Does anybody else here experience depression or some other psychological stress due to recognizing that civilization traps us in a cage? I wake up every day and see metaphorical prison bars. I want to rewild, but without social support, I am reluctant to begin. I feel trapped between my goals and my immediate needs (i.e. I need to go to work, maintain my friendships, obtain most of my food, all within civilization).
How have others begun to untangle themselves from the web via direct action?
I find it depressing, like the other day, I was with some friends and we stopped at a grocery store, and were in the check out, and y’know there was like 20 lanes and just the monotonous beep beep beep at the check out, and we kinda look at each other, and someone says really solemnly
“you know, were surrounded by slaves”
and yeah… but whenever driving down the city I feel trapped a lot, and see metaphorical prisons. I’ve seen some documentaries where it portrays kinda how we are in a ‘prison planet’ or more so, that we are moving to one, and they usually glorify the US constitution and everything as the way out, but… I think their site might be slightly myopic as imo, they miss the real cause.
I try not to dwell on that. N. American culture and civilization exists and we live in the midst of it so as long as that is the situation we will have to deal with that. How much you are trapped by it is largely up to you.
There are a multitude of choices to make all the time that either buys you into it or not. When I say this I’m not meaning to lay any guilt on anybody for their choices. But honestly it’s very liberating when you start to realize all the choices you can make everyday that takes you away from the trap.
I’ve been trying to make this point in my other posts on this board. Find what is really important to you and always move toward it. You can’t have it all. You must make choices. If you want to rewild then you are going to have to let go of a lot of things.
[quote=“SilverArrow, post:1, topic:524”]Does anybody else here experience depression or some other psychological stress due to recognizing that civilization traps us in a cage? I wake up every day and see metaphorical prison bars. I want to rewild, but without social support, I am reluctant to begin. I feel trapped between my goals and my immediate needs (i.e. I need to go to work, maintain my friendships, obtain most of my food, all within civilization).
How have others begun to untangle themselves from the web via direct action?[/quote]
yup. exactly. I have been on here a lot lately and that has helped. I also just applied to the trackersNW immersion program next fall so that has given me something to look forward to… also I just got some awesome foraging books so I have been looking through those and planning on activities for the spring/summer, along with my permaculture/garden project. And I have been wanting to learn how to make a friction fire, weave baskets and rugs, and make clay pots this summer, among other things… So in other words, I have been trying to keep myself busy with “rewilding” thoughts or activities. And it doesn’t matter so much that my immediate friend group doesn’t share my interests (AT ALL) here in Cincinnati, but I have someone in Portland that does, and I have talked to him about things. And I got all y’all here! I just got a job so that I will be able to afford the trackersNW program and start to pay off my debts so that I won’t owe nobody nothing (this will take a while though cus I have college debt too, but the credit card debt should be fairly easy to pay off).
-emily
Many people get stuck in situations where they don’t think they have a choice, but you have to go out and make choices, like heyvictor said.
I think travel can be one of the best ways to change your situation. Often people just need a change of location to make things go a bit more smoothly or get away from people who are bringing them down, or begin to work through their problems and walk their own path and learn what they want to do in life and how to go about doing it.
I also believe that there is a certain land for everyone where they can live how they want to and take the steps to become more indigenous to that area.
Just go out and hitch-hike or hop on a bus or a plane and go somewhere else for a while. Go to another state, talk to strangers and meet new people and learn from them and share what you know. Go live by a river for a week or go to a new land or whatever. It’s important to "let go"of comfort zones and get cold and wet and live under a bridge if you have to for a while or sleep in a soggy tent or whatever it takes. The reason people are stuck in situations where they are not happy is because they are in a comfort zone and don’t want to feel any physical and mental discomfort that happens when they leave it.
I remember when I first went out 5 or 6 years ago and lived in the B.C. rainforest and the Canadian streets on my own. I think I was 19 or 20 at the time. I had been a few years in the city as my folks had sold the acreage a few years back, and I had lived in a foster home my first year and a half in the city because I was having problems with my folks and had just spent a few years of basically goofing off at high school and pot-smoking and drinking every other day with a group of other people and basically not getting anywhere.
I did know that I wanted to get back to the country and wanted to try living like a homeless person and be free of material things and so on.
When I got to B.C. I was miserable, cold, wet , lonely and depressed. I was having all these problems with a girl as well and I had a lot of sh*t to deal with. I didn’t know what I was doing exactly I just knew I wanted to live in the wilderness and live a different life. I had a few ideas on where I wanted to be but I didn’t have the will or the experience to do it yet. Yet I stuck it out for a few weeks and didn’t cop out and give up.
That initial trip gave me experience and a good start, I had slept on the streets and lived in the forest and could go from there. I hadn’t just said “Yea I would like to try living homeless and living in the forest” I had done it and it felt good to accomplish that even though it wasn’t easy or comfortable and I got rained on quite a bit and shivered through many nights. And If I had done it once I figured I could do it again and again and things went from there.
So I spent a few more months there the following year and became more confident and impressed that I could do what I wanted and live how I wanted to live. I didn’t hang out with the drug crowd anymore and my life slowly began to move in the direction I wanted it to move. I hitch-hiked across half of Canada, lived on the street in cities and worked and volunteered on cattle and goat ranches to learn more about herding before I went to the desert and camped out more in the forest in other lands for extended periods of time and it’s only given me more experience and confidence.
Meeting the Bedouin was one of the best years of my life as after much searching I found a place where I could live the life I’d always wanted to live and the people I’d always wanted to live with. Yet it took years of struggle and throwing myself to the wind to get to that point, it didn’t happen right away and I had to take the necessary steps to get there, but it was worth it.
I’ve met so many helpers along the way that I couldn’t count them all even if I wanted to. I don’t think it would have been possible to be where I am now if I hadn’t let go and taken a chance and made an effort to live according to my ideals that first time I went to the rainforest.
In any case, I hope my experience inspires others to go out and complete their goals and walk their own paths and break free of comfort zones.
Some people I know in Canada have told me that I must be really brave ( or crazy, it’s usually one or the other) to do some of the things I have done but you know that has nothing to do with it. I just got fed up to the point where I decided “Well it’s now or never” and gave it a go. Anyone can do that and I’m sure many are fed up right now and just need a little push to get started on their own path.
I've seen some documentaries where it portrays kinda how we are in a 'prison planet' or more so, that we are moving to one, and they usually glorify the US constitution and everything as the way out, but.. I think their site might be slightly myopic as imo, they miss the real cause.
Alex Jones and Infowars is the only radio show I listen to anymore but usually only once in a while as it’s an internet broadcast. I agree that he doesn’t have all the answers but his point is mainly to inform people and effect some kind of change this way. He’s pretty much devoted himself to waking up other people to the current social situation and he’s taken a lot of flak and abuse for it over the years.
I respect and support him for what he’s doing in any case. I remember him saying in one of his broadcasts “I would much rather be hunting and fishing and spending time with my family out in the country but I feel I have an obligation to get the word out so that is why I am on the radio all the time and making documentaries, etc”, so I understand his motives and agree with probably 90 percent or more of what the guy has to say.
I think that when a person allows the manifold depressing aspects of civ to bring them down they allow civ a victory. Any stress I experience comes from internal friction and I do not feel any need to point the finger elsewhere.
A native american saying often quoted by Joseph Campbell : “As you proceed through life, following your own path, birds will shit on you. Don’t bother to brush it off.”
[quote=“Sandwalker, post:5, topic:524”]Many people get stuck in situations where they don’t think they have a choice, but you have to go out and make choices, like heyvictor said.
I think travel can be one of the best ways to change your situation. Often people just need a change of location to make things go a bit more smoothly or get away from people who are bringing them down, or begin to work through their problems and walk their own path and learn what they want to do in life and how to go about doing it.
I also believe that there is a certain land for everyone where they can live how they want to and take the steps to become more indigenous to that area.
Just go out and hitch-hike or hop on a bus or a plane and go somewhere else for a while. Go to another state, talk to strangers and meet new people and learn from them and share what you know. Go live by a river for a week or go to a new land or whatever.[/quote]
While it would be nice to take the time to do something like that, I honestly can’t, and I don’t think I’m making excuses. First, I have debt, from school and credit cards. The credit card debt will take about 10 months to pay off (assuming my income stays the same) and the school debt will take about 4 years (once I pay off the credit cards, I can increase my loan payments significantly).
Second of all, I can say with a relative degree of certainty that at this point in my life, I need to concentrate on building some sustained friendships. It’s taking a f-ing long time in Seattle, but it’s happening, slowly. I have great college friends all over the country but I can only talk with them over the phone. I strongly believe that social connection within a community is a human need. I can’t stress the word “need” enough. I have learned this the hard way, and I know it in my body. If you go without close and/or sustained social relationships for too long, you will lack something that you need.
I interact all day at work with people (I’m a barista). Sometimes, if it’s slow, I have conversations that last an hour or more. Given the right customer, we share things with each other and learn from each other. I have actually shared some rewilding-related ideas with a lot of people, and I’ve been surprised by how many people are open to many of the arguments and philosophical concepts behind it.
That’s great, BUT I see these people rarely again, or sometimes never again (if, say, they’re just passing through the neighborhood). They’re not really my friends. I don’t even consider them members of my “community” (even if they’re regulars!). If I were to take a bus trip and have the same kinds of conversations with strangers, I still wouldn’t feel as though I were making any friends. I would feel essentially alone.
What I don’t understand about so many rewilders is the attitude of being OK with being a loner (see: the Lone Mountain Man thread). I completely appreciate the sentiment that everybody needs some alone time (I myself am introverted and need time to renew my energy after a certain amount of social stimulation; also, being alone with oneself contributes to self-knowledge). However, I think many rewilders have had to find ways to “get used to” being alone in their hopes and dreams because other people who want to share this lifestyle (for lack of a better word) are few and far between. I feel that this “getting used to” is damaging, in the end. I don’t think that choosing to go it alone (and further separate myself from people, even if they are in civ) is a viable choice, at least not for me, and especially not right now in my life.
Sounds like getting out from under debt as soon as possible and cutting up the credit cards is a good thing to move towards for a lot of people.
Without a doubt being surrounded by, immersed in, mainstream culture, and not buying in, can be a lonely path to walk. For a lot of people it’s more than they can bear.
yeah, debt is the big thing holding me back ye know, well college, I’m still going and planning on finishing, and hoping to just live frugally and pay it off asap. Especially before big interest really incurs…
Knowing I’m in a prison actually improves my mood. I mean, everyone wants something else to blame their problems on. Right-wingers blame foriegners and liberals, Poor people blame the rich, etc. I mean, in some cases we’re right, but that’s kind of incidental to having something else to blame, isn’t it? Knowing I’m in a prison lets me see how some of the thiings in my life that I hate are not my own fault, and they give me something to fight against or aviod. Before I fully groked the situation, I was constantly blaming myself.
AJ- I have encountered a similar understanding of the false premises behind harshly judging others or oneself.
IN a world of zero sum competition, everyone is guarunteed to “fail” in one way or another…everyone who “wins” or is “successful” will directly or indirectly stomp on another persons toes…
“Make your slaves unequal to and afraid of each other and they will never rise up against you”
paraphrased quote from a letter sent from a Brazillian plantation owner to a fellow plantation owner in antebellum American south.
My everyday reminder of the death urge that is civilization…
Endless oceans of corn in soybeans (very common where I live)
How on earth was an all encompassing plot to enslave the soil (and those who would otherwise happily live with it) so decisively executed? In conjunction with regs that city dwellers must mow “their” lawns?
I am not religious, but this all smacks of demonic posession on a wide scale…
What I am beginning to do about it:
I am in the beginning research/inquiry phase of starting up my own local kombucha brewery. I would sell directly to (through?) the coop (the good food store coop in Rochester MN to be exact) and
BECAUSE i AM MORE ENTHUSED ABOUT SPREADING KOMBUCHA THAN MAKING A PROFIT
i would donate large quantities to the local Dorothy Day House and other homeless shelters (along with teaching them how to make it themselves in case I get greedy later on…) because I disagree with how the evil agribusiness junk food empire has turned “health food” into an expensive holier than thou fetish, and feel that those down and out (casualties of civ)need kombucha more than me or anyone else
I want to make kombucha common and affordable where I live, so that people will have a healthy alternative to the false varieties of corn syrup soda.
Like Derrick Jensen writes, people will defend the source of their sustenance…
though i think sustenance does not describe what is accomplished by agribusiness… toxic mimicry of satisfaction and satiety, that is more like it…
anyways, along with getting people off their agribusiness junk food addiction (at least in the realm of beverages), the reduced sugar and caffeine load, along with all the other healthy stuff in kombucha, should help their heads to clear, and be more easy to get along with and more open to rewilding…
or at least, that is what kombucha has helped me with…
And yes, if/when I start ramping up production (so far I make just enough for myself) I would try to buy tea and sugar from permaculture-ish operations, and try to find a local producer of glass bottles…
Every person varies in what lifestyle will suit them best… I highly respect the nomadic dropouts for their discipline, cleverness, capacity to suffer, and ability to go with the flow…
for now, I am better suited by having regular access to a coop, a warm bed, a kitchen, income from a regular job.
If my (currently hypothetical) operation is successful, I hope it spawns countless autonomous efforts in localities all over, involving all types of wholesome artisinal food and drink…
So that I can later be a more comfortable nomad, wandering around on a different landscape, barefoot, yet who can crash at any waystation or village and be offered real food and drink.
because right now, other than the kombucha I drink, there is the very expensive GT brand of kombucha at the coop… yeah its good stuff and I have sent large quantities of my money their way (making a personal supply in quantity takes time and practice and errors which result in not having it ready when your body needs it…)
BUT IT IS STILL CRAZY THAT KOMBUCHA BE BREWED AND CALIFORNIA THEN SHIPPED HUNDREDS AND THOUSANDS OF MILES AWAY.
Cottage industry, anyone?
the only tea I know of growing in North America is Charleston SC, How can kambucha be a solution to anything?
Silver Arrow, Seattle is a land of amazing amounts of free food. I do NOT go grocery shopping. I can take you on the “dumpsters of plenty” tour. Our big expense of course is bills, but there are many ways to at least reduce these drastically. Do you rent by yourself? Do you drive?
Can you get time off every once in awhile? If so you can squeeze in drug studies, they aren’t too bad as long as you have head phones, and the $ is good. I am obsessed with acquiring and saving money cuz the sooner I pay of the land, the sooner I’m outta here. However, I also have a nasty love of decadence that can slow me down at times :-[. My bro Toad saved well over $20,ooo in 1 year of working fast food, so don’t let debt get you down. Plus you can take tis time to prepare for actually hitting the wilds. Lets start a really exclusive Seattle Rewilders Club (there would actually be quite a few of us), we can work out, train in the feral arts, live in Discovery Park, and pretend we’re too cool for civ while still living in it. Hunting and gathering in the city is a sweet thing, easy as hell. I do feel stuck sometimes, but it’s not because I live in the city, its because the city is in my head. It takes a little effort to push it out but it’s great when it happens, community definitely helps. So when’s our fist Seattle Rewilders Club meeting? Saturday?
It totally could be Saturday. Saturday afternoon, that is (like 2 or 3 o’clock?)
So…to me, it looks like just you and trollsplinter for now, perhaps more may show to brighten up the event. Awesome. Please, incase you haven’t planned on it, write back giving us some of your experience on how it unfolds so that we here who don’t show may learn something aswell from your rewild meet.
Have fun at the club tomorrow!
Hey I’m in Seattle !! ???
cool, I think elferno can come too. I sent you my number, call me tomorrow, I might hit the park earlier due to limited daylight, but we should totally rock it. Fenris, you free tomorrow? write me. Biff and Brod may be there too, there may be a wee handful of us I guess. 
Have you heard anything from Brod (aka Michelle?) If not I can try giving her a call.
(FYI, Fenris, Elferno, etc… Brod/Michelle is my co-worker, extremely sweet and open, knows something or two about horticulture, and good company!)
This should be fun!
The earliest I can make it is around two. When I get to the park I’ll call to see where to find y’all.
great. give brod a call. I’m sure I can track down her phone number by tomorrow too.