 I don’t think I want to kill myself quite as badly as I just want to stop participating in modern day life. We go to school, get a job, buy shit we really don’t need, and rarely ask “why the fuck am I doing this”?
If you live in society you need money to pay for essentials like food, shelter and clothing. But do you really need a cellphone, a car, furniture, credit cards, internet access, health care, etc? Is any of that essential for survival? No, but you want it, so you work in order to earn money so you can buy stuff you’ve convinced yourself that you need. I want out.
I’m not trying to start a cult or something but I’m just tired of participating in a consumer driven society. There’s got to be a better way to live. Working outdoors, growing food, hunting, building everything you need for survival, being self sufficient, etc. Preferably in a community where the people aren’t hung up on religion and there’s no mandatory chanting or hand holding. This is going to take some work. It won’t be easy but I believe it’ll be worthwhile.
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Just look at how people live in isolated tribes in Papua New Guinea, for example. Yep, there’s an alternative to it, and nope, it really doesn’t take a whole damn lot of work or effort to do it. People who live with our modern luxuries all their life seem to think tribal people work their asses off, all day long, and never have the luxury to even take a quick break, since their life depends on what they’re doing at any given moment, but that’s apparently not the case. System of a Down made a song called Sugar, that starts off;
“The kombucha mushroom people
Sitting around all day
Who can believe you?
Who can believe you?
Let your mother pray.”
Who can believe you? That’s crazy, sitting around all day eating mushrooms, telling stories, singing communally, making freakishly elaborate head ornamentation – people in the modern world would be absolutely baffled about how tribal people manage to do all the shit they do every single day. Because, you know, that’s like work, man. We hate work because, like, it’s boring and stuff. To a tribal person, work doesn’t exist – it’s just living.
So yeah, a New Guinea tribe is probably excluded if you aren’t into the whole communal chanting, weird mythologically driven religious ceremonies, and the group singing and dancing sessions that take place around a bonfire, naked. But it’s a possible source of inspiration, at least. 😉
For me, my current objective, I’m not trying to escape the system in that sense. I’m just trying to escape from the belly (SoCal, Orange County), away from the massive cluster city. So you want to go straight bungalow? Hmm. I suppose I’m the one that’s a step behind, though, which is the truth, in order to even to ponder and romanticize “life,” as such. Seeking our flower evolution…
I just need help with someone to go to a destination for a while so that I can heal, so that I can be … simply, again. Trying to get sexy, mainly. B)
peace
People are pulling together and living off the grid all over the world. Some are doing it alone or just with their immediate family. It can be done with very little money and as long as they continue to rely on satellites for global communications you can have all the amenities you want like internet, telephone and even watch good old bullshit network and cable TV.
I see the day coming when there might be two factions in this country – one obedient and dependent on the government and one that isn’t. We have some interesting times ahead.
How can you have technology while living off the grid? That’s like a contradiction of terms, since you most likely wouldn’t have much fluid income to maintain or fix things as they reach their planned obsolescence phase. If you’re not a technophile and know how to solder circuitry, and smelter circuits from base materials, you might have a hard time with that kind of thing.
Hey but whatever you have in mind, I’m down for this, too. If it’s cool for me to join. I’m willing to pull all my personal resources left and my entire rest of my life for this. Hit me up.
Build me a shack in the corner, I don’t mind.
You can tell that nozmoking watches medival shows.
It’s a hard thing to wrap your head around – I mean, anything so radical as a complete upheaval of one’s life is going to be tricky to predict beforehand. You might get out in the boonies and after a while of shitting behind a bush or washing your clothes in a creek, decide that you must have been really high when you thought it was a good idea to live that way. Or you might start liking it and build a knowledge-base from your successes and failures, and do better than fine in that environment. Complete freedom certainly isn’t free, but I can definitely see the appeal.
yea, it’s something that’s going to require planning, for sure……. in the system. lol
The place that I want to boon it to, though, would be in China. The scattered mountain villagers can help you sustain you along the way, they wouldn’t mind a few buck too, maybe. Let’s go, on to the next fruit tree.
McLuvin,
I love your name, now let’s live in a tree already, ‘kay?
I was totally being pleasant about the medieval thing btw.
I spend a lot of time wishing I could live that way. I’ve been a city person my entire life so I don’t kid myself about how inexperienced I’d be at living a self sustained lifestyle, but I think I might want to learn. As time goes on ive been getting more and more interested in survival type stuff, reading books and subscribing to a few YouTube channels that focus on these topics. I would love to get away from people and just not be a part of this society. I don’t think I’d hate life just living off the land and being left alone. Its modern life that I hate. Having a worthless job, traffic, stupid people everywhere. Going off the grid and living a simpler life would be amazing.
@ Xanadu; https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DX2RWSzBKio
I love that song. The first time I ever heard it was in the 90’s, I was driving through Las Vegas and it came on the radio. I thought “whoa – wtf is this”? I’ve liked ’em ever since. I don’t know much about the Kombucha Mushroom people.
I’ve grown accustomed to electricity, indoor plumbing, (showers/toilets/sinks), refrigerators, grocery stores, restaurants, etc. I have no experience as a survivalist living in the wild. The transition from syphilzation to an anachronistic lifestyle might be challenging.
@Morlock; I’m still in the process of trying to figure out my next move. Thanks for the interest, but I’m still up in the air here.
Soon
If that’s the treehouse we’re gonna live in, then I’m in. That’s awesome.
Dude… cool house!
My dream is to own a “tiny” home. I already drew it out and in great detail… 420 square feet, huge windows facing east, south and west, and MILES away from other people so I don’t have to listen to some damn stereo blasting… just the wind in the trees. I’m hoping to run off solar or wind. I don’t need much and I want even less.
I really like your post. I’m in. Let’s get the hell out of here!
Right on. 🙂 I’m still trying to figure this out. I’ve researched a bunch of wilderness survival literature and I’m exploring various options now.
I fell asleep inside a tree once during a night ex. Someone thought it’d be funny to toss a Thunderflash grenade right next to me – good thing I was wearing a helmet, otherwise I’d be wearing that tree right now.
Hell, where do I sign? I don’t mind going boosh at all.
I think you’d be a great addition to our security force. You know, if someone tries to invade the tree house we’ll need a front line of defense.
You point, I shoot. 🙂
Damned if I’ll have any ruffians ruin our little slice o’ heaven.
haha. Hopefully it’ll never come down to that, but I’ll serve on the security team as well.
I’m totally ok with you doing the shooting. I’d rather work in the garden and hunt, cook, maybe find some mushrooms.