How does Thoreau answer the question implied in the title "Where I Lived and What I Lived For"?

In this chapter of Walden, Thoreau makes explicit his goal in moving to the spartan cabin he constructed on the shore of Walden Pond in the chapter's opening words: "I wished to live deliberately, to front only the essential facts of life."

Thoreau wanted "simplicity, simplicity, simplicity" in his life and so turned temporarily away from life in Concord to live in his cabin for close to two years.  He believed that humanity gets...

In this chapter of Walden, Thoreau makes explicit his goal in moving to the spartan cabin he constructed on the shore of Walden Pond in the chapter's opening words: "I wished to live deliberately, to front only the essential facts of life."

Thoreau wanted "simplicity, simplicity, simplicity" in his life and so turned temporarily away from life in Concord to live in his cabin for close to two years.  He believed that humanity gets caught up in progress and materialism and loses sight of life's essential meaning.  He asks and then answers the rhetorical question, "Why should we live with such hurry and waste of life," by asserting that "if we respected only what is inevitable and has a right to be, music and poetry would resound along the streets" and "petty fears and petty pleasures are but the shadow of the reality." Thoreau said that to read one news report is to read them all, that most mail he receives is not worth reading, and that the speed of railroad travel is unnecessary if we are content to stay home.  Thoreau felt that materialism and progress really only created artificial wants that people confuse with actual needs.