I have travelled the world and lived in many places, and usually with many people around me. The oriental crowds and smells of Singapore were once my constants in a place of temporary - 3 years - residence, whilst on campaign. Indeed that huge city was where I was first made a Knight as a young fellow. I had never lived in such a place before. I was a country lad previously.
With 7,000,000,000 folk in the world it is the 'norm' to have a lot of other people around and our modern world requires much cooperation and development in order to work as it does. One also needs chaps around with whom one fights the Good fight.
But now I live alone, in a small cave fit for a Knight, and while there are folk around, the quietness and the opportunity to sit and see with out being disturbed suits me.
Other people though go to far greater lengths to make their own quiet lives. They seem to thrive. Not for them being 'Alone' whilst surrounded by humanity that cares not a whit for them. They do not get 'lonely', despite very little human contact.
Travellers stopping by at the Tavern tell of those they have come across. The sorts of lives they see give pause for thought. Whilst the world today has many benefits, the downsides increase by the day. Nastiness grows; mental viruses proliferate; crime, socially polluted pressures, even sacreligious religious, infect our lives. Some people just want to get away.
Take the middle of the South Atlantic for instance. It is a bloody long way from even out-of the way places. Tristan da Cunha is situated midway between South Africa and South America and is looking for farmers- well an agricultural advisor to be specific.
OK, there are 235 other folk there, scattered about. And you have to be useful. There are many young men, MGTOWs who could fit in there.
But what is there was just you, and your family?
A young chap, coming into a sturdy manhood, future mapped out for him by a successful and even kindly Dad, decided to Go His Own Way. He had a similarly minded gal who went too. They had children. They live so far from the madding crowd that even intrusive travellers are given short hospitality. It is not that they do not like people. Clearly they do. But 'over there' not over here.
The Long family live as hermits in South Westland, New Zealand. They live in a makeshift hut without even the basics of modern life and have had no contact with the outside world for over 15 years. Well. almost no contact.
Once a young medical student poised for great success, Robert Long decided to relocate his family to the bush. "I wanted to be somewhere where it was all wilderness", he says. Now living amongst the mountains of New Zealand they thrive from a lifestyle that would terrify most people. Of his children, he says "I think they concentrate on what we miss out on, they don't realise how much we have that they don't have."
Give us this day our daily Lobster, Possum, Berries and Potatoes. My Supplier provides in abundance. Even a cask of milk once in a while.
Then there are those who choose to not simply live in and enjoy the surrounding nature, but work to change it. Back to nature sometimes mean bring nature back where it has withered. It helps to have the wherewithall, of course, but the heart and mind are the first requisits.
They have to be restored too. For that one needs quitness. Selah. Stop, Pause, look around, contemplate upon what you see. Almost 50 years ago, fried chicken tycoon David Bamberger used his fortune to purchase 5,500 acres of overgrazed land in the Texas Hill Country. Planting grasses to soak in rains and fill hillside aquifers, Bamberger devoted the rest of his life to restoring the degraded landscape. Today, the land has been restored to its original habitat and boasts enormous biodiversity. Bamberger's model of land stewardship is now being replicated across the region and he is considered to be a visionary in land management and water conservation.
The really brave: the hermits of the world: those who have their own inner voice as their only human company: they count on the Great Supplier, whatever He chooses for them. They go along with it, make the best of it, make something useful of it.
Few people could live alone for 40 years, even with a bit of occasional help and some modern technology. Welcome to Gothic, Colorado—one of the coldest places in the United States. This ghost town has been abandoned since the 1920s, but there is at least one person who still calls it home. For more than 40 years, current resident billy barr has lived in a small cabin, recording data about the snowpack to pass the time.
Apart from the restoration fellow, I cannot see me following in their footsteps. Were my Supplier to send me millions of bucks I might have a go at the 're-creation' bizzo m'self, but He hasn't as yet and still wants me to run the Tavern.
So Be It.
Drink your drink. Look into your tankards.
Pax.
In a sense we live alone but we do have constant contact with people and that's the best of both worlds.
ReplyDeleteThere are many who live alone and are deeply lonely. They are not all old folk, although such a lot of old people live in a state of wanting simply 'out'. But then there are others who take full advantage of the power of communications. The net, email, skype and so forth enable 'contact' at the level of the mind and heart, intellect and knowledgeability. Until the power goes off. !
DeleteI am not at all sure about that family in New Zealand. I find it a little unnatural to cut children off from the chance to meet and interact with others as they grow. I am also not comfortable with the fact that their emergency communication has broken down. Again I am thinking of the children and if something happened to them that their parents couldn't help with.
ReplyDeleteSingle people choosing to be alone is one thing, they are only responsible for themselves.
I am amazed by what the man in the Water from Stone video achieved. How wonderful :-)
Yes, the children issue looms into mind. However, do we have the same concerns for the children of a nomad in Mongolia? Mr Long gave no indication of being a jailer and the son said he is free to leave at any time. I am sure he is and so will his sister when she is old enough. Meanwhile they seem quite sensible and sensitive young'uns.
DeleteThe man who changed his patch of scrub, did well. Bravo.
And there are those who live in society but feel alienated from it.
ReplyDeleteAlienated and violently opposed too.
DeleteSolitude is the ultimate fate of all males of all mammal species, if they live long enough. Once an old bull moose or elephant tires of the chaos of the herd or is driven out of it due to decreased utility, he will seek the peace and solitude of the forest. In human terms he will be housed in an old folks home surrounded by a herd of equally aged and miserable females.
ReplyDeleteEven while in the herd, the male is in solitude. He is in constant competition with other males. The females of herd only see his utility value. The sooner a bull moose or elephant or man recognizes this and accepts his fate the better his short life on this planet will be.
You mentioned MGTOW. I am a member of that brotherhood and have noticed a growing trend in our ranks. That trend is the older MGTOW adopting what we call monk mode. The trend is filtering down to the younger adherents.
Have you ever noticed that monks are very happy and serene people? They dwell in a universe of inner peace and solitude of the mind that does not allow disruption from their own biology or social convention. Their have mastered their minds and bodies. Such mastery allows their unfettered minds and spirits to explore realms unimagined by the unenlightened.
The men mentioned in your excellent article are, without doubt, MGTOW monks and I wager few, if any, have ever heard the term even though the MSM is now noticing us. I hope the public notice does not despoil our philosophy as so often happens when good ideas go mainstream. Time will tell.
I sense that you are an adherent also, but have the good sense not to admit to such social heresy publically. Doing so is social and career suicide. The first rule of MGTOW is that you don't talk about MGTOW.
That being said, I will encourage you to explore the deep thinkers of the philosophy. They will guide you down a wide variety of rabbit holes where knowledge of the world and oneself resides. Combine the knowledge with introspection and there you will find the truth, and the answer to the great questions.
Life is not a destination, it is a journey. Get your passport stamped for the greatest journey of them all, save the final one. Along the way you find why these men embrace solitude and the wisdom of the monks.
Cheers to you and yours.
Welcome John. Have a long, cool drink, Sir. I am one of the originators of MGTOW before it was over-run by less contemplative and more angry, adolescent sorts. Yes, men have always gone on alone and all too often into danger, adventure, discovery and benefit brought back to his people that he left in the first place.
DeleteWhat drives the three mentioned above is a philosophy. A purpose. Something beyond themselves. A direction ahead, rather than a place behind that they did not like. Monks had it for millenia and still do. Get to know your local monks. My mate Phillip, also reminded me of Monks, so you are not alone in acknowledging such men.
MGTOWs generally (from what they say) are running angrily away from a declining society, disappointed mainly with women. These are not adventurers or explorers or contemplatives. There has always been nasty women, badly lead societies, cruelty at the hands of 'law' etc. Only the wallpaper changes. A Knight is never without some opponent to fight.
Be of good cheer yourself sir and sit by my fire. Drink deep of the Ale sent by my Supplier.
MGTOW has changed greatly from the vision of the originators, call it MGTOW 1.0. Like all things in life the only constant is change. Not much remains of the original "manifesto" but the sublime logo they created lives on in glory
ReplyDeleteYes, you are correct in that many very angry men have coopted the philosophy and accomplished nothing more than to provide fodder for their detractors. Their anger blinds them to a message than, at its core, is liberation of the mind and spirit.
And yes, women are often the catalyst. A bad experience will induce the "Red Pill Rage" which many men cannot or will not move beyond. I myself have experienced it. But I pushed through and fully digested the Red Pill and then some. By far the most difficult thing I have ever done, or ever will do.
The MGTOW journey has been compared to the grieving process. The second stage is anger with the final stage being acceptance. I found the acceptance in a peaceable garden where I sat to heal my wounds and slake my thirst. But a nagging thought would not leave me. I felt there must be more, another step. And there was. At the far end of the garden was another gate. I completed the process of returning myself to zero, or so I thought, and crossed its threshold.
What I found there is, and was, equally calming and terrifying. I almost consider it to be the fruit of the tree of knowledge of good and evil. Somethings a man, or mankind, should not know. I am thankful for the peace and understanding it has given me while simultaneously cursing it for the malaise and nihilism it caused.
I was lost. I was now a full blown monk with no temple of refuge and no path to follow, there were no more gates and the garden was in my wake. What do I do now?
As always, the answer is given to those that seek it. I looked for it in the past works of the deep thinkers of MGTOW 2.0 and couldn't find it. Then I stumbled across a new deep thinker of MGTOW 3.0 who shined a light upon a path I could not see in the darkness.
I have discovered a new purpose that suits the monk I have become. My knight, my captain of my guard, my faithful companion and protector can now retire in well deserved tranquility. To borrow your phrase, the wallpaper has changed.
For all the men in turmoil in our ever maddening world, I can only hope they find the courage to continue the journey and eventually complete it. At times it seems as crawling over broken glass on the highway to Hell, flames boiling from the roadside ditches, with no end in sight. It is not for the faint of heart. And that may be way so many men cannot let go of the anger and rage. They are simply doing what their biology tells them to do, all the while ignoring the wise counsel of their minds and spirits. A man's own DNA can be a cruel mistress.
Perhaps one day, if the fates allow, the shadow of an embracer of solitude will appear in the door of your tavern. If so, I will enjoy a long, cool drink with another man who has mastered himself, and while not a MGTOW monk, is at peace with himself and world. Cheers.
A most heartening tale, sir, of a road travelled and a journey made. I salute you. You are already in the Tavern, which is of the mind, soul and the internet, and you are welcome to drink deep of the Grace here (from my Supplier) and what small wisdoms you can glean from my customers. As for me, I have my Crypt and my duties, my customers and my many bartops, tables and views out over the waters.
DeleteYou are astute in seeing the reality of the MGTOW and even the MRA movement. Goodness may flow but only after the grief, the anger, the bargaining, the rage against that dark aspect of our nature, has passed and until we find acceptance.
Personally I find some 'action' in Prayer. A Monk needs a daily 'office'. I have my Rosary. I hope you find some quiet and directed peaceful thought for you to do.