Today we went for a hike down the river's edge. It was beautiful. The sun was shining and the birds were singing and we met several lizards. We came back and had lunch then lay on a blanket by the river's edge. Carr played the ukulele while I used my knife to make some carvings on some hard-packed sand on the riverbank. Now we are back at our camp, I am writing this and she is reading.
Several people have asked me for reasons for this journey, so here are the main ones:
Because I have always wanted to do this, I have felt it in my heart. I have always been a traveler and explorer, I have always felt a yearning to journey around the world, to live in different places, etc. I have wanted to see what it is like to be, rather than to constantly do and work, to see what emerges when you unplug from the default/mainstream system. I have always felt the deep beauty of the planet-that-made-us calling, and wanted to go experience it. In the words of Hellen Keller, life is an adventure.
Because life is short. As far as we know or remember, we only live once. And as much as you try to deny it, we are all going to die, and we really never know when. To paraphrase Ernest Becker (The Denial of Death), the fear of death is so significant that people often live as it they are going to live forever in order to deny it - for example, by putting things off for "someday".
Because I don't want to wait til "retirement" (aka "someday"), when I'm old. The usual formula is this: work work work and save for retirement when you are 55 or 60 or 65, then live out your golden years. Problem is, that so often doesn't happen. People get sick, infirm, injured, inflexible, they get old and then they can't enjoy it. Or they get so used to thinking in a certain way after years of working that they can't mentally shift and adjust to their "freedom" once they finally have it. This doesn't happen to everybody - but it happens to enough people. I've already started to feel the effects of aging, and I don't like many of them (whereas some of them are quite good). That being said, I've felt very inspired by meeting people who are older yet have more passion and vitality than people who are decades younger, chronologically speaking - hurray for them! And I am saddened by the "pension prostitutes" (a term coined by one of my clients to refer to himself) who give up their life and vitality working jobs that numb their souls and wear out their bodies in exchange for the promise of a pension, one day, un jour, un dia.
Because I'm not that trusting of humanity nor the state of the world, which humans are making uglier with each passing year. In the past several weeks I have felt my cynicism melt away like so much snow in spring, and that feels incredibly good. And yet since I can't pretend to know where humans are taking this lovely ship of fools, I'd rather do this now rather than wait for a possibly uglier future! If it all works out then great - nothing is lost.
Because I feel that the lifestyle our modern culture has created is fundamentally unhealthy and lacking in meaning, despite its many many perks, comforts and advantages. Metro boulot dodo. Drive this car to go to work, go to work to pay for this car. As a therapist I saw so many people who had bought into the mentality/system and who were so unhappy, often not even realizing why. And realizing that I had done the same thing in so many ways... I figure there are so many people doing the usual thing, why don't I do something different, why don't I do an experiment and see how it feels?
Because despite its many comforts I was tired of living where I was, with its snow and cold, swimming upstream of its so often bland default culture. Just not for me, though it may be for many other people. Every long winter I would ask myself "why do we live here?". I wanted sunlight and warmth and to be in places that felt more alive.
Because I can. I am fortunate enough that simply by virtue of where and when I was born, I was able to take a number of opportunities which made this possible for me. For the vast majority of people through history and in the world today, the focus is simply surviving. I have worked pretty hard in my life, yes. I I was also pretty lucky to have been born when and where I was instead of so many other points in spacetime. I recognize that many people would love to be doing what I am now, so it behooves me to actualize this yearning if I can.
Because I wanted to recharge my soul - see my March 22 entry.
Because I wanted to nourish my soul. And in turn, perhaps nourish the souls of others.
Because I have been fortunate enough, after many years of searching and much work on myself, to have met a person who is my best friend, lover, partner in crime, soul muffin and twin flame, and when we got to talking about life we discovered that we both wanted the same thing. When life gives you a gift like that, you have to accept!
Several people have asked me for reasons for this journey, so here are the main ones:
Because I have always wanted to do this, I have felt it in my heart. I have always been a traveler and explorer, I have always felt a yearning to journey around the world, to live in different places, etc. I have wanted to see what it is like to be, rather than to constantly do and work, to see what emerges when you unplug from the default/mainstream system. I have always felt the deep beauty of the planet-that-made-us calling, and wanted to go experience it. In the words of Hellen Keller, life is an adventure.
Because life is short. As far as we know or remember, we only live once. And as much as you try to deny it, we are all going to die, and we really never know when. To paraphrase Ernest Becker (The Denial of Death), the fear of death is so significant that people often live as it they are going to live forever in order to deny it - for example, by putting things off for "someday".
Because I don't want to wait til "retirement" (aka "someday"), when I'm old. The usual formula is this: work work work and save for retirement when you are 55 or 60 or 65, then live out your golden years. Problem is, that so often doesn't happen. People get sick, infirm, injured, inflexible, they get old and then they can't enjoy it. Or they get so used to thinking in a certain way after years of working that they can't mentally shift and adjust to their "freedom" once they finally have it. This doesn't happen to everybody - but it happens to enough people. I've already started to feel the effects of aging, and I don't like many of them (whereas some of them are quite good). That being said, I've felt very inspired by meeting people who are older yet have more passion and vitality than people who are decades younger, chronologically speaking - hurray for them! And I am saddened by the "pension prostitutes" (a term coined by one of my clients to refer to himself) who give up their life and vitality working jobs that numb their souls and wear out their bodies in exchange for the promise of a pension, one day, un jour, un dia.
Because I'm not that trusting of humanity nor the state of the world, which humans are making uglier with each passing year. In the past several weeks I have felt my cynicism melt away like so much snow in spring, and that feels incredibly good. And yet since I can't pretend to know where humans are taking this lovely ship of fools, I'd rather do this now rather than wait for a possibly uglier future! If it all works out then great - nothing is lost.
Because I feel that the lifestyle our modern culture has created is fundamentally unhealthy and lacking in meaning, despite its many many perks, comforts and advantages. Metro boulot dodo. Drive this car to go to work, go to work to pay for this car. As a therapist I saw so many people who had bought into the mentality/system and who were so unhappy, often not even realizing why. And realizing that I had done the same thing in so many ways... I figure there are so many people doing the usual thing, why don't I do something different, why don't I do an experiment and see how it feels?
Because despite its many comforts I was tired of living where I was, with its snow and cold, swimming upstream of its so often bland default culture. Just not for me, though it may be for many other people. Every long winter I would ask myself "why do we live here?". I wanted sunlight and warmth and to be in places that felt more alive.
Because I can. I am fortunate enough that simply by virtue of where and when I was born, I was able to take a number of opportunities which made this possible for me. For the vast majority of people through history and in the world today, the focus is simply surviving. I have worked pretty hard in my life, yes. I I was also pretty lucky to have been born when and where I was instead of so many other points in spacetime. I recognize that many people would love to be doing what I am now, so it behooves me to actualize this yearning if I can.
Because I wanted to recharge my soul - see my March 22 entry.
Because I wanted to nourish my soul. And in turn, perhaps nourish the souls of others.
Because I have been fortunate enough, after many years of searching and much work on myself, to have met a person who is my best friend, lover, partner in crime, soul muffin and twin flame, and when we got to talking about life we discovered that we both wanted the same thing. When life gives you a gift like that, you have to accept!