About two years ago I read an article about an unlikely acolyte of the Unabomber (ub). At the time it was mostly a guilty pleasure read about a serial killer – who was obviously completely insane – but there it was: an article that was getting more readable as I went along, until I reached that point where I actually got hooked.
It’s kind of out there in the public mind, but just to state the probably obvious: the ub was murdering with a more primitive society in mind. The primitive part was what this acolyte was into and he explored that whole subject from a sort of academic perspective, at least that was the tone of the articles on the now ceased Wild Will site, that has since moved on to Facebook.
On a side-note: that move may have been cheap, but it’s also a bit of a swing and a miss, because in my mind a site like Facebook is a total status-quo and it will always have less credibility than any other site. In my mind, Facebook is kind of the opposite of a re-wilding, because it’s hyper-domesticated, leaning into the hyper-personal and the hyper-social in that everything gets inflated to such an extent that it’s almost some sort of fantasy, or some distorted reality, which in my mind is a little too close to the kind of societal and moral decay that has been set in motion by Trump and the likes.
Let me get one thing straight though: I do use Facebook for promotion, to give a very measured account of what I want to get across, and to create a very measured public image. I post links to articles that are off-site, which is more difficult for readers on Facebook, because it takes more effort, but it offers something else: quality in leaps and bounds, and hopefully a bigger sense that I know what I’m talking about. But yeah, like I said, that’s all on a side-note.
Then the wild, or even better: the mountain
Native Americans have this saying: I am the mountain. It’s more like a poem or a rhyme: the mountain crumbles, the mountain becomes earth, a plant grows in the earth, I eat the plant, I am the mountain. In it’s simplicity lies also its truth and its appeal: we all kick back from time to time thinking about a simpler life.
At least, that’s what I do. I read non-fiction articles, mostly through the resources that I have mentioned before, and from time to time I read about this primitive life. But that’s always where it stays: as an idea of mind, it does have its appeal, but to live well you need to be part of a functioning society which secures a decent quality of life, and which includes access to healthcare, but which in my mind doesn’t necessarily include the city life. In fact, I have moved away from the big cities about nine years ago, and I doubt whether I will ever return.
A simpler life does have this definite appeal, and it’s more in reach when you’re out in the country. But what a lot of us have never learned are the skills like growing our own food and all that. What is always lost in the story though is that just living will become a full-time job.
Most recently I watched a lot of the videos of Kyles Cabin. Even if it wasn’t for the fact that I live far away in a warm climate, I do enjoy watching those videos for the sake of watching. As an idea I would like to do something like that: build a cabin. But in reality I don’t, and even if ‘everything’ was totally different, I wouldn’t actually go out and build a cabin. I guess that the fact that I don’t actually want to build a cabin has more to do with a different idea of a good life. Or maybe it’s all just part of some lucid day-dream.
Then, what about this mountain?
What those re-wilders claim that they are after is a wilder and a more feral way of life. It’s about foraging, it’s about growing your own food, it’s about living closer to the land and closer to nature.
I’m totally into all these things, but only to some extent. It always reminds me of Rousseau who defined the feral state where there’s no society as the nature-state: everything is up for grabs, no one owns anything and no one is safe.
In Rousseau’s thinking, the nature-state is the exact opposite of the social contract, which comes down to both an understanding of society function so-and-so, both in terms of written and unwritten rules. When you live in a society where this so-and-so is very well worked out, then it’s tempting to forget about all the good things that we as a society have.
These days you don’t need to look far to find societies that are not as well organized as most of the European countries. Even though the US may have lost its role as the moral world leader, it still tends to be a benchmark for a lot of things. In Europe healthcare is very well organized, but in The States it isn’t ----- for a lot of people.
This is just one example that a successful society needs to organize extremely well, and it all comes down to this very simple premise: if everyone is doing better, it improves the total performance of a society as a whole. The other side of this reasoning is there as well, if not everyone is doing better, then there’s a minority that benefits from this.
A very practical example comes from the island where I live. There’s no property tax, which is especially good for those folks who have large houses. It’s bad for folks who have a small house and who don’t earn that much money. By not taxing property, a lot of tax isn’t collected, which is money that can’t be used towards a more equal distribution of wealth through a system of grants, subsidies and whatnot.
Then what is the right strategy for change
At the risk of stating the obvious: the right kind of personal change is one where you try to live a simpler life, but it’s also one where you make sure that you’re part of a highly functioning society. The last part may be easier said than done, but it can also be taken as an incentive: to vote left and liberal to make sure that things will get better tomorrow. Obviously, change should include the entire picture, which includes not just a new job, but also our family lives.
In summary
- a simpler life is always a good priority, but it shouldn’t be taken too far
- sometimes it’s good to evaluate to what degree we have high credibility
- Rousseau’s social contract includes written and unwritten rules
- it’s important to belong to a highly organized society
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