“Where there is no vision, the people perish”. – Proverbs 29:18
Hmmm, I seem to have hit a nerve. I received a comment today that I just had to share with everyone. It is a beautiful example of how much work we have ahead of us. It is a perfect illustration of the degree to which we have descended into the Matrix, unable to see through the tightly woven net. Of course, I do set myself up for this type of criticism with the type of material I post, but it’s too late for that. Thoreau would have received the same or worse; it goes with the terrain. In light of that I shall be featuring quotes from Thoreau throughout this post for some fun.
The quote I received in response to Jobs Are A Poor Substitute For Living, is as follows unedited:
You really need to stop begging for money…that’s just freeloading for the thing that you claim you are rejecting. What do you need money for? If you need it, why don’t you find a better way to get some. Maybe you could work for it and actually produce a product or service that someone wants and is willing to pay for. Maybe you could trade it for hides or blankets or pemican. I don’t see what you’ve delivered that is valuable to me, and I won’t donate a cent to your lazy, uneducated, mooching leeching life. You need to take your nomadic uninspired and unspirational lifestyle out to the desert and leave the rest of us alone without you until you decide to adapt to a better way…the 21st century
Whoa, I could have suppressed this for my own good, but then as I thought about it, it offered good conversational possibilities.
“Why should we be in such desperate haste to succeed, and in such desperate enterprises? If a man does not keep pace with his companions, perhaps it is because he hears a different drummer.” Thoreau
To begin with I am not begging for money. I am asking for donations in exchange for offering vision, my true job, to listen to, and write down that which is lost and buried in the “21st” century. Most people are simply too busy, or stressed out to take time for nature. Last I looked I simply could not find:
“Needed: Dreadlocked Paradise Builder. Must be able to spend a great deal of time in nature wild planting tonic herbs, fruit, nuts, and building nomadic Paradise and Freedom on Earth for ALL”. If that job were available, or offered in college I would have been the first in line to apply.
“I went to the woods because I wished to live deliberately, to front only the essential facts of life, and see if I could not learn what it had to teach, and not, when I came to die, discover that I had not lived.” Thoreau
I work very hard at what I do. I spend a great deal of my time working climbing up mountains of size, breathing deeply pure, energized, clarifying air, jumping into wild waters, learning the skills of foraging from the Earth. It takes great strength and stamina to cast off the nets of misguided opinions, and stride out into nature to hear HER voice, and bring back clear vision to broadcast to you. I worked countless hours trying to think of a way to convey to you that your job may ultimately be ripping you off. THAT is my service.
“To have done anything just for money is to have been truly idle”. Thoreau
Your suggestion of offering a product or service is comical. I cannot sell the Sun, Air, Water, and Earth. I can paint a vision of a world whereby we honor the Forces of Life firstly. The need for money comes from the masses perpetuating a usury based myth between themselves. I cannot battle a huge population that believes in and demands payments for mere existence, or even death. I tried to do without money in the past, and got myself in a lot of trouble.
“It is not enough to be busy. So are the ants. The question is: What are we busy about?” Thoreau
Herein lies the conundrum. If I could exist in this world without money I would. I don’t feel it is serving us at all, more a distraction; the same goes with working repetitive, monotonous, life destroying jobs, and I use this forum to question it and look for a better way WE can do things. Most jobs people work are completely unnecessary. The barrier is that in the modern century we have become nearsighted as regards our collective vision…
“There is no more fatal blunderer than he who consumes the greater part of his life getting his living”. Thoreau
For instance in our recent past, we existed in a state of higher health without heart disease, cancer, diabetes and all the other degenerative diseases. They are purely a product of our modern lifestyle. Somehow though in the present “modern” time, we have forgotten that, and now to be a doctor is a noble profession. In reality, we don’t need them, nor the hospitals, the needle manufacturers and so on.
“It is only when we forget all our learning that we begin to know”. Thoreau
This extends to most “jobs” people waste their precious lives doing. Lawyers are only necessary to quell silly disputes over “property ownership”, and other artificiality’s, law enforcement is only required to keep a lid on people who are agitated and out of control from the loss of personal autonomy; don’t get me started on politics or religion.
“The mass of men lead lives of quiet desperation”. Thoreau
If I go and pick apples off a wild fruit tree or picking miners lettuce for a salad, I’m doing a mass of people a favor by my self sufficiency. I’m saving the underpaid farmer, the illegal immigrant fruit pickers, the cardboard delivery box makers, the trucker driving it to markets, the produce stockers, the plastic bag manufacturers making bags to put it in, the cashier taking the money, the manager of the store, etc.
“Money is not required to buy one necessity of the soul”. Thoreau
In my scheme of things, jobs are lost, but personal freedom and autonomy is gained. We all will have to work maintaining our rigs, and the roads and trails to travel on. We have to have responsibility for creating a wild food supply that grows itself, so we can roam. Ultimately by doing these things together, with a common vision of the real necessities that make this Life worth Living, (Sun, Air, Water and Earth), we take care of each other, FOR REAL.
“Most of the luxuries and many of the so-called comforts of life are not only not indispensable, but positive hindrances to the elevation of mankind”. Thoreau
I am not ignoring the positive aspects of the 21st century, namely, autonomous transportation possibilities leading to expanded nature experiences for the individual, global communications and thought sharing such as this dialogue, breaking down borders, and sensory extension through telescopes, microscopes and the like enabling us to get a picture of what this universe is.
“Our houses are such unwieldy property that we are often imprisoned rather than housed by them”. Thoreau
I am a great advocate of miniaturizing ALL of it though to the space of a good sized RV, and advocate one for every family, or couple free of charge, except that we all go out and work the landscape, our common home. We should ramp up the self sufficiency aspects more by integrating hydrogen splitting facilities for propulsion, hydroponic growing systems for onboard food production and so on, so we can take care of OURSELVES, instead of enslaving each other to work for us.
“Wealth is the ability to fully experience life”. Thoreau
I feel I’ve given you immeasurable value, in essence I’ve offered you your own freedom. Of all the things you read on the net, or opinions you will encounter in a typical work day, what I offer is completely absent from the conversation, yet the thing you probably need to hear the most. I am looking out for your very Life. I should get paid handsomely, certainly more than Muhtar Kent, the CEO of Coca Cola, who is poisoning America to the tune of $18,813,013, his 2009 salary.
“It appears to be a law that you cannot have a deep sympathy with both man and nature.” Thoreau
Therein lies the problem expressed by your comment, and I appreciate you for expressing it. We can’t go to Paradise, which is Freedom for All, until we all go to Paradise. Each one of us has become an impossibility that has to be resolved for U.S. to go through the gates. I can open the door, but until we all put down our arms and take those first baby steps.
We must learn to reawaken and keep ourselves awake, not by mechanical aid, but by an infinite expectation of the dawn. (Think Like The Sun). Thoreau
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Tags: freedom, individual autonomy, paradise, rewilding
