Comments on: The Freedom to Do Nothing

By: Beth Patterson

Beth Patterson — Tue, 22 Jun 2010 20:34:25 +0000

Dave–not sure if this will show up as a trackback:
Stunted being and Prometheus unbound

http://virtualteahouse.com/blogs/beth/archive/2010/06/22/stunted-being-and-prometheus-unbound.aspx

Thank you for the great material and thought process!

By: Lishui

Lishui — Mon, 21 Jun 2010 02:45:30 +0000

I’d be called upon to greater and greater healing projects – people, species, biomes… and from each I’d learn something new and amazing. In between, I’d read, craft clothing and other household items, make music, and spend a lot of time with food – growing, preserving, cooking, eating. I’d also spend a lot of time with kids, telling them stories, having fun, and teaching them everything I know. Twice a year I’d take four days of silence and contemplation, preparing myself for my next series of projects and letting Life tell me what those are.
I’d live in community and enjoy nice morning sex pretty much every day, and campfire/woodstove singalong and dance sessions with friends most evenings.
In civilized life where I’m currently still mostly trapped, I couldn’t achieve what I want to do in ten lifetimes. But in my vision, I achieve ten lifetimes of love and learning every year.

By: Tweets that mention The Freedom to Do Nothing « how to save the world -- Topsy.com

Mon, 14 Jun 2010 22:03:52 +0000

[...] This post was mentioned on Twitter by Holly Pendleton, Holly Pendleton. Holly Pendleton said: Living the Question AND Defining Your Life: http://ow.ly/1YpC9 – See @DavePollard deal with it: The Freedom to Do Nothing http://ow.ly/1Ypwe [...]

By: John B

John B — Mon, 14 Jun 2010 03:45:22 +0000

Many of the items that you once said you wanted to work to defeat (tar sand oil extraction, factory farming, etc.) are only going to go away when there is no money in them. Instead of actively working against them, you can work against them by denying them their lifeblood which is money. Perhaps one of your efforts would be to demonstrate and write about how to live an enjoyable, fulfilling life with minimal need for money by shunning pretentious consumerism and utilizing the gift economy to provide the basic physical necessities. If most people adopt this relaxed minimal lifestyle, it will defeat the money oriented corporations that are destroying the earth.

Your “community” or tribe can include both full time members who are physically present continuously and also cybertribe members who come and go as the wish and as they are needed. This gives you much more flexibility in organizing your community. So it is possibly to start your community at any time using your existing friends and contacts and being more or less involved with them as the situation dictates.

Your daily schedule sounds much too structured to me.

Recently you wrote that “The hard part is finding people who care.” Develop and live in an interesting community and you won’t have to find the people who care, they will find you.

By: Ed

Ed — Mon, 14 Jun 2010 00:44:02 +0000

Jordan, thanks mucho for the Hafiz.

By: Jordan

Jordan — Sun, 13 Jun 2010 21:22:53 +0000

The best thing a free person can do is help others get free. I like this poem from here http://www.astrodreamadvisor.com/Hafiz.html

Dropping Keys by Hafiz

The small man
Builds cages for everyone
He
Knows.
While the sage,
Who has to duck his head
When the moon is low,
Keeps dropping keys all night long
For the
Beautiful
Rowdy
Prisoners.

By: Indigo Ocean

Indigo Ocean — Sat, 12 Jun 2010 23:49:03 +0000

When I’ve had periods of many months without the need for work to support myself or school to attend, I’ve wound up doing a lot of nature gazing and a lot of writing. I’ve also taught sacred dance and facilitated spiritual improv groups, but those two activities came more out of a sense of wanting to see what I could do productively with sacred arts now that I had no external obstacles. After doing each a relatively short period of time I discovered I didn’t really care to do any of that.

When left to do whatever I want, I find that I give to others primarily through my writing and I receive primarily through nature gazing. The rest is just keeping the body cared for.

By: David

David — Sat, 12 Jun 2010 21:34:24 +0000

The question “Who am I” is not the question we should be asking. This question will not bear serious scrutiny, and neither will the question “How do I know?” The only question that matters is “What will I do?” And this question is followed closely in importance by the questions “How will I do it?” and “How will I learn from it?” Best wishes to all.

By: Evelyn

Evelyn — Sat, 12 Jun 2010 17:38:25 +0000

I listened to the EconTalk interview with Castronova the other day (http://www.econtalk.org/archives/2008/01/edward_castrono.html), and one of the things that I was most interested in, was their discussion of how virtual worlds are designed to increase engagement and happiness. But then, casinos and shopping malls are designed to increase engagement. (But not happiness, you needs a sense of discomfort to open your wallet.)

In the ‘real world’ we have the opportunity to create a life which does increase our happiness and engagement and contribution. But, there are lots of forces which push away from that. Forces which push into maintaining systems that never get better. Such as described in http://issendai.livejournal.com/572510.html?thread=3524702#t3524702 It’s especially difficult to change them when they’re not horrible, but just bad enough.

I’m contemplating how to create an environment here and now which is better for me. So, I’m paying attention to the sources of discomfort, and changing them. There’s a lot to think about just in the way I feel and react here and now.

Here’s hoping your path leads you to happiness, engagement and contribution.

By: Rob Paterson

Rob Paterson — Sat, 12 Jun 2010 16:09:17 +0000

Sounds like a traditional hunter gatherer life to me Dave – maybe this is a more natural rhythm and interchange – I also bet that most of us are totally exhausted by a life of projects and control