Dalai Lama - What surprises me most about humanity

[hadespussercats]

It's easier than you might think, hades. I've done it several times, but not for 2 years. Several months each. A tent, fishing rod, hunting gun and a few bucks for gas to get there and back, the occasional can of beans, etc.

My point is that he could live that way because there was a local town economy where he could buy supplies. He's pretty specific, to the point of being rather dull, what he buys and how much it costs-- so he needed money and a place to buy things.

He wouldn't be living like that if everyone decided to head off into the woods and sit on a chair, thinking.

Hippie mooch!

That being said, I can see the appeal...

[FBM]

It's easier than you might think, hades. I've done it several times, but not for 2 years. Several months each. A tent, fishing rod, hunting gun and a few bucks for gas to get there and back, the occasional can of beans, etc.

My point is that he could live that way because there was a local town economy where he could buy supplies. He's pretty specific, to the point of being rather dull, what he buys and how much it costs-- so he needed money and a place to buy things.

He wouldn't be living like that if everyone decided to head off into the woods and sit on a chair, thinking.

Hippie mooch!

Now I gotcha. Yeah, he said he did odd jobs or something while he was out there in order to sustain himself. I didn't. I either packed it in or hunted/fished/gathered until it was time to beat it back to "civilization."

[amused]

When I look at the waste that goes into creating the Burning Man setup every year, I can't help but puke at the whole concept.

[FBM]

That being said, I can see the appeal...

There's a lot to be said for the state of mind that sort of thing gives you. Even if it's mostly temporary.

When I look at the waste that goes into creating the Burning Man setup every year, I can't help but puke at the whole concept.

The fastest way to fuck something up is to get people in groups to do it.

[hadespussercats]

It's easier than you might think, hades. I've done it several times, but not for 2 years. Several months each. A tent, fishing rod, hunting gun and a few bucks for gas to get there and back, the occasional can of beans, etc.

My point is that he could live that way because there was a local town economy where he could buy supplies. He's pretty specific, to the point of being rather dull, what he buys and how much it costs-- so he needed money and a place to buy things.

He wouldn't be living like that if everyone decided to head off into the woods and sit on a chair, thinking.

Hippie mooch!

Now I gotcha. Yeah, he said he did odd jobs or something while he was out there in order to sustain himself. I didn't. I either packed it in or hunted/fished/gathered until it was time to beat it back to "civilization."

Where did you go?

[amused]

I'm sorry, but I just have to laugh at the whole modern concept of 'roughing it'. Thousands of dollars of expensive gear from REI for time spent in a well mapped national forest with easy access and helpful rangers is not rough. Even if you hike off the well beaten paths, you're still in well manicured and monitored nature. I get the appeal, but let's not kid ourselves.

We were camping in a pop-up camper (yeah, rough) in the Mineral Creek campsite outside of Silverton, Colorado when a motorhome came rambling through. They circled the campground and then found their spot. They pulled in, lowered the leveling jacks from inside, raised the satellite dish, turned on the generator, and never got outside. WTF?

[Jason]

Dunno.. I go walking for an entire day in the back woods with only my dog and my rifle for company. I carry a rucksack with water and a bit of food. I make a fire when I'm cold from deadwood and grass. I shout off bears and wolves. I howl at the moon and drink 100 proof.

Yep. I'm one rugged ass motherfucker.

What does this have to do with Buddha or whatever?

[laklak]

I enjoy "roughing it" on odd occasion, as long as my gentleman's gentleman brings the foie gras and keeps the wine chilled. Anything else would be, well, plebeian.

And I must have a decent native gun bearer, of course. I'm not carrying that H&H 0.600 around all afternoon.

[FBM]

[Where did you go?

Different times, different places. I can't remember the names of all the state and national parks, but they were in MS, AL and TN. One was for 2 months in NC, but that was a friend's property, not a park. And I got to sleep in a log cabin with a wood stove, so it doesn't really count, anyway, except for the solitude.

[FBM]

What does this have to do with Buddha or whatever?

Uhm...is that a koan?

[Jason]

Is it not a koan?

[Audley Strange]

I like it, rationalised apathy.

To be honest both. The archaic revival and all that back to nature crap is a tacky tourist romanticised ignorance of things like crop failures and murderous winters and cholera and you know all that poisonous nature shit we've spent thousands of years trying to struggle against. As for the Daffy Llama, well done, you walk around looking smug in an orange sheet, spouting swami style tupenny guru bollocks like that other conman Maresh Varma, for the edification supercilious clowns who've romanticised another stage of backwardness, how the fuck does that help? Are your prayer-wheels carbon neutral ffs?

The golden age is in the future, not the fucking past and we're going to have to struggle really fucking hard to get there.

[Gawdzilla Sama]

When I look at the waste that goes into creating the Burning Man setup every year, I can't help but puke at the whole concept.

"We build to destroy."

[Audley Strange]

We need to, otherwise we'd have too much stuff to throw out.

[cronus]

The average life expectancy for Tibetans rose from 35 years in 1950s to over 65 years in the 2000s according to the Wiki.