What alternative philosophy of life does Walden instruct you to have? How does Henry David Thoreau exemplify this kind of philosophy of life in his...

The alternative philosophy that Thoreau advocates in Walden is for human beings to unify and immerse themselves in the surrounding world.

Thoreau sees human beings as divided from their world.  They are divided from what is real and transcendent.  As a result, they don't hear "different drummers," but rather embrace a conformist view of living where everyone marches to the same tune.  Thoreau rejects the dominant philosophy of materialism.  In the first chapter, Thoreau details...

The alternative philosophy that Thoreau advocates in Walden is for human beings to unify and immerse themselves in the surrounding world.

Thoreau sees human beings as divided from their world.  They are divided from what is real and transcendent.  As a result, they don't hear "different drummers," but rather embrace a conformist view of living where everyone marches to the same tune.  Thoreau rejects the dominant philosophy of materialism.  In the first chapter, Thoreau details how material reality can be overcome for something more.  Put another way, when Thoreau mocks what conventional society would deem as the "best houses," he wants people to embrace a more welcoming home.

This craving for meaning compels Thoreau to suggest an alternative philosophy of life.  Thoreau stresses the need for human beings to merge their own identities with the natural world around them.  When people do this, he believes a more meaningful life emerges:

I was suddenly sensible of such sweet and beneficent society in Nature, in the very pattering of the drops, and in every sound and sight around my house, an infinite and unaccountable friendliness all at once like an atmosphere sustaining me.

When people recognize that they are "sustained" by the natural world, a wider sense of self emerges.  Human beings are part of this world and not separate from it.  Thoreau expresses this philosophy when he says, "Am I not partly leaves and vegetable mould myself?"  When Thoreau says, “All sound heard at the greatest possible distance...produces one and the same effect," he embraces a philosophy where human beings have changed the way they see themselves in the world.

Simply put, Thoreau himself embodied this philosophy because he lived it.  In secluding himself at Walden, he lived out his philosophy.  His writing is in the first person. When Thoreau talks about the sounds he hears, the sights he sees, and the feelings he experiences, they represent him living out his philosophy.  In this way, he is the embodiment of his philosophy.