Dear reader,
Preface;
‘Refusal of the call – Joseph Campbell – A civilisation locked in apathy’
This Ebook will cover the basic notion that exploring the unknown, whatever that means to you, can be smooth as opposed to the typical notion that leaving comfort must be marked with hurdles of suffering. Our relationship to suffering is different nowadays then in ancient times in the sense that our logic is exceeded by the notion that sitting still and idle in a boring job is good enough in societal standards. As long as your social economical position is alright, there is no reasoning from society to really change things around. However, as Joseph Campbell already explained among many others is that the journey of career building in contemporary society becomes a journey on its own when the original call for adventure has been ignored. An example of this is that it requires a tremendous amount of will power and grind work to rank up the ladder in most organisations. This is not a graceful journey that symbolises trans formative growth in the sense you as a person will transcend into something else along the way. It is the opposite as explained on this website before that we educate ourselves in an iron cage as Max Weber described. This preconception about hanging on to the known environment is demotivating most of us in ever embarking on an adventure to begin with. Joseph Campbell described this phase in mythology as the moment in which the hero nor heroin refuses to embark on trans-formative life experiences that expand your consciousness.
Instead many of us settle for relationships that are not emphasising a stimulating and interesting path of growth for your unique individuality. I thought it could be interesting, therefore, to share my own experiences of processes of change in this Ebook.
Travel is magical in the sense that it is a great medium for transformation and also a skill that for many goes unpractised due to being stuck in their comfortable patterns of going about their life. Travel for the psyche nor the body brings changes that with the right attitude and techniques can be experienced as pleasant and sought for by adventurous nor less adventurous people. The initial push might be uncomfortable, however, with the right mindset many of the journeys of life can be experienced with more grace rather then suffering if a change into the unknown has to be made. With some practical insights, tips and tricks something what looks like a storm can be a walk in the park and experience grace in your relationships and circumstances. This inherent need the adventurer has for stimulation, to seek new horizons either through inner explorations nor outer ones can be overstimulating for some folks and is, therefore, not the ideal or anything. The goal of seeking safety is just as important as a need for living on your edge, however, these are differently expressed by those who seek more stimulation in life. Therefore this Ebook will attend mostly to those individuals that embrace change, adventure, stimulation for the sake of trans-formative growth. Every turbulence in a stormy life, expressed a.e. with many relationship changes, can be gracefully navigated. This navigational ability is a strength in and of itself, to be able to live with grace under changing scenarios. The model or overview what I see as strenght is on this site called the 7 layers of strength of your house to tackle anything that might come up on the roads we take in life. By sharing my knowledge and practical experience I thought it would be nice to contribute on these topics for anyone interested in personal, professional and spiritual growth.
While keeping the above model in check, we can fill in the challenges of travel in whatever way, shape or form travel presents itself in your life, in the building blocks of your house. One can travel to expand his or her mind, one can travel purely for physical strength, however more often then not, travel is a multifaceted endeavour that automatically hits multiple layers of strength at once.
Take for example a culture shock when your psyche is under pressure you might experience a middle ground, a zero zone in which you float in between worlds trying to make sense of your current situation. My experience in middle China as a business developer assistant marks this experience the best. It feels as if you are walking multiple worlds at once and with high levels of stress this can result in confusion and delusions. Therefore seeing yourself as a world citizen or establishing a form of world citizenship to cultivate a general relationship with humanity at large can prevent such a delusion to occur. Even though the harsh Chinese state capitalism was and still is hard to study, observe and especially be among, is this still an aspect of being human, to learn to understand and accept the ways of others is the great insight of achieving graceful strength in alien situations. Not by becoming apart of the CCP yourself cause that is the regime, that is not the Chinese people, but by understanding why China is the way it is rather then feeling hugely displaced in your Westernised upbringing, you can be among rural Chinese people as a fellow human being. However it is not just your psyche that can be disturbed, also your body might need to adjust on different kind of food intakes. As an experienced bike packer through Europe, I hope that my experiences of being self reliant on the road and dealing with the psychological challenges that go along with that can assist you in your own journeying.
‘What is a pilgrimage if it’s not sought inside as well’?
Table of Contents
Chapter 1: Travel in a new age
Chapter 2: The minimalist attitude
Chapter 3: Feeling safe when there are no real threats
Chapter 4: Finding symbioses among ones environment
Chapter 5: By thyself and master thyself above all
Chapter 1: Travel in a new age
Where many dream to travel are only a few willing to make the leap into a yearning for adventure, either to explore a new horizon nor stretch your boundaries. Therefore, I wanted to write this E-book so that despite your circumstances you can find a way to make sure you can travel on low budget. However, most importantly is perhaps the psychology behind being in between places and on the road, sometimes not knowing how you have to return back to your original world.
A world that is marked with a constant appetite can one be bounded to work for that which one desire nor basically need. There is always a sacrifice to be made if one wants to fulfil that desire. With the desire is always the dread and rather than trying to extinguish appetites, one can unlock their freedom in finding moderation a.k.a. the middle path. This is typically expressed in philosophies that desire is not the root of evil, it is our mastery of knowing how to use desires that will cause suffering in moderation. So rather then becoming too minimalist and extinguish all desires, why not learn the tools and disciplines to focus a desire into something we want on a deeper level? For example, the flimsy experience of enjoying exotic stimulation on the road is part of the reason why many dream of a digital nomad job, being able to attend to parties with all sorts of people. However, I wanna make this Ebook for free with the general notion that what the adventurer is teased by is not what you are really pleased by in the end. A party in Shanghai is still a party, and a fling in Mexico is still a fling, plus you are unable to stay in touch as long as you continue travelling. So even though many travel just to experience the above, I would argue that this is a missed calling for a greater desire to be fulfilled while enjoying new scenes on the road. Migration groups are also travelling in greater numbers nowadays, however they are travelling for different reasons, to find safety for war, poverty and inequality. This fork in the road is also about a changing psyche in the end and a fate many fellow human beings will have to face unfortunately when tensions are rising in our world. What used to be your home could now be a war-zone, and, therefore, to gain the mindset to be at home without having a static home can be the difference between life and death. The search for better lands will only increase with the degeneration of ecoservices like fresh water sources. The time has come that humanity either seeks this in space or in the restoration and mitigation of anthropocentric effects.
The above largely depends on either being born in the northern hemisphere or the southern, so called global south and north. In terms of privilege or in terms of access to natural eco-services. To think along the lines of either being born in Africa or in Germany for example, which one would you think travel lighter and on a younger age by themselves? Those born in privilege or those stuck in privilege? How would you look at a bunch of bricks either with nor without a dream? Without having a dream bricks are just bricks, yet with some imagination bricks form the bedrock of a new city, a new vision how to build back better in (post)modern societies. If you are born in privilege and lost your ability to be innocent, visualise and dream you would only see some bricks, otherwise you might be inspired to experience a different view while being on the road. A view that can only be lived if you emerge yourself in your travel instead of bringing your whole culture and the safeguarding along the trip, as many do in Shanghai for example.
To travel in a new age, depending on your cultural background means to know how to be in a new situation. If it turns out you come from a privileged world then your attitude in rural China would be different then if you travelled as a rural Chinese to an European country. So there are a few central questions I wanna do my best for to answer in chapter 1;
- How to establish moderation while being in between places?
- While at the same time not knowing when the next opportunity will arise?
- Either being on the road literally or in the concrete jungle switching houses, spouses, careers etc?
- Perhaps even finding yourself being homeless in America due to contemporary market developments?
Then a few quick pointers into coping mechanisms with a life and a psyche on the move;
Cultural background;
Some are born into upbringings in which there always was a sense of moving on, could that be schooling, relationships, parents nor places. This might sound like a rich plate to choose from, however, you could be stuck in wander land forever, never making a commitment to a certain theme. Hence why being born in privilege has its downsides, and why the African dream ‘brick by brick’ is a marker of a healthy organic dream working towards original childhood dreams, like that of starting family. So those born in the global south with typical global northern opportunities might excel purely based on character traits like being willing to work ‘brick by brick‘ to build a concrete house for a prospective family life. The typical African dream portrayed in the anthropological reference brick by brick is a stereotype that does not fit each individual. So adopting this attitude while putting yourself in places and times that provide the correct opportunities for your unique trajectory is key. This will be the sweet spot of your growth on the move, which is best of both worlds by using your environment resourcefully. However, while the psyche is already aiming ahead on an intuitive level, our personalities and especially our intellect is catching by due to the simple fact that it takes time and energy to comprehend a given experience. So when we as personalities are going too quick in postmodern society, missing many steps of integration in the process, the graceful road can turn slippery due to a lack of integration. Hence, brick by brick. So with too much hero nor heroin energy nor outward going energy, you push yourself into unknown areas you as a warrior in life cannot keep up with. This is why the hero archetype should not always be on, otherwise you as a personality lack adequate time to integrate the journeys taken, therefore, becoming unstable in the process risking burn-outs, inflated behaviour, uninformed decisions et cetera.
Ways to cope with above described challenges;
1. Find a healing centre; a parc, gym, a place to feel comfortable and grounded before moving on into the next adventure. This saves a lot of baggage along the next path to take, to stay in the spirit of a graceful travel ahead. The path can remain graceful in spirit and body since you would weigh less if you f.e. stop eating away your depression. Another example on an emotional level is asking yourself; ‘What do you think will happen if you postpone or bring along your catharsis in the next relationship?’ You would continue in your life while not processing and integrating previous experiences resulting in a repetition of the past. Another pointer is that in an already overstimulated world, being on the road, perhaps even jumping cities, it is easy to be overstimulated. So by building in plenty of time grounding yourself and integrating those experiences in your life before moving on is best for all and will give you ample supply of inner reserves to battle new challenges.
2. Find the motive to remain self-reliant and fix that snackdeck/ways to exchange to continue your deepest desires. Being on the move means your getting many possible opportunities for new experiences, despite your background, life does not discriminate when it comes down to providing a new experience. Therefore, many inspirations and potential crafts to practice on the road. However when roads are not taken, then you will be stuck looking at the horizon, not arriving anywhere in your development. This is why it is wise to forget about outcomes, heading on a path not taken requires courage and commitment. What will come from such a decision can only be known in retrospect, either being satisfied on your death bed about paths taken or not.
3. Why the first two points are important is because they will also force you into social settings that can bring more support and ways of exchange into your life. Continuing practising your passions/commitments despite your life situation will help in establishing the desired results of the first two pointers; to be self-reliant and courageous are two virtues that will pay off on the long term mastering anything in life. With most passions it requires feedback with other people/entities and doing what you like to do despite other man’s opinion will always lead to some form of mastery given the workload and hours spend by your attentive mind. Thereby saying that everything you give attention too will grow, also if that is the sadness of an early departure of a loved one into another realm. All we can know is that life goes on and on, and by that statement, your loved ones would want to see you continue as well rather then remaining stuck in grief. The dead do not bother a lacking remorse.
We all have a stomach to feed, and without pleasing its needs, we remain limited through hunger and by pleasing its greed we remain limited through appetite. The key then is simplification and moderation in order to achieve a balance and level of control in the desires and sacrifices one has to make in order to achieve stable health. This is also the so called middle path in which you seek the equilibrium of self-indulgence and asceticism. Both are extremes that doesn’t necessarily benefit someone in the long run, and finding the balance with appetite and sacrifice is a liberating experience, I can tell from experience. This is especially true for the travellers among us. The traveller is unique in the sense that one is constantly bombarded with new experiences to surthrive in, and herein lays the danger of aimless wandering and being teased endlessly by new stimulation’s as well. Aimless wandering can be beneficial when you use the aimlessness to find new aims, but without using it to aim better nor following through on some aims you wanna pursuit, there comes an attitude of the ‘wanderer’, with a lack of direction. The aimless wanderer is, therefore, reactive instead of proactive with the consequences that he or she is faced with. An example is probably this free E-book, knowing that probably only a few will read this if any in today’s illiterate, modern world, I mostly write this the sake of writing. Hence the reason why doing stuff for the sake of doing your thing works out in a world where there is a great mismatch between your contribution and your actual income. What a meaningful contribution feels for you does not have to be reciprocated by others in form of recognition, let alone paying someone for fine art or anything of that sort in the modern world where many cognitive contributions are accessed freely over the internet.
So there is no dual approach here, but without using the new inputs in your life towards greater outputs, there is a loss of creativity and prosperity. So discipline is to continue doing the things you want to do despite other people their opinion and response, and self-discipline is changing your path accordingly so that you can build from that initial burst of productivity in following through and dealing with the consequences of your choices. You own your path through self-discipline by making adjustments along the way so that your Self is still represented in the things you wanna contribute in your society.
I am simply laying down some insights here, since there are many ways to travel not just in the outside world. However, in order to have a graceful journey, the traveller needs to stay sharp and flexible with ones surroundings. To combat this challenge, I would suggest to adopt a form of dynamic self-governance in which autonomy is constantly redefined among the complexity of the context you are faced with. Especially in (post) modern society by which every three years there occurs some form of systemic change nor disturbance by a.e. OpenAI. Therefore, catching up requires extra attention on self-development and dynamic governance, being able to make adjustments in your development rather then fixating on 10 year plans.
Some Zapatista references here; see article to be able to work more on grassroots levels in the world in where globalisation fails for more then it was hoped for. The Zapatista is a worldwide intuition – The Concept within a concept getting more tangible. (keesbergsol.nl)
On the bright side rather then stating that openAI will take away jobs or that climate change will cause mass suffering indefinitely;
On of the potential gems of our time and age is that people don’t have to cultivate the land as much as in the past. There is less need to spend vital energy into fulfilling our most basic needs, and, therefore, more energy left to spend it elsewhere. Even though I talk from a privileged position as a Dutchy, part of the global south, is it unfortunately still the case that despite the technocratic promises of the green revolution like 10% (correct me if I’m off) of the world population is suffering from malnutrition in the prospect of a 10 billion world population! That there is plenty for all needs is theoretically correct and this would have been the case if the wealth had been distributed appropriately to the needs instead of the greeds. However, this can never be done due to freedom. If you want to eat 10 burgers a day and you can afford it, then why not? That such collective behaviour will be the reason why our time to shine is marked with geological layers of chicken bones for future generations to build from is just a side effect of that privilege. It still means that if you like to eat 10 burgers a day, then why not? All the effects of bloodglots and short water stocks are for yourself and the collective to deal with anyway.
The ideal image of what the industrial revolution nor green revolution could have brought us, has not been achieved. The machines would do all the hard work and the people could spend more time in artistic pursuits or other interests as Karl Marx among others proclaimed. The challenge would be how to spend your free time rather then how to create more free time to a.e. travel nor free-roll with your passions in life. To have the free time without the constant agony of survival related daily concerns nor the pressure to make a defined success out of the craft you just picked up out of joy and innocent interest. Choosing an occupation not just because you happen to be good at it and saw it is an avenue to become filthy rich. This lure of having to make money with a found passion can make one loose interest in the passion to begin with. Who knows, perhaps the onset of the so called fourth industrial revolution can initiate such a vision in which it will be more of a challenge of self-knowledge rather then playing the hunger games. That those dystopian Netflix and HBO series might only serve the late night moments of weakness when you wanna crawl behind a fortress of snacks and give up in the comfort of Doom. By not having to deal that much with the mundane struggles of survival, one would have more energy left for spiritual growth, creativity, arts and self-realisation. On the flip side however, without a pressing challenge like that of the longevity of human civilisation, one could also say a noble purpose cannot be formulated. With the grim there is always some shade to dim in finding a calling to redeem ourselves and the planet. It is always better then throwing in the towel nor renounce society all together, since why spend energy on those that are lost anyway? it is easy to renounce society and live on a mountain as an ascetic, cause you avoid the biggest challenge of contemporary society; the concrete jungles we build for ourselves.
The above being described it will be a matter of how we will define meaning in an increasingly technocratic world?
However, as things are turning around with general AI and food production is that the focus becomes how to live together in the new found abundance the fourth industrial revolution can bring; The pressing issue that can be seen from a grassroots development perspective as movements like the Zapatista’s are showcasing; is the desire for a surthrival orientated lifestyle instead of scraping by daily just to make ends meet in these concrete jungles. Among a few other key values they stand for; What can be learned from the Zapatistas? – The Concept within a concept getting more tangible. (keesbergsol.nl)
- autonomy
- Property rights
- Cultural self-determination
- education
- Health
Unfortunately, the wealth is not yet distributed equally among the people and many industries are implemented in such a way that they aren’t alleviating stress but instead creating more of it by the use of chemicals, fear based systems, exploitation etc etc. This has to do with how the sociotechnical framework of cheapness that is build into the economic earning models. Examples of these are; planned obsolescence, fanatical efficiency targets, allowance of toxicity levels (think all the plastics your children are touching by the toys they play with), materials used and excessive specification for maximising profits. Without the constant aim for higher efficiency in workflows and ramping up R.O.I., many organisations would not be able to exist within the economic systems to begin with. Therefore, many industries are constructed mostly on capitalistic values to maximise profits, without considering the destructive impact this has on the environment, quality of products and the well-being of the people. Besides the false hopes of abundance did man became so intertwined with the machines that they lost their connection with their inner nature, and in doing so, alienating themselves of spiritual liberty, creativity and sovereignty by treating their organisations as on the loose sovereign entities as well reflecting our inner turmoil. If the levels of alienation aren’t enough to deal with, are many struggling with achieving health in a polluted world. Many industries are still exploiting resources and people instead of creating sustainable models of production and are, therefore, creating scarcity where their could have been abundance.
NEW E-book concept; the 7 transitional colours in organisational sciences by Caluwe;
How to use the 7 different transition, managerial ways of intervening in complex dynamics to aim for desired results, increase happiness, work satisfaction and what not.
A few quick pointers how to turn such pressing matters around from an organisational interventionist approach is to follow the following 30 day program in the making here (different ebook, how to intervene? the art and science of interventions in a wicked age; (add simple workout regime for non-gymers and gymers on the road) (Working on making on offline overview how to learn to read and adopt all the 7 transitional colours).
Another short Ebook is about a training program for intermediates that will at least establish an aim in achieving a natural, functional and stable health and physique for on the road or being adventurous in your apartment. A place of strength that can enforce the challenges ahead during your trips. Why do you think Steve Jobs could handle so much workload? Is due to following a high level of certain health practices that enabled him to tax on his stress-bucket; Your stress bucket explained – The Concept within a concept getting more tangible. (keesbergsol.nl)
Why investing in your health works out long term in saving money;
It doesn’t matter how big your wallet is if the planetary resources are being depleted. Money, in and of itself, has no intrinsic value, the hard materials behind it do, so it is not the more the merrier. The accumulation of money is seen as wealth simply because we agreed to see it in this way and this view has made modern societies more scarce then abundant. An example of this is the dried up Yantze river in China. Therefore, the promise of the industrial carrot and the ideal of freedom from mundane labour has been corrupted and replaced with financial indebted slavery. So here are perhaps 3 pointers into dealing with a mortgage nor a study debt from three sociotechnical backgrounds;
- As a single person and depending upon your keenness of risk taking, consider becoming an expat. Black list yourself as a student by refusing to settle for the middle income trap by robbing valuable time and energy that could also have been spent on a 1000 euro budget to fund your pursuit of mastery. Depending on your study loan system either ditch the loan this way nor incrementally pay it back on low interest ideally while investing on your individual game plan to establish a desired level of safety and comfort to continue doing your thing.
- For couples living together or those that split savings and costs, it could be a wise saying that keeping a relationship functional is better then a shared economic down-pit during turmoil in the markets anyway. That the mortgage ought to be payed is more likely then a study debt. When one studies for example in the American educational system and how many students find themselves in debts that can last a lifetime. How governments will respond to this is also a reactionary state of being. Cause they should realise that it is not realistic to expect from the students in -50.000 K+ to pay it all back when it turns out that job offers are declined anyway nor turn out to be non sense jobs. The American spirit of making your dream life out of scratch does not work out for most, as if it ever did when it comes to hard things? Turning an interest when looking at homeless statistics does it not take a genius that this dream is mostly propaganda. However, while in between, as a couple, you could come up with strategies how to prevent a future depth investment while reconciling about the factual reality that the propagated American dream as a national symbol is only attained by a few. Switching from such realisations can set forth the creative process on finding ways to establish a similar dream through psychological coping mechanisms and technological inventiveness to still fight for family life or give up all together like the gross of adolescences refusing to want children due to the above struggles.
- For folks with children? I can imagine that if your not in the supreme position of being a manager in some company then you most be stuck with some house/debt nor mortgage. Before the average household develops into more self-reliance as a family unit and ways of establishing local communal ties for inducing reciprocity with other families and neighbours in similar situations. The more households that will suffer from economic setbacks, the likely it will be, assuming humans are inherently decent, that grassroots initiatives will be more common. A way to cope this is to induce some form of evolutionary growth steps many of us missed by reading books under layers of dust sitting on your ass. Think simple; make fire, cook, use a sharp army knife to cut your meat, stuff like that. This to help you remember that the Western cultural arrogance is one of turning the eyes away from the wild of nature projecting them upon savages and barbarians of the so called global south. Naming and calling down wild aspects of human nature while hiding ones own under the closet of academic superiority.
That being said, people in this age can afford themselves the luxury of travel, but only if this fits the size of their wallets and demands to society. The conditions of duty and money limit your pursuit to travel freely and choose where to settle as you please. Many people are geologically speaking locked in their domestic lives, because the job is choosing the location and not you. Obviously new technologies like web 3.0 and VR in the 4th industrial revolution could open up a realm of possibilities for more people to experience more mobility in work nor leisure. Another interesting viewpoint here, what I learned on my attempt to do a pre-master anthropology and development studies, is that many, some more then others, are currently in a ‘carbon lock’ due to their lifestyles nor the simple fact that children do cost a lot if you raise them like Chinese princes and princesses. On top of that, the culture of decadence makes for a comfortable prison when it is realised later in life that youth and vitality was perhaps worth more then thought of in the moment. Thereby saying that investing time and energy in your unique skillets counts more then making a good salary on your path to mastery. Only a few actually land a job that really resembles nor is beneficial for their path of mastery except for earning money to invest in other educational paths. However, with the internet as it is, the time and effort needed to earn that money could have been saved to achieve mastery and save a midlife crisis at the same time.
Especially in contemporary society that is marked with a new geopolitical crisis in Ukraine, and Taiwan perhaps in the near future, in which the carbon lock-in effect will be felt more in personal wallets. The carbon effect can be explained from a neo-materialistic perspective in that the Anthropocene might not be a correct word for describing human impact on the world. It centres the Anthropos, the human, in the midst of universe, which is obviously the most arrogant thing to do. If one would to fairly describe a correct title to the reasoning why the planet could be facing more and more tipping points marked with chaos theory then it is because of the relationship economic systems have with materials. The Capitalocene is then a more fitting depiction in which the exploitative relationship of producing and consuming with cheapness reigns the flag of the globalised industrial ship. Another more appropriate term would be the Carbocene cause it are the materials, the carbon, the coal, gas and oils that are in power and of influence of disruption and control, not the Anthropos. And soon it will be the dominance for the materials needed to grow internal markets with the 4th industrial revolution, like lithium, sillicon etc. This phenomena goes by terminologies like the flux of materials and the flow of materials, how everything, also our bodies, are in a constant state of exchange with the environment. However, there are always choices to be made and one can experience already more mobility in their social economic lifestyle by pursuing online careers that are location independent. The same sort of reasoning can be applied to travel. The biggest expenses of travel are; transport, food, water and shelter, but this is only called an ‘expense’ because it has been capitalised.
A few practical examples I can share out of my own personal experience on the road is that if you wanna wild-camp you should take some time to make sure its safe, also in Europe. This is because some areas are still wild nature reserves, plus I have stumbled upon the typical weirdo doing funky stuff in forest kinda stuff. However, since I am a man and trained I am never attacked or ambushed. Also because when you start to sleep in wildparcs then you automatically become more in touch and aware of your surroundings tuning you into a state of calm alertness for whenever something might happen during your sleep. It, therefore, helps to practice light sleeping if you find yourself in sketchy surroundings. Another tip is to have proper gear to sleep in since to go as hardcore as to make your own camp daily is going a leg to far for me too, just get a proper hammock. The only downside with a hammock in Europe is that it gets cold, so that being said it still requires quite some skills to find a wind free sleeping spot and making sure you are comfortable to be on the road again the next day.
Why we forgot all this stuff?
The levels of alienation has made us forget how to grow food, hunt, move our bodies and build shelter. The sacrifices we have to make in order to fulfil our most basic needs are bigger then before. Many people are working themselves to death, only to satisfy a hungry stomach and a chilly skin. The industrial agriculture or mono culture has created a scarcity of natural crops, biodiversity and fresh water resources by trying to out smart nature with technology. The art of architecture has been replaced by efficient and effective, Lego – IKEA building models of cement.
In these acts of monetisation and commodification, you limit the meaning of abundance to how big your bank account is. Money and duty are interestingly enough very alike. Often times, people work for money, and in doing so, they have to fulfil their ‘duties’. Without fulfilling their duties, they cannot earn the money and fall into financial poverty. If we only acknowledge money as a form of abundance, we limit ourselves in experiencing life to the fullest as a natural abundance. An unfortunate flaw of our industrial developments is that the technology hasn’t found the harmony with nature itself (Lapuda) and, therefore, remains in competition, exploitation and depletion instead of co-operation, harmony and sustainability. All though, this is changing as we speak, while there are still many out dated systems in operation because of the consent of the people that use these. (zonnepaneel plastic recycle raw materials as a positive example for switching to other platforms basically – draagvlak creeëren) Are there also plenty of examples that could depict the Lapuda described as an ecological technology that goes in accord with nature rather then against it in providing for basic necessities; List of examples;
- Bricks made out of weed
2. ..?
3…?
Travel in a new and post-modern age is, therefore, only easier if you play the outlaw game and alongside the monetary game. Without money, the traveller is solely left with his or hers capability to be self-reliant and resourceful with his or hers direct environment, but without self-reliance one is solely left to the durability of their wallet. Or be self-reliant enough to earn money on the streets using your creative abilities somehow. This E-book will hopefully help you in achieving this goal of travelling with graceful strength so that you may experience more freedom from the possible limitations duty and money can impose on us. The bagsnackdeck version, It is a challenge to stay strong, whole and to thrive in ones life under the adversity of today’s age. A challenge I am happy to support you with.
Three more practical tips for living on the streets, since the concrete jungle is perhaps similar to a real one;
- AIDAC, stay attentive, keep an interest, focus your desires, be unafraid to take action, know how to talk yourself out of shit
- Know your places and people
- Share your creativity rather then keeping it stocked between office doors. As long as you can give your craft unconditionally you will remain an active participant in keeping your community or national economy if you like alive. The more people cling towards price caps and sneaky marketing tricks just to keep on making profits during economically challenges times, the more likely it will be the total economy will cease to exist. This will keep economic traffic going, plus as long one can give unconditionally, you create freedom and practice in your skillset while being a contributory factor in society.
Chapter 2: The minimalist attitude
The subtitle of this E-book is; ‘Using your direct environment resourceful’, meaning that we are innovators instead of exploiters. The minimalist is by all means inventive with the tools at ones disposal without having to become radically simplistic, and is, therefore, a portray of inventive strength. Inventive strength can is what occurs when you follow your unique creativity instead of artifice which occurs if you follow someones else’s path. By creating something out of nothing or very little, the minimalist ensures ones abundance by the use of ones creative intelligence. The trick of the matter is to maximise your creativity on the road while keeping your overhead low. Doing this rather then having a high overhead, causing you to have to land more direct income to sustain your lifestyle, is better then lacking enough time for practising your mastery. Scarcity is not found in a lack of resources, but in the immaturity of the creative brain and a shallow imagination in using ones resources, could that be our time, energy nor the tools we can acquire to make that what we want to create. A good example of this strength is Eliot Hulse who started his business literally with his favourite activity and tool, flipping tiers. It does not take much to be a strength coach, if you are the best in what you do and have charisma to train people with just a tier. Resourcefulness is a metaphysical strength that requires creative aptitude and a certain state of being. According to my perspective, we are born artists and, therefore, children, reminding our inner child, can teach us a lot in what the minimalist attitude is all about and to keep on being engaged and playful with life as it comes and goes. in our adulthood, therefore, by enacting on this innocence of our inner child, we grow those old pair of eyes back to see the world as a garden by with the tools at our disposal we can create more by the act of playing and remaining unattached of outcomes. As soon as the child is not free anymore to explore its curiosity, they are numbed down by the obstacles that are imposed on them or we impose on ourselves by downplaying the importance of play and doing something we are passionate about. This limiting mindset has contemporary society in its claws, like the obsession of Wetiko/greed/lack can have in feeling empty in our quest for decadence and instant gratification. Another example might be that we loose our inherent ability to be resourceful out of imposed nor self-imposed believes that we have to make a living by following a certain kind of path or doctrine, keeping our inner child at bay, restlessly awaiting on our loss of anticipation.
4 laws of creativity;
- do not take anything personal
- be impaccable with your word
- Do not assume
- do one best
So in order to embody the minimalist attitude, if you are born in privilege and abundance, then the shedding of imprinting will be hard. However, it goes not without saying that hard times breed strong people, strong people make for easy times and easy times breeds again the lure of getting too comfortable again. So despite such an evolutionary view on how the environment people are born into either incentives too much discomfort or too little, people can always stand above such a cycle of crisis and change by the use of foresight and mental fortitude. By foresight and common sense many can tell that the trajectory of the future will not likely be of more infinite economic growth but rather that of degrowth (anthropological reference).
How to surthrive under degrowth policies and climate tipping points for countries like The Netherlands without going bankrupt?
Only the amount of money and energy it will take to withstand 1.5 mtr sea level rise let alone more then that if melting gletsers will drag more ice in the waters. Other viewpoints like the more positive outlooks like green growth in which GDP still increases while not jeopardising natural boundaries are illusive due to f.e. green washing, nudging them greenies. However, this would have to require decoupling GDP growth from environmental damage which is physically speaking only possible if the relationship of the Capitalocene would change into a version of cyber punk or something where there is a separation of the dependency of nature for GDP growth. Why would I state something like that if it were not for the realisation that the ideal of nice and comfortable ambient cyberpunk reality would require Lapuda, an energy solution in accord with nature.
So what is the narrative of cyberpunk alongside other ones I explained here and here;
- permaculture is paralleled to solarpunk, renewable energies. The misnomer in the word is however that solar energy is not permanent. Most renewable energy approaches like wind-turbines and solar belts do just like nuclear fusion create a romantic facade of an enormous surplus of energy. However if you do the math or have some logical brain left after schooling you would realise in your study into these technologies that they are promising more then they will actually deliver in reality. To have the goal of a permanent character/culture/civilisations or growth approach for that sake is to somehow reconcile with death and then figure out what technology to fuel your society with; The Zapatista is a worldwide intuition – The Concept within a concept getting more tangible. (keesbergsol.nl)
- Steampunk; The relationship with water – The Concept within a concept getting more tangible. (keesbergsol.nl)
The more likely scenario, however, is that it would be more like something of a solarpunk narrative in which decoupling this correlation completely is not possible. Instead the minimalist attitude promotes doing more with less, cause it recognises that the inter dependencies of ecological and economic systems cannot be fully decoupled even with the best strife for LEAN and efficiency, there will always be some form of depletion of finite resources which debunks the idea that infinite growth can be possible in something like an economic system of contemporary society.
Some practical guidelines how to establish a higher degree of a light or minimalist travel nor lifestyle. I used to travel on gravel-bikes with backpacks and sleeping gear. Coming from experience the travel will be better as long you take into account how heavy you feel comfortable with still.
- Figure out your ideal diet and see how long you can go by while skipping a day to break the western fantasy that three meals a day are always needed.
2. Quick ways to get to know new areas quicker. Use google offline maps. Use open corners for coffee and wifi to work on your thing while having an adventurous holiday. Time management, adopt the ABCD method. Urgent and important tasks first that contribute in achieving your dreams nor deeper desires the A’s and B’s. Save the C and D’s for leisure time and screwing around. Perhaps finding yourself later with a bunch of unwanted kids. Hence why its better to just stick to smoking, and alcohol and focus on your dreams, the A’s and B’s.
3. Connect with locals using couch surfing, among other platforms assuming you have a smartphone able to use and produce stuff on the net.
4.
Chapter 3; feeling safe when there are no real threats;
There is a saying that if you can’t sleep well you must be afraid of some form of death path. To be at peace in the moment means your body relaxes as well. This state of being is what is desired, either on the road or in the flux of living in cramped city life, you gotta find a way to stick the moment and stop worrying about the day of tomorrow, otherwise your not getting in quality rest. Therefore, the supreme attitude occurs in the moment where there is no change for worry to set in, only to observe the thought in a detached fashion. To live on this point of being is true freedom, and you can make a true home out of most situations, on the road, in a tent or just in a busy street.
Either in the concrete jungle or sleeping in a forest. In both situations paranoia can occur by social peer pressure or by being afraid of wild animals. Ways to zone the moment so to realise that it is important not to paralyse your flow throughout the day by thinking the worst thing imaginable to occur;
- Awareness over deep belly breaths, tip to head kinetic/body awareness to stick the moments. Also being in this state would make wild animals aware that at least it is another creature just sticking the moment, unbothered by future prospects nor past reflections.
- Tuning into calming environmental sounds, could be the sound of a bus while filtering out the noise of the people. Especially for those who are having difficulties seeing, I can imagine that the sounds of a city are even noisier. However, the other spectrum could be troublesome, in a forest where the silence makes all leaves turned heard.
- Identify where the fear comes from, if it is not a response on your direct environment, it should be an internal process by which external typical situations light up a certain unprocessed emotional pathway, resulting in many disturbing triggers throughout a day, ruining your flow. This is why the contrast between city life and forest life is suiting cause where one is disturbed with too many stimulation the other would cease to crumble in the lack of comfort during wildcamping.
Chapter 4; finding symbioses among ones environment;
The DESTEP model can provide a holistic perspective how to find a fit in your given environment, demographically, economically, sociological, technological, ecological en political. On these levels we somehow have to synchronise to fit within the context of our environment. A recent example is the development of general AI like chatGPT. How would you continue to develop yourself with such a technological development? If I would only write these blogs because of some external mean then I could just as easily leave that to chatGPT. Just like beginner a low level programmers are made redundant with the help of chatGPT building an easy website from scratch. So here again it truly matters that to follow authentic desires, goals, projects, passions matters on the long term if it means that a technology can replace certain jobs like doing easy graphic design for marketing purposes. Sometimes during ones development this might seem like a long shot, however think about it; would you rather spend time on doing a job a machine can do better for 4 hours a day, or work on your talents, gifts and passions for 4 hours a day despite not knowing you will gain more security from it? It all boils down to security and how people establish this security in their life. However with a development like ChatGPT you can see that it becomes more and more important to remain oneself, be thyself and master thyself in your unique contribution as I tried to explain in the previous chapter. I could ask myself what the point is of me writing this pocket E-book, which I do, if it would not be for my own interest in exploring these themes. Therefore, why not write an article nor an E-book cause I want to grow in these areas to begin with, perhaps being inspirational or helpful for any wanderer on the internet who is also keen on studying social entities a.e.
So finding symbiosis with your environment is perhaps best portrayed in the hero’s nor heroin’s journey where the hero needs to return to society to redeem it with his or hers offerings. This is where the challenge becomes to find a correct fit with your environment. How to position yourself so that your contribution can match up to the particular fitness landscape you find yourself in within your society.
After finding a solid level of safety within your own centre despite your circumstance, either being able to change your circumstance or finding temporary peace with a current situation can already set forth energy in working towards a higher qualified situation to fight for. Then energy can be expanded in finding pathways to cooperate with previously unseen infrastructure being on the road like public places, language barriers, etc. Basically focusing your energy on how to use new infrastructures after making sure your basic needs are sort of met, then it’s key to connect to the locals and find ways to partake if possible so to open up opportunities for you as an outsider.
Chapter 5; By thyself and master thyself above all;
Being a psyche on the move in a shifting worldview makes it extra challenging to remain thyself when the scenery changes on the go. Without having a firm anchor point in ones own being you are deemed to loose yourself astray in the motion of the current. The current of society that is trying to make someone out of you on a daily base, while loosing yourself in the process of trying to become someone relevant.
it was Ralph waldo Emerson who said that the hardest thing a man can achieve is to be himself in a world that is constantly making you someone else. Therefore after being thyself it is up to each traveller in life to also master thyself in order to find your unique contribution for the collective as an individual.
Being thyself is, therefore, not enough. Mastering thyself is all about putting forth that unique blueprint of your DNA into the interests your keen on and the activities that go along with those interests. Thereby saying that it does not matter from a satisfaction level if it turns out that there are already 1000 lifecoaches in your vicinity if it means that to help someone through coaching and lifestyle would mark your true work and in so doing you will be unique among the many others who not necessarily are into the job cause it’s true to them.
truth will prevail in the sense that by being yourself first off and then mastering the given skillset required to present yourself in your mastery is what will be durable.
imagine having to work on your most depressed days in your regular day job and compare that to your productivity levels on an off dag while your working on things that excite you. Often times, you will catch yourself providing more quality in your work even if it is an off day, cause it matters to you on a deeper level, despite the weather or waves of despair every hero nor heroin is facing on their journeying in redeeming the world we live in today.
so what if you are not earning anything concretely yet if it means that you are practicing your mastery. As long as you practice and you manage to survive the practice into older age, this would only imply that with accumulated experience you would be able to give more during an elder age, which should be the general rule of thumb anyway.
Not to say that choosing a traditional career path is a waste, since you earn some skills and money you can use for other avenues. However time is of the essence. Rather then going for a pension plan, this chapter is about going for that rhyme of your own heart while keeping your head tucked in along the ride to only settle with mastery.
mastery is what will give that sense of rigid stability many of us are jealous of when portrayed in others. It simply takes 10000 hours to become a master of a craft, so it’s better to start in your thirties peddling down on this philosophy when you still have enough Ki or life force energy to pursuit such an endeavor.
and if everything fails? Then atleast you would have learned many things you are actually interested about without necessarily landing great returns or perhaps even an early death, who knows. From a Meta perspective, one can ask the questions what inborn talent really is? Why do some children excell so rapidly in a given Craft? Or why are some so eager to learn with much discipline from on early age? A transcendental perspective would say that time is not of the essence. What you do in the sudden moment matters in that every moment leads to a point in your development by which masters will be separated from adept and students.
the rapture of the moment is what counts if it’s gonna take thousands and thousands of hours anyway. Therefore placing yourself in zone like behavior around the passions and interests you get the most energy from is the sounded advice I could give. Thereby adding that without having an anticipated outcome, who knows what will happen by combining and following your interests? Perhaps you will even change the game you fell in love with as a child, just because you stopped thinking about the results in the game, you gained insights in the underlying workings of the game, enabling yourself to fundamentally change your favorite game.
Therefore, the above is quickly stating that by opening yourself to be pleasant surprised works as long as you get the joy from doing the thing itself. Everything that comes after that is extra.
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