Ah, but the big question is how do you live, think and behave when no one is telling you how, when you can't lay it off on society's pressures and restrictions? Do you like who you are when you're free to be you? Are you happy? Content?
The old saying is, no matter where you go, there you are. Well, there you are. Much of the crap of life has been stripped away, left behind. You're pretty much down to the essential you. What do you think of yourself? Of your self?
I hope it's great. Sincerely. I'd like everyone to be at peace with who they are. I'd like that to be the case even if they aren't nomads, rebels, hermits. Taking the Taoist view, you can't be happy unless you're following your own path through life to your own goals, to your own niche. And you can't know what your path is until you know yourself.
Not only is the unexamined life not worth living, it can create a pile of mistakes and despair. It can mean colliding with your self, and running from your self. It can mean no peace, no matter how deep in the boonies you hide.
I don't want to be another of those people telling you what to be. I'm just offering up something to contemplate. Or not. You're free to do whatever you want with my ideas.
I just LOVE your first paragraph !!!!! Of course I love the whole text as well.
ReplyDeleteGreat blog !!
My first concert was The Who! Some unnecessary information about someone you don't know, but just want to say enjoying the blog!
ReplyDeleteWow. Maybe it is the meteor shower or the phases of the moon. There is a thread on CRVL tonight with someone questioning Alan Watts' YouTube videos and their meaning. Watts was my first read in Zen way back.. well, decades ago. Your second paragraph made me think that the FEAR of having to face one's true self may be one reason so many who talk about wanting the nomadic life don't end up out on the road. Several folks there, over time, ask the question about what full-timers DO when they boondock...how do you fill up the days? And I'm thinking it may be that time with oneself.. the real self...that makes those people stall and doubt rather than the fear of rangers, or crime or breaking down. Health food for thought!
ReplyDeleteLove that song! One of my favs! Love this blog post too. I am happy and at peace with me but the slower I get at processing I am finding it increasingly difficult to be me around others. In my van, alone, is often the only time I feel free to really be me. S.L.O.W. And yet that's not really me at all. TBIs are such strange beasts. Or is it me that's strange? Ha! Hermitville may be in my near future. Deep in the boonies. Hopefully I'll still be at peace with the new me I'm constantly getting to know. (Contemplative enough for you? Lol.)
ReplyDeleteOn a side note, my late great friend R.T. Miles used to say that saying all the time, "Remember, wherever you go, there you are." I miss him. Thanks for the wonderful memory. d
You are not alone sister, even living in sticks & bricks dwellings many of us prefer aloneness to other people's dismay & misunderstandings. Hermitville has been the style for many & it's OK as long as their are happy.
DeleteThank you anon. Blessings!
DeleteDamn, you hit it. I've been traveling a lot the last year. Now I've decided to roll slow through 2017. But what to do with myself? I'm not overstimulated working too hard to support this lifestyle. I'm not constantly going from here to there. What the heck do I do now? Distracting myself with internet only goes so far.
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Shrimp
Hey Miller, did you do a lot of acid back in the hippie days?
(Old Repo Man refetence seemed apropos.. of nothingness)