Survival, freedom.

[Triple]

...

[smileyman]

Isn't it hard enough to survive in this world as it is? I mean hunting and gathering with scarce resources that I have know is pretty damn tough...Challenging to get the insurance paid, the rent covered, lights on, gas in the tank, food in the bellies. Existence is hard work whether you employ technology or not...

[CrazyKell]

I've been reading a book that had characters in it that lived in the forest.

More and more I've thought about the concept and what it would be like to actually go and do it.

I'm not saying I want to but I would consider doing it for a specific length of time. I think it'd be interesting.

[tommymac]

more so that hes doing it up in michigan, theres some prety harsh weather up there.

Tom

[OneSickPsycho]

There was this thing BMEzine was talking about doing a few years back... Going in on a huge plot in the Canadian wilderness, living off the land... Drop In, Tune Out. Some of the creature comforts would be available... generators and the like, but it sounds something like what this guy in MI did.

I'm in the process of simplifying my life somewhat... getting rid of a ton of shit on the 'well, I'd like to start using it again' or 'maybe I'll use it again' list... Nothing like what's illustrated in this story, but trying to simplify things either way.

[Homeslice]

"The things you own end up owning you" ---- Fight Club

True statement.......

Too bad that the more people start to practice it, the worse the economy will get.

[pauldun170]

Originally Posted by Triple

Nothing cures the stress of a bad breakup, a flat tire, a demotion at work, etc like, say, hunger, or a broken bone. When life is stripped back down to its basics and a person's focus again becomes survival, money woes and bad test grades no longer matter.

Anyone here read the book, see the movie, or just know the actual story of Into the Wild? I wish I had had the balls to do that when I was younger, before I trapped myself under so much responsibility...

A few years back, a guy I knew bought a hundred acres out in the middle of nowhere in northern Michigan, set up a canvas dome for himself and his wife, and has been living solely off the land around him ever since. He hunts, he fishes, he grows his own food. He must use savings to pay his property taxes each year, I don't know.

I don't know if I would want to live the rest of my life like that, but imagine what a cleansing experience it would be to spend two or three years separated from modern society. With nothing to concern yourself with other than putting food in your stomach and maybe keeping dry while you sleep.

The sad thing about this guy in Michigan, however, is that he had to wait until he was almost 60 before he could finally afford the life he'd always dreamt of. Think about this: he's living completely cut off from the world around him, in conditions most people would consider deplorably dirty, he's often very short on food and supplies, and he had to give his life's savings to PAY for it. He had to work until retirement to buy himself into what society would call poverty.

There is no such thing as just leaving the grind to go "live off the land," because nowadays, the land always belongs to someone else. And somehow, if you want to live this life of sustenance, you must find a way to pay for it, every year for the rest of your life. Which means you really haven't escaped anything at all. You still aren't free or alone.

I have the space and solitude to try a survivalists life now, just not the money. And if I have to wait until I retire, what's the fucking point?

Try that with no property to call your own.
Not so fun.

Hunger: Overrated

Worrying about freezing to death in your sleep: Bottom of the bucketlist

Having no immediate access to a doctor? Sucks at first but when you get really sick and that whole hallucination and euphoria starts kicking in...not so bad.

The cool part is the lack of human contact: It's always fun to watch social creatures such as humans degrade and sink into psychosis after a few years of no contact. That's unless you bring a dog or something.

[CrazyKell]

Originally Posted by pauldun170

The cool part is the lack of human contact: It's always fun to watch social creatures such as humans degrade and sink into psychosis after a few years of no contact. That's unless you bring a dog or something.

Or a volleyball?

[pauldun170]

Originally Posted by crazykell

or a volleyball?

wilson!!!!

[Frostz28]

It sounds great to me. I have never done it to the scale that the guy in MI has but when I was younger me and my buddies read the book "hatchet" and thought it sounded cool, so about 10 years ago me and three buddies decided to try it. We took two weeks of the summer and went out to the woods. (a buddies uncle owned 200 plus acres down south) We took in nothing but out guns, hunting knives, some pots and pans, and a few packages of beef jerkey, one book of matches and of course our hatchets. We built our own shelter and stuff, honestly it was truely one of the greatest times of my life. We had a few rough nights when it rained like HELL, and ended up rebuilding our shelter like 10 times just to make it better. Looking back I wish we would have brough a camera or two just to document it a bit better, and I would have brought some vegetables, we had meat from hunting but vegetables are scarce when you don't have time to grow them. We found some wild ones but still wish we would have had more.