The Self-Reliant Entrepreneur

October 13New Wine

All want, not something to do with, but something to do, or rather something to be. Perhaps we should never procure a new suit, however ragged or dirty the old, until we have so conducted, so enterprised or sailed in some way, that we feel like new in the old, and that to retain it would be like keeping new wine in old bottles.

Henry David Thoreau—Walden (1854)

It's no secret that Thoreau valued ideas over possessions. He sought to minimize his material needs so that he could focus on his spiritual needs.

But maybe the wardrobe guidance contained in this passage could be seen as something more than an attempt to reduce his carbon footprint—a nineteenth-century version of Patagonia's Worn Wear initiative.

Perhaps the metaphorical act of feeling like new in the old is a reflection of authenticity.

Where do we find authentic happiness, authentic work, authentic possessions?

They can be found in being passionately employed in our work, but they can be lost as we succumb to work that leads us to busyland only to wake up one day and find that we are leading that “life of quiet desperation.” And then, as though we have no choice, we reach to procure a new suit.

The suggestion here isn't simply one of buying less; it's a matter of becoming more. Thoreau urges us to consciously fuse the doing in life with the being in life—to let go of who we think we are supposed to be in order to recognize who we truly are.

Challenge Question

1. Do you wish you were doing something ...