Thoreau's purpose is to hope that people can really see what they want, rather than follow the crowd and pursue what others pursue. I live like others. Everyone takes it for granted that they should pursue a decent and rich life, but they have never seriously thought about whether they really need to spend a lot of their lives pursuing some exquisite lights and gorgeous clothes. If we want to talk about practical significance, I think it can be said that the significance lies in showing the lost and tired people whether they can really get a kind of spiritual freedom instead of becoming slaves of life. A poem by Thoreau can actually answer this question well:

I went into the jungle, hoping to live a more meaningful life.

I hope to live deeply and absorb all the essence of life!

Destroy all inanimate things. ...

Lest when my life comes to an end, I find that I have never lived. ...