The System Doesn't Own You: Exit Strategies (w/ video)

Here's a video I made about life in the Philippines, and how easy it is to remove yourself from the grid in a place like this. It is not totally professional or good, but I am just getting started with this, and don't really know how to use editing software.

Anyway, I presently living almost full time in a jungle-type situation, traveling out to something resembling civilization every once in a bit in order to use the internet and try to inform people about how absolutely possible it is to stop using money and start living life in a meaningful way, in harmony with nature.

I have often railed against the system, saying that outlets such as Ron Paul are nonsensical and simply designed to siphon energy off of anyone discontented by the present state of affairs. People often say things amounting to "well we have to believe in things like Ron Paul, because if we don't, we will feel hopeless and that will make us sad".

I am here to tell you that there is no need for a false reality in order to stave off hopeless sadness. There is a real solution to the problems that we face as a species, and that solution is for anyone who cares enough about themselves - their spiritual, emotional, psychological and physical health - and the survival of their species to reject the modern system completely and living sustainably, without being attached to the prison system we have had built up around over the last couple centuries.

So the Filipino government has no problem with foreigners coming into their country and just building houses where ever? I'm watching the video now so maybe that question will be addressed later in the video.

That is addressed elsewhere, but I don't think in that video. There are several factors there. Firstly, if you have an up to date visa, no they don't have a problem. Second, if you get married, you don't need a visa. Third, if you are out in the jungle, no one is going to come find you (foreigners live for decades in the city without a visa).

I am not exactly encouraging people to come to the Philippines specifically. That is merely where I am, so I am trying to note that it is possible here to live "off the grid". It is also possible in other third world countries, and would certainly be possible in America. I have known several people who have done it there, living in caves or national forests.

reply to post by andreoutlaw


I'm not trying to doubt what you are saying. I'm certain someone like yourself could pull it off, especially having a girlfriend who is from there. If I didn't have 3 kids I would probably be doing something similar and just disappearing off the gird in some 3rd world country. Good luck to you.

reply to post by taccj9903


Thanks man. I am sure though that there is a version of what I am doing that could work for you, and I am interested in trying to help people work out solutions that fit their various situations.

Soon enough I am going to put up a forum on my "realitysituation.com" site, where that type of thing can be discussed.

reply to post by andreoutlaw


Thanks, I will check it out. I could use some help finding a fine Filipino woman to be my travel companion

Yeah, there's plenty of them, heh. They're not all lazy fat slobs and/or psychotic feminist extremists like American chicks.

Originally posted by andreoutlaw
Yeah, there's plenty of them, heh. They're not all lazy fat slobs and/or psychotic feminist extremists like American chicks.

You had me at "They're not all lazy fat slobs"

2nd

Yeah, it is a beautiful thing to wake up and have the dishes and clothes washed, and everything in your hut straitened up. It is a realization, like "so I guess they are good for more than one thing!"

Stop it, you're gonna make me start crying. Me and a co-worker keep dreaming of escaping to Ecuador but the idea of leaving our kids behind keeps us here in the corporate grind. Hopefully someday we will escape and live the good life your experiencing.

reply to post by taccj9903


Well, the thing with the kids... I don't know, I don't have kids, but what I have always said is that a divorced father who doesn't have anything but weekend rights to his progeny who are being totally destroyed by TV, video games and the education system is not really in a position to do a whole lot for them. I guess you have to ask yourself if the child support money you're giving their mother is really doing them any good. The idea that it is your "responsibility" feels a lot like a fallacy created by the false social paradigm of western society.

You should have my email through your website, I recently commented. We can discuss things via email if you want. It's a little more complicated than what you know.

There are several more videos on my youtube channel dealing with this. Honestly though, the Philippines is not as ideal of an exit strategy as somewhere like the Amazon, where they have a whole lot more forest. What I am hoping is that this idea will catch on, and that this type of thing will start popping up all over the world.

I really don't see any other way of dealing with any of this nonsense that is happening on the planet at present.

This got a lot of flags but not a lot of comments.

What did people thing of the idea?

Also, anyone who wants to talk about it can email me: [email protected]

Or hit me up on skype: hello.andre

Originally posted by taccj9903
Stop it, you're gonna make me start crying. Me and a co-worker keep dreaming of escaping to Ecuador but the idea of leaving our kids behind keeps us here in the corporate grind. Hopefully someday we will escape and live the good life your experiencing.

I would warn you; the good life isn't all good. Living off grid means farming, and that means hard, physical work. Most of us these days are used to working with our minds; not only do we not have the stamina for agriculture, but it's also very easy to become painfully bored, compared to what we're used to.

If you've got a small to moderate scale permaculture setup, it can be OK. The tropics are a hard climate zone to farm, though. The topsoil is measured in milimeters, and if you don't cultivate it in the correct way, you'll lose it. Then there's floods, earthquakes, mosquitoes, malaria, etc.

I'm living in a subtropical zone myself, but I don't farm. I would also be careful about wanting a native wife. If she's Muslim, that means you will have to convert if you want to marry her. Not only that, but AIDS is rife in southeast Asia.

Originally posted by petrus4

Originally posted by taccj9903
Stop it, you're gonna make me start crying. Me and a co-worker keep dreaming of escaping to Ecuador but the idea of leaving our kids behind keeps us here in the corporate grind. Hopefully someday we will escape and live the good life your experiencing.

I would warn you; the good life isn't all good. Living off grid means farming, and that means hard, physical work. Most of us these days are used to working with our minds; not only do we not have the stamina for agriculture, but it's also very easy to become painfully bored, compared to what we're used to.

If you've got a small to moderate scale permaculture setup, it can be OK. The tropics are a hard climate zone to farm, though. The topsoil is measured in milimeters, and if you don't cultivate it in the correct way, you'll lose it. Then there's floods, earthquakes, mosquitoes, malaria, etc.

I'm living in a subtropical zone myself, but I don't farm. I would also be careful about wanting a native wife. If she's Muslim, that means you will have to convert if you want to marry her. Not only that, but AIDS is rife in southeast Asia.

None of that is true.

AIDS isn't even real.

All I know is that I wouldn't be walking around that shore/waterline without shoes...
That was a healthy amount of sea urchins!

But all the best to you, fellow ATS'er.
Keep up with updates if possible and good luck in all your adventures.

With that being said, if I wanted to live off the grid here in the states, I'd become homeless.
It's rather simple to give up everything and "disappear".
Just have to commit to it and go.
I have nothing holding me back.

I see alot of people struggling with this idea because they've become so entrenched in the "dream".
Getting consumed with debt, living with a career, buying a big house, starting a family, etc.
These things stop people dead in their "off-grid" tracks.
Because this gov't doesn't want people to stop consuming/producing.
So the idea to give it all up is very foreign to most.
Almost a fantasy.

Originally posted by havok
All I know is that I wouldn't be walking around that shore/waterline without shoes...
That was a healthy amount of sea urchins!

But all the best to you, fellow ATS'er.
Keep up with updates if possible and good luck in all your adventures.

With that being said, if I wanted to live off the grid here in the states, I'd become homeless.
It's rather simple to give up everything and "disappear".
Just have to commit to it and go.
I have nothing holding me back.

I see alot of people struggling with this idea because they've become so entrenched in the "dream".
Getting consumed with debt, living with a career, buying a big house, starting a family, etc.
These things stop people dead in their "off-grid" tracks.
Because this gov't doesn't want people to stop consuming/producing.
So the idea to give it all up is very foreign to most.
Almost a fantasy.

The image of "the good life" is the real fantasy. Money only makes people less happy. I think it is easily possible to "disappear" into a national forest in America.

Here is a recording I did last night dealing with these issues. It is very informative.

recordings.talkshoe.com...