I obviously don't personally know you, but from your writing it is clear that you are very good at being a human being, in my opinion the highest honor. People often talk about being "good" at specific skills and neglect the essential task of becoming human.
While a great deal of people are probably better at it than you are (an unfortunate byproduct of growing up in the dominant culture that detests life itself) you seem to have managed to once again become wild, integrating into your local ecosystem and developing a profound respect for and relationship with your land base and the natural world. Given that the vast majority of people have completely detached themselves from the things that make homo sapiens truly human, this easily puts you in at least the top 10th or 5th percentile! That's a fantastic achievement!
I love your substack. I currently live in west Africa doing agricultural work and I find your perspective invaluable. I will donate once I am no longer a volunteer r
Thank you so much for your kind words, Kyle, I highly appreciate it!
Being an actual human being, a human animal, has indeed been what I've been striving for over the past decade. Being a good ancestor, and a functioning member of the ecosystem.
You're right, in the end it boils down to the "essential task of becoming human" (again). If we don't manage to do that, we won't make it.
Thanks again for your comment. It is feedback like this that keeps me going, really.
All the best for your own journey, stranger-friend. Keep up the good work!
“Progress & Development, Science & Technology” - is this your invention?
interesting about losing people with Anarcho-Primitivism. and footnote #6 is relatable. ironic that you were writing "there is not climate safe haven" back in 2022, and only now the New York Times had a similar headline. YOUR WRITING IS GREAT!!
Hey Andrea, thanks for your comment & encouragement!
Yes, "PDST" is yet another dumb joke I came up with - since I complain about those four things incessantly, the acronyms speckle the pages of my notebooks, so one day I realized that I had (unintentionally) written the letters PDST next to each other, and it made me chuckle. Been using it ever since, and usually I'm the only one who finds it funny.
Oh, wow, thanks for pointing out that NYTimes article, I hadn't even noticed! Let's see how much longer it takes until they write a version of the headline "The collapse of global civilization has begun"!
Я не пишу, бо не вмію та чесно кажучи, не хочу, а ще я не знаю мови і є настільки маргінальним в настільки маргінальній країні.
Я бачив інше життя, навіть намагався жити гим і працювати в столиці в лабораторії, але зрештою визнав і прийняв, що життя на батьківщині в занехаяному селі краще.
Ви робите велику справу, величезну, я не перестаю ділитися вашим та іншими блогами коли на те випадає можливість, аби хоч трохи вносити баланс в цю техноіндустрійну фантазію.
Багато моїх однолітків живуть розкішним життям, маючи все, але я давно відкинув будь які прагнення та знаки статусу, я цілком визнаю, приймаю та жадаю того життя яке у мене є. Це і є мій світ достатку та розкоші.
Для когось це лігво, без дизайну, без ідеальної чистоти, з зарослями, без звичного паркану, без бетону та газу.
В мене немає, що брати і немає, що втрачати. Так жили безліч моїх предків, чому якийсь мейнстрім може диктувати мені, як мені крокувати відміряні роки? :D
Девід, Ви на правильному шляху дофамінових за'язків!
Мій дофаміновий екстаз – приїзд родичів на традиційну заготовку лози, коли в домі купа людей, дітей та старців, ми співаємо українських пісень, трохи п'ємо та згадуємо наших пращурів, задоволення жити, бути втомленим від праці, від дотепного жарту дружини чи смішного випадку з домашньою твариною, від захопливих пошуків грибів та нових експериментів!
Дофамін має давати життя, екран – лише інструмент зв'язку та інформації.
Бажаю удачі, хай твій сад процвітає! Можливо незабаром він стане осередком нового розуміння та оазою в пустелі невігластва.
Thank you so much for this beautiful, poetic comment. It's crazy how some of us just can't handle life in modern society, and how this averse reaction is so strong in us that even the myriad distractions and toys society provides can't convince us to ignore this feeling - that there is something wrong, that there should be more to life than just boring jobs & pointless entertainment, and that modern life is, despite its "luxuries" and "comforts," ultimately unfulfilling.
We *need* the discomfort, the dirt & dust, the pain, and the inconvenience, otherwise we become soft and never satisfied, always wanting more of what we don't have.
If there's only pleasure, all of the time, it becomes really boring really fast.
And as much as I hate what has become of the Internet, it's pretty cool that people like us can connect, exchange experiences & share ideas. If I would feel like I was the only person far and wide who thinks like this I might start believing the "experts" opinions: that there is something wrong with *me,* not with society at large. They want us to think that *we* are the crazy ones, even though what we want is much more in alignment with Human Nature and the evolutionary reality of our species. We lived a very different life for 99% of our species' existence, and almost everyone has forgotten about it. We live in the strangest, most disconnected time ever, yet people are convinced that all this is "normal." Who's really the crazy one here?
I'm glad to hear you have occasional celebrations with family & extended kin - it surely sounds like a great time. Usually, my wife's family comes to visit us during fruit season, but unfortunately for the last two years fruit harvests were so low that it wasn't really worth the trip for them. We sincerely hope next year we can continue the tradition. It's so good to have the house full of people sometimes.
Thank you so much for your support & encouragement, it gives me hope that there's a few people like us out there, scattered over the landscape, biding their time, and waiting for an opportunity to follow our calling.
Best wishes back to you, and let us pray to the gods that the time will come soon.
"I don't write because I can't and, frankly, I don't want to, and I don't know the language and I'm so marginal in such a marginal country.
I saw a different life, even tried to live in a gym and work in the capital in a laboratory, but in the end I recognized and accepted that life in the homeland in an abandoned village is better.
You are doing a great job, a huge one, I keep sharing your and other blogs whenever I have the opportunity to bring even a little balance to this techno-industrial fantasy.
Many of my peers live a life of luxury, having it all, but I have long since discarded any aspirations and badges of status, I fully acknowledge, accept and crave the life I have. This is my world of abundance and luxury.
For someone, it is a den, without design, without perfect cleanliness, with thickets, without the usual fence, without concrete and gas.
I have nothing to gain and nothing to lose. This is how many of my ancestors lived, why can some mainstream dictate to me how I should step the measured years? :D
David, you are on the right track of dopamine connections!
My dopamine ecstasy is the arrival of relatives for the traditional harvest of vines, when there are a lot of people, children and old people in the house, we sing Ukrainian songs, drink a little and remember our ancestors, the pleasure of living, being tired from work, from a witty joke of my wife or a funny incident with a pet, from exciting mushroom searches and new experiments!
Dopamine should give life, the screen is only a tool for communication and information.
Good luck, may your garden flourish! Perhaps soon it will become a center of new understanding and an oasis in the desert of ignorance."
Here to confirm that as a (relatively) new reader, we are definitely interested in the topics you cover right now! Please continue! I have replaced social media scrolling with subscribing to Substacks and love the longer form content. Sincerely, a fellow primo on a tiny island in Canada
Thanks for your comment, I'm really glad you enjoy my writing! Kudos for reading Substacks instead of scrolling - for me, the Feed has become so repetitive, boring and pointless that reading blogs & books has become a whole lot more attractive in comparison. I can definitely empathize.
-"there is nothing I am particularly good at"
I obviously don't personally know you, but from your writing it is clear that you are very good at being a human being, in my opinion the highest honor. People often talk about being "good" at specific skills and neglect the essential task of becoming human.
While a great deal of people are probably better at it than you are (an unfortunate byproduct of growing up in the dominant culture that detests life itself) you seem to have managed to once again become wild, integrating into your local ecosystem and developing a profound respect for and relationship with your land base and the natural world. Given that the vast majority of people have completely detached themselves from the things that make homo sapiens truly human, this easily puts you in at least the top 10th or 5th percentile! That's a fantastic achievement!
I love your substack. I currently live in west Africa doing agricultural work and I find your perspective invaluable. I will donate once I am no longer a volunteer r
Thank you so much for your kind words, Kyle, I highly appreciate it!
Being an actual human being, a human animal, has indeed been what I've been striving for over the past decade. Being a good ancestor, and a functioning member of the ecosystem.
You're right, in the end it boils down to the "essential task of becoming human" (again). If we don't manage to do that, we won't make it.
Thanks again for your comment. It is feedback like this that keeps me going, really.
All the best for your own journey, stranger-friend. Keep up the good work!
“Progress & Development, Science & Technology” - is this your invention?
interesting about losing people with Anarcho-Primitivism. and footnote #6 is relatable. ironic that you were writing "there is not climate safe haven" back in 2022, and only now the New York Times had a similar headline. YOUR WRITING IS GREAT!!
Hey Andrea, thanks for your comment & encouragement!
Yes, "PDST" is yet another dumb joke I came up with - since I complain about those four things incessantly, the acronyms speckle the pages of my notebooks, so one day I realized that I had (unintentionally) written the letters PDST next to each other, and it made me chuckle. Been using it ever since, and usually I'm the only one who finds it funny.
Oh, wow, thanks for pointing out that NYTimes article, I hadn't even noticed! Let's see how much longer it takes until they write a version of the headline "The collapse of global civilization has begun"!
Я не пишу, бо не вмію та чесно кажучи, не хочу, а ще я не знаю мови і є настільки маргінальним в настільки маргінальній країні.
Я бачив інше життя, навіть намагався жити гим і працювати в столиці в лабораторії, але зрештою визнав і прийняв, що життя на батьківщині в занехаяному селі краще.
Ви робите велику справу, величезну, я не перестаю ділитися вашим та іншими блогами коли на те випадає можливість, аби хоч трохи вносити баланс в цю техноіндустрійну фантазію.
Багато моїх однолітків живуть розкішним життям, маючи все, але я давно відкинув будь які прагнення та знаки статусу, я цілком визнаю, приймаю та жадаю того життя яке у мене є. Це і є мій світ достатку та розкоші.
Для когось це лігво, без дизайну, без ідеальної чистоти, з зарослями, без звичного паркану, без бетону та газу.
В мене немає, що брати і немає, що втрачати. Так жили безліч моїх предків, чому якийсь мейнстрім може диктувати мені, як мені крокувати відміряні роки? :D
Девід, Ви на правильному шляху дофамінових за'язків!
Мій дофаміновий екстаз – приїзд родичів на традиційну заготовку лози, коли в домі купа людей, дітей та старців, ми співаємо українських пісень, трохи п'ємо та згадуємо наших пращурів, задоволення жити, бути втомленим від праці, від дотепного жарту дружини чи смішного випадку з домашньою твариною, від захопливих пошуків грибів та нових експериментів!
Дофамін має давати життя, екран – лише інструмент зв'язку та інформації.
Бажаю удачі, хай твій сад процвітає! Можливо незабаром він стане осередком нового розуміння та оазою в пустелі невігластва.
Hey Yevgenii,
Thank you so much for this beautiful, poetic comment. It's crazy how some of us just can't handle life in modern society, and how this averse reaction is so strong in us that even the myriad distractions and toys society provides can't convince us to ignore this feeling - that there is something wrong, that there should be more to life than just boring jobs & pointless entertainment, and that modern life is, despite its "luxuries" and "comforts," ultimately unfulfilling.
We *need* the discomfort, the dirt & dust, the pain, and the inconvenience, otherwise we become soft and never satisfied, always wanting more of what we don't have.
If there's only pleasure, all of the time, it becomes really boring really fast.
And as much as I hate what has become of the Internet, it's pretty cool that people like us can connect, exchange experiences & share ideas. If I would feel like I was the only person far and wide who thinks like this I might start believing the "experts" opinions: that there is something wrong with *me,* not with society at large. They want us to think that *we* are the crazy ones, even though what we want is much more in alignment with Human Nature and the evolutionary reality of our species. We lived a very different life for 99% of our species' existence, and almost everyone has forgotten about it. We live in the strangest, most disconnected time ever, yet people are convinced that all this is "normal." Who's really the crazy one here?
I'm glad to hear you have occasional celebrations with family & extended kin - it surely sounds like a great time. Usually, my wife's family comes to visit us during fruit season, but unfortunately for the last two years fruit harvests were so low that it wasn't really worth the trip for them. We sincerely hope next year we can continue the tradition. It's so good to have the house full of people sometimes.
Thank you so much for your support & encouragement, it gives me hope that there's a few people like us out there, scattered over the landscape, biding their time, and waiting for an opportunity to follow our calling.
Best wishes back to you, and let us pray to the gods that the time will come soon.
Дякую, підписуюсь під кожним словом!
Молюсь і вірю, що залишиться хоч крихта можливості брати участь в плеканні життя як власного (людського) так і незліченної кількості друзів навколо.
Нехай щастить усім хто не здається!
Google Translation of Yevgenii's comment:
"I don't write because I can't and, frankly, I don't want to, and I don't know the language and I'm so marginal in such a marginal country.
I saw a different life, even tried to live in a gym and work in the capital in a laboratory, but in the end I recognized and accepted that life in the homeland in an abandoned village is better.
You are doing a great job, a huge one, I keep sharing your and other blogs whenever I have the opportunity to bring even a little balance to this techno-industrial fantasy.
Many of my peers live a life of luxury, having it all, but I have long since discarded any aspirations and badges of status, I fully acknowledge, accept and crave the life I have. This is my world of abundance and luxury.
For someone, it is a den, without design, without perfect cleanliness, with thickets, without the usual fence, without concrete and gas.
I have nothing to gain and nothing to lose. This is how many of my ancestors lived, why can some mainstream dictate to me how I should step the measured years? :D
David, you are on the right track of dopamine connections!
My dopamine ecstasy is the arrival of relatives for the traditional harvest of vines, when there are a lot of people, children and old people in the house, we sing Ukrainian songs, drink a little and remember our ancestors, the pleasure of living, being tired from work, from a witty joke of my wife or a funny incident with a pet, from exciting mushroom searches and new experiments!
Dopamine should give life, the screen is only a tool for communication and information.
Good luck, may your garden flourish! Perhaps soon it will become a center of new understanding and an oasis in the desert of ignorance."
Here to confirm that as a (relatively) new reader, we are definitely interested in the topics you cover right now! Please continue! I have replaced social media scrolling with subscribing to Substacks and love the longer form content. Sincerely, a fellow primo on a tiny island in Canada
Thanks for your comment, I'm really glad you enjoy my writing! Kudos for reading Substacks instead of scrolling - for me, the Feed has become so repetitive, boring and pointless that reading blogs & books has become a whole lot more attractive in comparison. I can definitely empathize.
Warm greetings to Canada, and best wishes to you!