Thoreau lives alone on Walden Pond and describes minutely all the birds and animals he sees there. People come to his house sometimes and leave traces. He can see a great distance all around his pond and has space for privacy. 

     Storms and rain come to Walden pond, but Thoreau sees good in all of it. Lightning once struck a pine tree across the pond and Thoreau marvels at the power of it. People should stay true to their roots in Nature. Thoreau sees himself coming awake to the greatest powers and work in the universe by observing nature. 

      Thoreau can think and argue with his own thoughts and never feel lonely. Part of his consciousness watches and criticizes his thoughts and actions. Loneliness has nothing to do with how far apart you are from other people. He says, "A man thinking or working is always alone" (115). He says that thought is work, too, and the college student works the fields of his mind every bit as hard as the farmer in his own fields. 

     Thoreau thinks that people are crowded together too much to really enjoy human society. He  is not alone any more than the rocks or birds are alone. He is visited by an elderly man who made Walden Pond and an old lady who plants herbs and vegetables. He thinks Nature is the cure for what ails social man. 
 

       Every part of Nature is connected to every other part, linked by a certain "sympathy" (111) to all the rest. Even when people are not physically present at Walden Pond, their interactions with nature are preserved in the traces they leave. Walden is so remote from most inhabitants, though, that it is essentially a world unto itself where one can exist in solitude. 

       Everything good comes from Nature. Storms and floods which first seem disastrous for one part of the woods prove beneficial for another area. To sensitive individuals, Nature extends a kind of friendship formed from the myriad links to every sight and sound of the forest. One feels the connection to nature so strongly that even the most foreign place would seem to have some degree of familiarity to it. 

      Given the degree of connection, one who loves nature is never truly alone. Solitude is much more than mere spatial isolation, however, for people can be lonely and isolated in the midst of crowds because their minds lack kindredness. Rather than seeking camaraderie by attempting to mix with other people, one should build one's life upon the connection to nature, that "perennial source of our life" (114). 

       Solitude provides a welcome opportunity for uninterrupted contemplation. Our own minds become our companions as a part of our consciousness comments on and criticizes our thoughts and actions. Such contemplation is important work: the student studying in college is working the fields of his mind every bit as much as a farmer works in his field. 

       People continue to mistakenly pursue companionship in crowded society, though true belonging might better be achieved "if there were but one inhabitant per square mile" (116) as at Walden Pond. People could then awaken to their real connections to nature and "come to know that we are never alone" (116) in the company of nature. 

       Nature keeps us company as though it were an old man who created and tended Walden Pond and carefully laid the shape and set the stones. Or nature can be likened to an old woman who sows her herb gardens and provides a rich vegetative abundance. Our sympathy with nature is more than spiritual: we are made from recycled natural matter itself. Nature is the source of our lives, mental and spiritual well-being, and even our physical health.