Leaving civilization?

OverTheHorizonRadar · Post by **OverTheHorizonRadar** » Thu Mar 31, 2011 5:00 am

Have any of you ever just wanted to leave civilization and lead a sort of hermit life, maybe with a few people close to you? I constantly find myself imagining being able to live in the desert by myself, though I realize I'd probably get killed in two seconds by something stupid. I'm in no way well versed in means of survival. But if I could survive, I think I would like it, as long as I had Boards to listen to.

Seeya_Later · Post by **Seeya_Later** » Thu Mar 31, 2011 5:11 am

This is why I go camping.

Go camping for a week. Then come home, take a long hot shower and tell me you don't miss civilization. It's hard to take daily life for granted when you've been without it for a week.

coffee grapes · Post by **coffee grapes** » Thu Mar 31, 2011 5:20 am

Seeya_Later · Post by **Seeya_Later** » Thu Mar 31, 2011 5:24 am

coffee grapes wrote:I've always thought I could abandon society and create my own little villa with friends somewhere far away in a cozy forest...

any day now...

Like a cult compound? Hmmmm?

OverTheHorizonRadar · Post by **OverTheHorizonRadar** » Thu Mar 31, 2011 5:32 am

Seeya_Later wrote:This is why I go camping.

Go camping for a week. Then come home, take a long hot shower and tell me you don't miss civilization. It's hard to take daily life for granted when you've been without it for a week.

Yeahhh that's one thing I don't do very often, I don't really have the means to. But I'm definitely getting out of the house this summer, maybe see more of the Mojave and such.

Spenner · Post by **Spenner** » Thu Mar 31, 2011 5:44 am

My future ambition is to have a minimalist home I've designed out in a beautiful place away from everything, possibly where wild fruits grow that I can harvest/grow my own food/buy very little, that would be the life, for me... one day

Twoism-ist · Post by **Twoism-ist** » Thu Mar 31, 2011 5:47 am

i want to drift some day.

Twoist · Post by **Twoist** » Thu Mar 31, 2011 7:45 am

I definitely considered it (to an extent anyway, not the full-blown cutting myself off from electricity and pizza junk mail). Some years back I was on cusp of asking for a work transfer from the east coast to the Phoenix area - all in the aid of buying myself a small ranch somewhere in the desert away from everyone.

In the end it never worked out that way and I moved back to England instead, but there isn't a day where I don't crave isolation. Other than occasional trips back into the desert, the very far northwest Scottish Highlands are my latest muse.

coffee grapes · Post by **coffee grapes** » Thu Mar 31, 2011 7:48 am

portiss · Post by **portiss** » Thu Mar 31, 2011 8:27 am

I have thought of this so many times.

1 Person just thought of work and society and all the other bullcrap around it, and now we are forced to cope with it. It's hard to see that everybody actually follows that structure, and that I am doing this as well, even though I despise it. Money is all everything is about these days, and that's just wrong.

However, it is way to hard to leave everything behind.

donacidae · Post by **donacidae** » Thu Mar 31, 2011 8:33 am

Read this article from the Guardian -

Neil Ansell: My life as a hermit
For five years this man lived a life of blissful solitude. But then Neil Ansell discovered why we can't live alone. Here he reveals why…

http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2 ... NTCMP=SRCH

TheSilenceEchoes · Post by **TheSilenceEchoes** » Thu Mar 31, 2011 8:50 am

Spenner wrote:My future ambition is to have a minimalist home I've designed out in a beautiful place away from everything, possibly where wild fruits grow that I can harvest/grow my own food/buy very little, that would be the life, for me... one day

i could have said this.. =] that would be the life wouldn't it?? Have you guys read 'How To Be Free' by Tom Hodgkinson? It's a great book that really has changed my view on many things. He has some very interesting thoughts on and examples of this kind of life.

Vexille · Post by **Vexille** » Thu Mar 31, 2011 12:10 pm

Go on an extended backpacking trip.

polar sky · Post by **polar sky** » Thu Mar 31, 2011 1:18 pm

I would love to do this too, but I don't want to have to Milk anything.

s7409651 · Post by **s7409651** » Thu Mar 31, 2011 2:30 pm

I crave minimalism and nature all the time, and not because i believe it to be some sort of utopia, but because it makes total sense to me. The happiest times of my life have typically been in nature, or at least, in small, quiet towns near nature.

There's a town in South Africa that's basically a nature reserve - its surrounded by protected forest on all sides and is on the seafront on a quiet, but huge, patch of protected beach. The town is never going to get bigger, as it can't expand in any direction. It has a shop and a restuarant/bar.. a few places to rent canoes and equipment.. and it's 20 minutes by car to the nearest big town. One can hike and swim in the lagoon and the wildlife is amazing.

Ideally, I'd like to love somewhere one day where I'm surrounded by people living for art and nature. Making good food and breathing clean air every day.

747Music · Post by **747Music** » Thu Mar 31, 2011 4:20 pm

I think it would be pretty cool. But I'm a geek. So I need my computer and my video games. That's why I love going camping like Seeya_Later. You get usually a week of solitude out in a forest, then you get to come home and have a nice hot shower and sit down and watch a nice movie or play some games. I'm basically right beside the beautiful Algonquin Park, so I get opportunities to go camping all the time.

radiateme · Post by **radiateme** » Thu Mar 31, 2011 4:35 pm

polar sky wrote:I would love to do this too, but I don't want to have to Milk anything.

Haha, agreed. I've never been camping in my life but I know that I'd love the experience. Except for all of the spiders and such out there.

I could really use a vacation.

turquoise70 · Post by **turquoise70** » Thu Mar 31, 2011 4:39 pm

polar sky wrote:I would love to do this too, but I don't want to have to Milk anything.

crank up the last part of this sentiment and you've got me.

personally, after toying around with this whole "back to nature" idea off-and-on for two or three years, I must say I'm COMPLETELY against it.

i don't want to live in some ramshackle compound crawling with insects and germs and dirt. I don't want to have to get along with a bunch of crusty people I probably have nothing in common with. I like hot and cold running water, I like my automobile (I don't care what it runs on, but I don't want to bike everywhere. You try biking everywhere when you live in Minnesota, see how you feel about it come about...February), I like my computer and hi speed internet. I like being clean, I like wearing normal person clothes and living amidst other people in the suburbs. This is my heaven.

I guess I'm a little defensive because for the past few years everyone who's said anything about anything is telling me "living situations like that cannot last, the apocalypse is coming and soon there will be a glorious anarchist uprising and we'll all farm dirt and wear home-made trousers and live in the woods and everything will be awesome". Honestly, if that happens, just kill me.

radiateme · Post by **radiateme** » Thu Mar 31, 2011 4:45 pm

Not to mention the lack of synths.

bleak. · Post by **bleak.** » Thu Mar 31, 2011 5:23 pm

my plan is to earn enough money to buy myself a nice little farm building not too far from my current location. isolated but connected. a barn for my photography/music is a must as well as a garden for my vegetables and fruits. in time...