Rousseau's Reveries Of The Solitary Walker

By integrating oneself into society, social obligations and standards are established. Rousseau believes that our intrinsic attributes deteriorate as one becomes lost in attempting to gratify other’s expectations. After being continually persecuted and rejected, Rousseau spent the remainder of his life traveling in solitude, however, he was able to find peace or acceptance. In Walks 5,6, and 7 of Rousseau’s Reveries of the Solitary Walker, he realizes that his source of pleasure is derived from far niente (Italian for ‘doing nothing’). He discovers that the remedy that liberates him from his torment and allows him to become self-contained is the tranquility he receives through idleness and appreciation of nature’s beauty. Rousseau sought

After life on the island, he evaluates his time spent there, “precious far niente was my first and greatest pleasure, and I set out to taste it in all its sweetness, and everything I did during my stay there was in fact no more than the delectable and necessary pastime of a man who has dedicated himself to idleness.” (83) Rousseau yearned for the freedom he received through idleness, he did not end up spending his life in that way and found liberation in other ways. The reason Rousseau desires self-containment is because he feels that “everything is in constant flux on this earth” (88) and he feels there is no way anyone could be happy without

“If by meditating on my inner life I am able to order it better and remedy the faults that may remain there, my mediations will not be in vain.” (33) Through his mediation, he felt he could self-reflect and possibly cure himself from all the agony he experiences due to criticism and exile. Later, he states, “Sometimes my reveries end in mediation, but more frequently my mediations end in reveries.” (107) His reveries consist of mediating about nature and his state of mind or being. He reveals that although he once found comfort in his reveries, his thoughts limit them. He ends up presenting reveries as an arduous task and he prefers to focus solely on