Escape From The Economy

Escape From The Economy

(How To Live Well Without Money)

Why would you want to drop out of the official economy? One major reason is that the global industrialized economic system is basically a very large pyramid scheme, like those chain letters that promise to make you rich if you send $5 to five people and copies of the letter to all your friends. Pyramid schemes work for those high up in the ranks only because of the greater numbers of people at the bottom, for whom the system doesn*t work very well at all. Pyramid schemes only work if they continue to grow. We live in a finite world, and our ecological and social limits are fast approaching. Choosing to play the pyramid scheme game in this historical setting is neither ethical nor rational. Happily, there are many other games to play. Life outside of the economy is not only possible; it*s easier, more fun, and far more real. There*s more to life than building the money pyramid.

Back To The Basics

Before everything else comes survival, and that means water, food, and shelter. Luckily for us who live in the countries at the top of the global money pyramid, we are now surrounded by so much material abundance that vast quantities of perfectly edible food are discarded every day. Simply checking the right dumpsters at the right times can probably supply you with al the food you*ll ever need, as well as functional consumer goods and, if you*re industrious about it, perhaps even spare cash. Many cities also have ample unharvested fruit and nut trees, wild greens, and berry bushes. Learning to hunt or fish can supply you with plenty of high-quality protein. Gardening (or raising poultry) is a bit more work, but if you have a piece of land with decent soil, sunlight and access to water, it*s surprising how much food you can grow, once you learn how. If you eat healthy, nutritious foods you don*t need to eat as much, and you feel better. The less you need, the more free you are.

A Place To Live

You*ll always have somewhere to sleep, but you don*t always have to pay for it. It*s a lot harder to live without a job if you have to support a landlord as well as yourself. Squatting is an excellent option for the more adventurous: almost every city has some abandoned or forgotten buildings and other places, and the countryside and wilderness is made of land that nobody pays much attention to. Just be aware of your surroundings, and you*ll probably find it easy to stay out of trouble. If you do choose to live in a *proper* house, rent and utility expenses can be brought down considerably by living with your friends. All it takes is agreement on some basics and a degree of emotional maturity.

Getting Around

Staying put is not for everybody. Many people... prefer the nomadic life at least for a while: the more you move around, the more people, resources, and adventures you encounter. Nomadism opens up whole new lifestyle possibilities, but it also has it*s own set of challenges: chiefly *how do I get there?* and *where do I stay?*. The official transportation network is expensive to navigate, but there are many alternatives: hitch-hiking, bike-touring, FreightHopping, and ship-crewing are all proven methods. There*s no need to pay for camping if you know how to find your own campsites. Once you*ve reached your destination you can couch-surf if you*ve got the people skills, or you might well be able to find a farm, hostel, or other organization that will gladly accept your labor in trade for room and perhaps board. If you*re a musician or artist, it*s quite possible to make fairly painless money busking or selling your work on the street.

The Meaning Of Life

There*s not much purpose in survival unless you have something to do with yourself. People need some kind of purpose or meaning: otherwise we become listless and depressed. There are many possible purposes to life: to attain salvation or enlightenment, to make people happy, to accumulate power or fame, or to experience pleasure (for instance). A variant of this latter one is the official Meaning Of Life in the consumer economy, with the implicit caveats that all the pleasures are worth having can be had for a price, and there are always better ones just out of reach. If you subscribe to this particular Meaning you will probably never find fulfillment, and certainly not without money. If you want to lie happily without a job, pick another Meaning.

The Free Person's Attitude

To live a free and fulfilling life, you must take responsibility for yourself. You must be able to identify your needs and desires, and pursue them while maintaining awareness of your environment. You must know where to stop, when to let go, how to say no. Learn how to not want things. Before careful, but don*t be afraid. Be honest with yourself and others. Learn how to trust. To be effective in pursuit of your Purpose, you must be able to compromise gracefully and to work with what*s available. Be able to rationally evaluate the ideas and impulses you receive from others and especially from the media. Don*t be afraid to rid yourself of useless, unhealthy, or unreasonable beliefs: curiosity without skepticism is crippling. Don*t be ashamed of your lifestyle or make excuses for yourself. There is far more honor in creative self-determination than there is in perpetuating a gargantuan pyramid scheme, no matter how venerable, subtle, or complex. Be proud of yourself, because you*re helping to invent a sustainable culture.

Above all, cultivate your awareness. Learn how to focus your attention, and how to spread it out. Be careful of routines - they can dull your consciousness. Be patient. Don*t be complacent. Be playful: without playfulness, everything is work. Make frequent contact with the people you care about and look after them, and eventually they will look after you, too.

Self Determination

The purpose I*ve chosen for my life is, broadly, learning and creating, which I see as inseparable aspects of the same process. Whatever you choose as your personal Meaning Of Life, you*ll find that one of the major advantages of not having a real job is that you can have much more time to devote to it*s practice or pursuit. We are all going to die someday: our time is limited and is therefore too precious to squander on someone else*s dreams. Choose a dream of your own and follow it. If your dream involves having certain physical objects, you*ll have to find creative ways of obtaining them. You can make them yourself, barter other things for them, salvage discarded ones, or perhaps just steal them.

A Few Words About Theft

Everybody*s been told that stealing is wrong. You don*t have to accept the conventional morality, but the reasoning behind it is worth considering. When you steal, you*re not playing by the rules, and someone must absorb the cost. When you steal from a big company, you might perhaps be doing the world a tiny favor (and the repercussions are spread so wide that nobody will ever feel them [note: this is questionably accurate]); but when you steal from a small business, you*re doing the big ones a favor. When you steal from an individual, you*re only doing yourself a favor, and your victim*s inconvenience will be undiluted. Of course, don*t do anything illegal if you can*t accept the risk of being caught.

...And About Handouts

There are many organizations that give handouts to those they deem worthy or needy. The largest of these is the government, which also makes the fewest demands - but they do make some. Some think food stamps (for instance) shameful: I consider them just another natural resource, upon which it would be unwise to depend.

Resources

The following is a very brief guide to some further information. Of course, the best single information resource is still the internet.

Beyond Civilization by Daniel Quinn: a book that unlocks the prison doors. Very easy read. Charmingly naive in spots. Good.

Entropy by Jeremy Rifkin: a straightforward pop-science explanation of why the pyramid economy is inescapably doomed.

The Sprouting Book and The Wheatgrass Book by Ann Wigmore: introduction to a cheap and highly nutritious food source.

Beyond Backpacking by Ray Jardine: this guy knows how to live comfortably with a surprising bare minimum of *stuff*.

http://www.loompanic.com - a wonderful publisher of all kinds of forbidden knowledge.

Food Not Lawns - an organization with much useful info about urban gardening.

165 N. Grand, Eugene, OR 97402; seedsandsoil at yahoo.com

WWOOF - a network of organic farms worldwide willing to host able workers.

Vipassana (http://www.dhamma.org/) - An awareness meditation technique. Free ten-day courses available worldwide.

Tao Te Ching by Lao Tzu: a concise and poetic collection of wisdom. Very helpful; available in many translations.

Tom Brown Jr.: author of many inspiring books and teacher of practical Native American wilderness life skills.

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copyleft 2001 MaX O. Criticism. Collaboration, communication, and further questions encouraged: max at nbtsc dot org. Don*t try to sue me if you do something stupid, please. And don't spam me.