Why is SIMPLICITY so appealing?

[Nick]

"I would rather sit on a pumpkin and have it all to myself, than to be crowded on a velvet cushion. I would rather ride on earth in an ox-cart with a free circulation, than go to heaven in the fancy car of an excursion train and breathe a malaria all the way." (Thoreau, 33)

What about simplicity is so enticing to man? Most usally, the primative state of things is most attractive.

Perhaps it is due to our ability to add onto something simple aesthetically, physically, and theoretically?

Do you refute or qualify with this? Are we more attracted to simplicity rather than complexity?Explain why you think so.

[Bruce]

I think would say simplicity is appealing because the natural world is "simple", but Thoreau is no primitive.

He recognizes that we are easily seduced by complexity, which leads us away from living according to our nature.

I've always found it interesting that Thoreau seemed able to foresee many of the problems our complex civilization has created: Pollution, stress, ill health, economic and political dysfunction.