Spiritual path away from a government made lifestyle

I've been thinking for some time now, that this lifestyle made by our government to go to school, get a education, get a job, make money, pay to live somewhere, pay to eat, pay for everything, consume consume consume, fear this and that, just isn't the way it should be. I feel like I should live like my Cherokee ancestors out in nature, live off the land, grow my own food, make my own shelter, be one with nature, become free. Now this isn't a easy way out, it would require great effort, skill, and hard work, but life would be less complex as i think it should be, it also doesn't mean i would alienate myself from the outside world either. Home is where the heart is and nature is everywhere, so thus staying at one spot would be like staying in one room, but if you have all neccessaties you could stay in that one room but wouldn't have to. I'm thinking hard on this subject, I think I'm getting close to buying survival books and what plants to stay away from and that sort, so i can pursue this lifestyle. I do not care if i have followers but they are welcome, does anyone else here have these thoughts similar to mine or once had these thoughts? What made you change your mind if you did? If your serious about it like I am feel free to U2U me about joining me. Any good suggestions out there for survival books or plant books? i would assume it depends on where you choose to live which books would be best to help, so are there basic survival guides or basics to does and do nots in nature. Before i go out in the wilderness i also may want to laminate various Buddhist, metaphysical, survival, and nature based books. Also I may not do this altogether but regardless i feel like i have a calling to nature and not this industry life. Any thoughts people of ATS?

I feel exactly the same way. Now I've decided that my next job is going to have a salary below the taxable level, that I'm going to work until I'm done working whatever that might mean. I'm completely fed up with funding government that works against the interests of the people. There's not a nation in the world, that I know of, that works for the people. What is a country if not the inhabitants?

I forage now because I'm not funding industrial agriculture either. I pick everything I can find. Even weeds are good food. And all food is medicine. (Plus I've picked my first fly agaric today and will have a go at that soon enough - happy me!)

So yes, let's move away from that lifestyle. Let's follow our hearts back out into Nature, those of us who are made of that stuff. The rest can do as they wish too. There's room for all.

reply to post by 4stral4pprentice


Now you're talking.

See the box so well designed - equipped with a maze -
to stay in place - to follow the rules -
to prepare you to be a good consumer -
which keeps you firmly in the box -
to insure you never find your true internal nature.

The box - is our demise.




[edit on 8-9-2009 by spinkyboo]

reply to post by CosmicEgg


Please be careful.
Fly Agaric on Wikipedia

reply to post by 4stral4pprentice


I want to do a similar thing maybe after university! Get one with nature and just live off the land... No artificial stuff. Just you and the earth!

reply to post by The Songwriter


=) Well if i do decide to do this, I will tell you all in this forum, and give out ways to contact me if some wish to follow in this path.

reply to post by 4stral4pprentice


*raises hand*

Been there! Still here, actually.


To date I could easily go either way (nature or society). I like having the option. But this lifestyle is definitely not for everyone; only for those who have a severe and unquenchable disdain for authority and modern society in general, are very independent, and calm and collected, with a strong will.

I have no job. I worked for several years but I never liked it, obviously. It's "the box" someone was just talking about. Money. Now I do have money, enough to get me food or clothes or books or this or that, whatever I want/need, but I'll leave it to you to work out how. I don't steal it, or borrow it from anyone else, either. I'm a traveling salesman of sorts. There must be 1000's of ways to make money without a job. Get creative. If you have disdain for authority you have that many more options available to you.

I have no regular place to stay. I have several friends who will let me stay with them, but I like to tread lightly and not stay too long in the same place. It seems like each time I post it's from a different computer. Sometimes I just walk off down back roads until I come to the woods and mountains, and just walk off into them and sleep and eat and meditate there for a day or however long.

I pretty much do what I like and am damned good at it. Because the only thing I really need is my mind, my awareness.

I have a small library of books that I move around a lot, because it's too much to carry with me yet I always like having access to it. Unfortunately right now I only have 4 or 5 books on me, the rest are stored in a friend's trunk on the other side of the country.

I have several books on gathering wild edibles, survival in general and fishing and the like. The internet is a huge supplement to those books, but the books are encyclopedic in their listing of regional edibles and can always be on-hand. When I eat in nature (mostly during these summer months) it's usually blackberries, raspberries, strawberries (all now out-of-season), sumac, milkweed pods, various leafy greens (plaintain, dandelion, etc.). There are a lot of herbs you can eat too but I usually prefer making tea out of them, like various mints and catnip, even pine needles make a nutritious tea. Pine needles have 4x the vitamin C per gram than oranges. This lifestyle usually goes hand-in-hand with fasting and meditation. Unless you are prepared to spend a lot of time foraging you might as well get used to not eating as much. You might as well not eat as much anyway, and I actually have a thread explaining full well why you shouldn't eat any more than you have to. Because most of the things you eat, especially from stores and restraurants, are full of toxins and are unhealthy in general.

I love it, but it's definitely not for everyone. And at times it really is like walking a very fine line. But as long as you can find that line it will be there. I am not religious in the conventional sense but I do have a LOT of faith.

I agree with you.

I have a hard time fitting in "the system". I hate the complexity of it. The money, the banks, the education we receive, the way we're told to live, etc. I'm tired of all this.

It's a good thing people are starting to wake up a bit.

Awesome post OP.. i couldnt agree more. I have been thinking that same way for some time now. We are raised to live a certain way... having a respectable job, make money, go to college..

I never wanted to live that same path of life. Why live a boring life if you dont have to?

So ever since i came to that conclusion, a LOT changed for me. I got rid of most of my posessions... let go of my fear of the unknown.. and packed my bags and left to go find some adventure. I allowed myself to be free and happy and non judgemental and in doing so found my soulmate, who before i probably wouldnt have ever been interested in. I work coffee shop jobs because it allows me to work in a cozy environment and most of the customers are laid back and mellow. i have plans to move to india with my boyfriend and grow an organic farm. he used to live there, so it isnt far fetched for us.

until i can get to that point however, i am still living a happy life. even if it means i have to work and pay some bills.. at least i am happy with my job. i eat organic food.. i walk instead of drive.. life is better when it is simple. you finally feel free when you can let you and stop worrying so much about things that dont matter.

Originally posted by Redge
I agree with you.

I have a hard time fitting in "the system". I hate the complexity of it. The money, the banks, the education we receive, the way we're told to live, etc. I'm tired of all this.

It's a good thing people are starting to wake up a bit.

It is a good thing, I've had this mindset for some 8+ years. =)

reply to post by bsbray11



I like and respect your choice, to each his own, but i only see it as a matter of time before i go full blown nature man haha =)

I love reading these posts and I agree with most everyone's sentiments. I really don't mind having a full time job (nor do I take it for granted). I think of people that work as "contributing to society" but this society is one i feel is not worth contributing towards, not worth lifting a finger for, or in support of it - it's so messed up. So in that sense, I am not highly motivated, nor do I have a "passion" for anything in the business world. I do a good job though, I view my work as a meditation in itself (as much as possible) and take pride in doing a good job, so i don't cause trouble on that front whatsoever.

With my friends and family, they seem satisfied as long as I'm employed or at least doing something. I think it's finally starting to sink in with them that I am not entirely full of BS, and that I am literally marching to a different drum beat, playing a different game than most everybody else (except for you guys of course, lol).

By the time that sinks in with them fully, I may full well be ready to unplug for a few years. I moved back in with my parents so i could save money. My story right now is that I'm saving up to go back to school (which isn't a total lie, I may well go back and get a masters) - and hey if you ever need a good "story" people LOVE that one, but I may well use that money to unplug comfortably and just kick it for a few years, hopefully squatting somewhere or maybe on a campground... I just don't know if I'd feel safe out there, and if I was afraid and feel vulnerable it will be an absolute waste of my time.

But man it would be interesting and educational, to just unplug 3 or 4 years, do the outdoors thing, camp in a nice tent (or if you could afford, a camper and spend your days in a natural setting). Come back to society after 3 or 4 years and realize how insignificant the daily news shows and all the social BS you'd have to catch up on really was all along.

Originally posted by 4stral4pprentice

Originally posted by Redge
I agree with you.

I have a hard time fitting in "the system". I hate the complexity of it. The money, the banks, the education we receive, the way we're told to live, etc. I'm tired of all this.

It's a good thing people are starting to wake up a bit.

It is a good thing, I've had this mindset for some 8+ years. =)

Well, what I meant to say was that there seems to be a lot of people around me who are waking up to those things recently.

reply to post by 4stral4pprentice


I've heard there are some interesting little communities with native ties, and some hippy draft dodgers from the 60's in Vancouver Island Canada. You'd like it there, and we could meet up at some point.

Originally posted by Novise
I love reading these posts and I agree with most everyone's sentiments. I really don't mind having a full time job (nor do I take it for granted). I think of people that work as "contributing to society" but this society is one i feel is not worth contributing towards, not worth lifting a finger for, or in support of it - it's so messed up. So in that sense, I am not highly motivated, nor do I have a "passion" for anything in the business world. I do a good job though, I view my work as a meditation in itself (as much as possible) and take pride in doing a good job, so i don't cause trouble on that front whatsoever.

With my friends and family, they seem satisfied as long as I'm employed or at least doing something. I think it's finally starting to sink in with them that I am not entirely full of BS, and that I am literally marching to a different drum beat, playing a different game than most everybody else (except for you guys of course, lol).

By the time that sinks in with them fully, I may full well be ready to unplug for a few years. I moved back in with my parents so i could save money. My story right now is that I'm saving up to go back to school (which isn't a total lie, I may well go back and get a masters) - and hey if you ever need a good "story" people LOVE that one, but I may well use that money to unplug comfortably and just kick it for a few years, hopefully squatting somewhere or maybe on a campground... I just don't know if I'd feel safe out there, and if I was afraid and feel vulnerable it will be an absolute waste of my time.

But man it would be interesting and educational, to just unplug 3 or 4 years, do the outdoors thing, camp in a nice tent (or if you could afford, a camper and spend your days in a natural setting). Come back to society after 3 or 4 years and realize how insignificant the daily news shows and all the social BS you'd have to catch up on really was all along.

Not sure about you but I love being out in nature, when my parents went on vacation we went to this large hotel with many attractions but all i wanted to do was explore the mountains. I've always been that way i LOVE the wilderness and could easily see myself content living off the land.

Originally posted by OmegaPoint
reply to post by 4stral4pprentice

 

I've heard there are some interesting little communities with native ties, and some hippy draft dodgers from the 60's in Vancouver Island Canada. You'd like it there, and we could meet up at some point.

Natives and hippies on the same island?? odd... but interesting! If you want to meet up i wouldn't mind just send me a message and we could plan something in the future.

[edit on 8-9-2009 by 4stral4pprentice]

reply to post by Dasher


You don't think I'm going to fall for that "information", do you? I've read about this for a long time, considered it for a longer time and will most definitely use it on occasion. These mushrooms have placed themselves in my path for many years. I've ignored them up till now because of how "poisonous" they are. They aren't. You have to be really stupid to die from this. Normally you just get nauseous and maybe throw up, but you have to be really uninformed for that to happen. I will assume you meant well and I thank you for your concern, but it's wasted effort. I'm all grown up and can quite easily, effectively, and responsibly think for myself. I will explore life further. There's a lot more going on than we're encouraged to know. I guess I'll start thinking entirely for myself and have some fun now for the second half of my life.

I enjoy nature too, camping and just being in it really, waking up to it. Only thing I don't like is mosquitos and bugs biting you lol. The biggest problem I see with this sort of "getting away" is security and feeling comfortable and safe over long periods of time even if I'm with a few people I can trust. I would also be cautious in getting together with those who I met on the internet. I'm just saying, we have a good community here and all, but anything could happen. ATS is also getting bigger and bigger.

I would be happy as long as I am in a basically quiet place, out in nature. Could live off the land or do the grocery store thing once or twice a week.. I'd be set either way. Usually when people go camping it's steaks, hot dogs, marshmellows, lol. If I were doing it totally by myself or had the choice it'd be more cereals, sandwiches, things you don't have to cook as often as I could stand. Not having to clean the pots and pans would be worth it, not getting burned trying to cook stuff in the dark lol. But I guess I really won't know until I get out there and do it long term do I? Just thinking out loud. I guess I would just try to make it as easy as possible, even though all the stuff you have to do out there do passes the time.

Another thing that's good about getting out there is all the stars you can see at night - and hey maybe some UFOs,

Speaking along these terms I have sometimes wanted to take a trip across the ocean just to see the night sky from out there, where it's perfect to view it. That would be quite a get away, maybe getting work on a boat that's crossing, or take a cruise. Though I hear it doesn't take but like a week for those cruises, I guess they take the shortest routes and you'd have to fly to where they set off.

Hey Friend,
I've hit that cross road about 3 years ago...I quit that lifestyle to just consume everything that can be bought with money. I stoped working. I go on nature hikes with my buddies, camp out anywhere literally, build shelters and make fires, and even go fishing. For some reason I feel life should be this way simple as it sounds; you get away from the daily stress of life from the materialistic world.
My sister just recently had a baby and I have decided to continue to live the life I have, however I'm currently looking for work to help my sister out and to save for my kid brothers college or university tuition. I'm only 23..I'm fairly young but I don't care about money. All the money that I'll make will go to help my siblings out.

If you ever have the time you should try watching "Into the wild"
it will give you an insight
If you have any questions just U2U me.
I'll be happy to join you.

I was just about ready to take the plunge ( but with a YURT ), and then my ex caught wind of it, and hauled me into court threatening to take my child away from me....so I am on pause........... for NOW that is.....not forever, JUST for now.