Transformation and acceptance: The inner journey in Rousseau's third walk

Abstract

In the final years of his life, Rousseau dedicated himself to writing meditations that would be compiled, posthumously, in the work Reveries of the Solitary Walker (Les Rêveries du Promeneur Solitaire). In these texts, emerging amid social distancing and the need to find an internal refuge, the philosopher reflects on his existence, his transformations, and his relationship with time and nature. The Third Walk occupies a central place in this journey by examining the physical and moral changes perceived after the age of forty, highlighting the consciousness of aging and the need for reconnection with the self. In the development of these meditations, one observes how the experience of transformation and the passing of time leads to the valuing of the consciousness of one's own existence. Solitude, far from being merely a withdrawal from others, becomes a space for self-knowledge and inner resilience, especially in the face of the hostility, calumnies, and isolation to which the philosopher was subjected in his final years. In this fragment, the Genevan confronts the limitations imposed by life while simultaneously seeking, in memory and the perception of nature, means of reaffirming himself. Thus, the Third Walk is inserted into the work as a landmark of Rousseau's spiritual maturity, representing a moment of break with the social hostility he faced and a reconstruction of the self based on his own sensitive experience. The imagery language, the rhythms of the prose, and the fusion between nature and subjectivity that permeate this fragment make it an anticipation of themes that would become central in Romanticism and in existential reflections that gained strength from the 19th century onward. This also highlights its relevance in contemporary society, marked by the fragmentation of human relationships, the acceleration of time, and the need to value inner experience, memory, and transformation—all fundamental for preserving the meaning of human existence.