The Essentials

As I prepare for my backpacking trip to Japan, I am reminded that backpacking is an absolutely incredible activity for training yourself to simplify, simplify, simplify….

The beauty of backpacking is that you must CARRY your material possessions.   This imposes a wonderful and natural discipline.   When you have to carry everything, suddenly you evaluate your possessions (your “gear”) in a much different way.   Unnecessary items are ruthlessly discarded.

When you do a lot of long, multi-day backpacking trips, you find that this mindset begins to creep into your everyday thinking.   You see gadgets and “doodads” in a very different light.  Many “essentials” of modern life become unessential.

I suppose this is similar to the mindset that Thoreau adopted when he went into the woods to live simply in a small hut of his own making.   He found that he could live very well with much less than he had ever imagined possible.   He found what the essentials of life were (for him) and what was extraneous.

And he found something even more important.  He found that by focusing on the essentials only, his life became more free.   His mind was no longer cluttered with a thousand and one trivialities… and he didn’t spend his hours doing boring work to pay for trivial and unessential possessions.   Freed of the need to work so much, he had plenty of time to think deeply about his own life, and life in general.

Thoreau believed that all men and women could live like this… and spend the bulk of their hours developing their intellectual, physical and philosophical life.  He understood that simplicity was an elegant and powerful solution to the many ills that modern life produces.

And while mentally it’s more difficult to do this today,… practically and physically it’s much much easier.   It is quite possible, in fact, to live comfortably and happily out of a 15 pound backpack.  (You could take this even further by learning to grow or gather/hunt your own food).

When you engage in this kind of activity….  you soon find that many of the worries and desires that seemed so important quickly slip away.   As Thoreau described… life becomes a “past-time” to enjoy, not work.   Everything becomes easier.  A great weight lifts.

And so, I highly recommend (lightweight) backpacking as both an excellent recreation of it’s own… and as a wonderful means of life training.