仍搖擺不定，並且有些輕率地得出結論，認為人生的主要目的是「讚美上帝並永享他的恩賜」

之後在《瓦爾登湖》最後一章 Conclusion 中梭羅說了他離開瓦爾登湖的原因：

「 I left the woods for as good a reason as I went there. Perhaps it seemed to me that I had several more lives to live, and could not spare any more time for that one. It is remarkable how easily and insensibly we fall into a particular route, and make a beaten track for ourselves. I had not lived there a week before my feet wore a path from my door to the pond-side; and though it is five or six years since I trod it, it is still quite distinct. It is true, I fear, that others may have fallen into it, and so helped to keep it open. The surface of the earth is soft and impressible by the feet of men; and so with the paths which the mind travels. How worn and dusty, then, must be the highways of the world, how deep the ruts of tradition and conformity! I did not wish to take a cabin passage, but rather to go before the mast and on the deck of the world, for there I could best see the moonlight amid the mountains. I do not wish to go below now.」

翻譯：我離開樹林和我進入樹林一樣，都有著充分的理由。也許在我看來我有好幾種生活要過，無法為那一種花費更多的時間。我們這麼容易不知不覺陷入某條道路，為自己踏出一條舊轍，這真是令人驚奇。我住在那兒還不到一周，就從門口到湖邊踏出一條小路。儘管我已經五六年沒有在上面走過，它卻依舊清晰可見。真的，我恐怕其他人已經陷入這條道路，從而使它繼續通行無阻。地面是軟的，人的腳很容易在上面留下印跡，心靈旅行的道路也是如此。那麼，世界的公路一定多麼破舊多塵，傳統和服從的車轍一定多麼深啊！我不願坐在船艙里航行，寧可在桅杆前，站在世界的甲板上，因為在那兒群山中的月光看起來格外清晰。現在我不願到艙底去。

PS: 翻譯部分主要要來自許崇信林本椿譯本和王家湘譯本，自己根據原文對兩者進行了結合與修改。

其實梭羅在瓦爾登的兩年兩個月零幾天也不是每時每刻都在森林裡呆著。他經常會回到鎮上拜訪朋友與家人。至於他最後離開的原因，一個原因是為了能更加投入到當時的社會活動中，比如說他一直參與廢奴運動（underground railroad），後來為John Brown做辯護等等。另一個原因可能是梭羅意識到了呆在瓦爾登對他思想的局限性。

摘取一段愛默生兒子愛德華給梭羅寫的回憶錄,有提到梭羅離開瓦爾登的動機（Henry Thoreau, as Remembered by a Young Friend by Edward Walso Emerson）Even by Walden, as he tells us, he wore a path,
and he found that his life there was falling into it: evidently he saw it was
incomplete, so, keeping its sweet kernel, he left the shell. In cheerful mood,
years after, he discusses the matter: 「Why did I change? Why did I leave the
woods? I do not think that I can tell. I have often wished myself back. I do
not know any better how I came to go there. Perhaps it is none of my business,
even if it is yours. Perhaps I wanted change. There was a little stagnation, it
may be, about 2 o』clock in the afternoon. Perhaps if I lived there much longer,
I might live there forever. One would think twice before he accepted Heaven on
such terms.」

他從來沒有打算在那裡一直待下去

因為他要一直探索自己的內心，不會只過一種固定的生活，他的腳步永遠不會停下來因為生命只有一次卻有無限的可能。

這種生活，過了第二年。並無二至。--原文作者最後寫的

1847年8月，愛默生（梭羅的朋友兼導師，也是他以每英畝8美元8美分的價格買下瓦爾登湖邊11英畝林地給梭羅居住）決定接受英國友人的邀請到大西洋彼岸講學訪問，卻擔心妻小無人照顧，便邀請梭羅再次住到他家裡。梭羅當然樂意替愛默生分憂，況且他和後者家人相處十分融洽，所以在9月6日，他帶著在湖邊生活時完成的《瓦爾登湖》和《在康科德河與梅里麥克河上的一周》，永遠地離開了那座親手搭建的小木屋。

他住的瓦爾登湖小屋離家也是很近，也就是偶爾去那裡度個假

他說，他的那種生活並不是適合別人去過，也許別人試圖去過和他一樣的生活時，他已找到別的生活方式。

我想，他在瓦爾登湖已經找到他想找到的東西了，想去嘗試其他的生活方式。

而且，梭羅又不是隱士，為什麼非要一輩子生活在瓦爾登湖？並且他也不是一直在那裡，也會去鎮上的。

給人看孩子

厭倦了唄，就像城裡人覺得鄉下生活悠閑美好，呆個把月就受不了回去了。