Do you really understand ERE?

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jacob
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Do you really understand ERE?

Post by jacob »

Jennypenny posed an interesting challenge, namely to explain ERE without (at any point) referencing money (or finances). I think that is a really good test of depth, so here goes:

Please explain ERE in a paragraph of two without referencing financial matters.

I'll go last.

SimpleLife
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Re: Do you really understand ERE?

Post by SimpleLife »

ERE is the practice of choosing to pursue your interests and living life the way you want to live it, with freedom from fear, freedom from bondage to possessions, made possible through conscious choice of self discipline to prepare for a life off the beaten path.

stand@desk
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Re: Do you really understand ERE?

Post by stand@desk »

ERE is about planning and executing a lifestyle with specific fundamentals of efficiency, self-discipline, and continuous self-improvement. It will give you the best chance to write your own destiny and be free to do the things that you really are passionate about in life, instead of being obligated to do things that you'd rather not be doing.

A person who commits to this lifestyle can enjoy living a truly meaningful and rewarding life. Living the ERE lifestyle promotes continuous personal growth and allows you the time to live your life to the fullest on your own terms.

IlliniDave
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Re: Do you really understand ERE?

Post by IlliniDave »

My version is a life endowed with sufficient abundance to allow comfort and contentedness, but without excess (clutter). The chair is neither too hard, nor too soft, but just right. In addition the lifestyle is efficient enough that it can exist in harmony with the broadest possible range of pursuits I might choose to occupy myself with, and anchor as little of my time as practical.

riparian
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Re: Do you really understand ERE?

Post by riparian »

"The only way to deal with an unfree world is to become so absolutely free that your very existence is an act of rebellion." - edit: woops, it's Albert Camus
Last edited by riparian on Mon May 12, 2014 9:44 pm, edited 1 time in total.

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Ego
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Re: Do you really understand ERE?

Post by Ego »

Purposely creating a personal feedback loop of discovery and growth while constantly adapting to change and eliminating unnecessary destructive elements.

skinnyninja
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Re: Do you really understand ERE?

Post by skinnyninja »

ERE is a creation rather than a consumption mindset. Increasing both minimalism and self sufficiency.

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Sclass
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Re: Do you really understand ERE?

Post by Sclass »

Consume less and produce less.

theanimal
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Re: Do you really understand ERE?

Post by theanimal »

A personal "system," created through the development and possession of a variety of skills/knowledge, allowing one to live (or attempt to solve problems) creatively, independently and robustly (or anti-fragile like).

altoid
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Re: Do you really understand ERE?

Post by altoid »

ERE for me to increase efficiency, optimization with limited resources. It is also a journey and an experience in itself.

altoid
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Re: Do you really understand ERE?

Post by altoid »

ERE for me to increase efficiency, optimization with limited resources. It is also a journey and an experience in itself.

Tyler9000
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Re: Do you really understand ERE?

Post by Tyler9000 »

ERE is a systems approach to applied self-reliance utilizing a combination of simple living, anticonsumerism, and DIY ethics.

Ok, maybe I cheated a little ;)

I also like to think of it as maximizing freedom by minimizing waste and thoughtfully constructing a personal system for sustainable living.

oldbeyond
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Re: Do you really understand ERE?

Post by oldbeyond »

Opportunistic hacking of the ecology you find yourself in, for the purposes of creating a resilient and sustainable holistic solution to the problems of life.

Dragline
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Re: Do you really understand ERE?

Post by Dragline »

ERE is a "philosophic and practical guide to [] independence." "It provides a shift in [] perspective from consuming to [creating]. Your value to society is not [what] you [accumulate], but what you create."

ERE builds upon itself in a network-like fashion by following some basic principles or guidelines:

1. "You can never do just one thing!" [Or as I might say, fuggetabout "either or" -- "do both!"]

2. "A good [life] strategy solves multiple problems at the same time"

3. "There are no such things as needs and wants."

-- BTW, I couldn't make this @#$! up if I tried. ;-)
Last edited by Dragline on Tue May 13, 2014 5:55 am, edited 1 time in total.

Chad
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Re: Do you really understand ERE?

Post by Chad »

ERE is a philosophical guide to unearthing oneself from the pile of distractions, useless items, and cultural expectations society places on us, while purposefully and deliberately building one's true self to be able to flow with life. The goal is not to dominate life, but to consciously work with it without the strong adversarial tone created by our society. We are not what we have or own. We are what we intentionally and thoughtfully create.
“Be like water making its way through cracks. Do not be assertive, but adjust to the object, and you shall find a way around or through it. If nothing within you stays rigid, outward things will disclose themselves.

Empty your mind, be formless. Shapeless, like water. If you put water into a cup, it becomes the cup. You put water into a bottle and it becomes the bottle. You put it in a teapot, it becomes the teapot. Now, water can flow or it can crash. Be water, my friend.”
― Bruce Lee

Devil's Advocate
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Re: Do you really understand ERE?

Post by Devil's Advocate »

Let's see if I do (understand ERE).

The two paragraph thing without talking of FI and RE : Can’t be done, I say. ERE is lots of things beyond FI and RE, and FI and RE do not encompass all of ERE : however, ERE is essentially FI, with possibly RE, and a whole host of other things besides (frugality, non-consumerism, non-careerism … the list can go on ... as well as the "extreme" part). But FI is the heart of ERE. (I say this while admitting that FI can mean very many different things for different people.) You cannot really meaningfully (and anywhere near exhaustively) talk of ERE without bringing in FI and retirement, not in two paragraphs, and not in twenty. And mind, I’m assuming that you won’t cheat, that you aren’t allowed to talk of not just the words but not even the concepts of FI and RE. Nope, can’t be done. (Said the man who would discuss theology without having first read the Bible. And without feeling in the least bit apologetic about it either. Such *extreme* nutcases you get to come across on the Web!)

Hearing other EREers put in their own one or two paragraphs reminded me of Jacob’s elephant parable. (I mean they were interesting and nice, and Chad's description was rather beautiful, but still ...) All right, let’s shift evolutionary gears, and move from elephant to man. A gas bubble that seems to be alive has come to earth from Mars, and we want to explain to that gas bubble what a man is, without bringing in these three words or concepts : life (as we know it) ; intelligence (as we know it) ; and consciousness (as we know it). I say, can’t be done. Talk about legs and hands and speech and culture and kindness and cruelty and social organization or whatever ; and take one paragraph or two or twenty or two hundred : but can’t be done.

I’m very interested to see what Jacob will come in with finally.

One aside, if I may : Along with the two paragraphs, I’d welcome an extra word at the very end, either a Yes or No, to the question : Would someone who one day simply—for whatever reason, let’s leave the motivation part out of this for now, but assume he's doing it without direct or indirect force or coercion but of his full free will—walks off to a forest, either naked or in (eventually) tattered clothes, there to subsist on leaves and fruit and game for the rest of his life (without worrying or making any other provisions for anything else, either in cash or in kind), would such a person or what he’s doing qualify as ERE? Long-winded question, but short answer : Yes or No?

JasonR
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Re: Do you really understand ERE?

Post by JasonR »

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1taskaday
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Re: Do you really understand ERE?

Post by 1taskaday »

My understanding of ERE is:

The ability to be "inefficient" with my time and energy. What a luxury!

When ER or in "retirement”, I will no longer judge people or tasks that I come across as "time suckers" or "time wasters”, but as things I may or may not want to dally with-why not? As time will not be an issue.

When ER or in "retirement”, I will no longer limit my curiosity or learning of new "things” to the amount of energy it will need, as my energy will be limitless and constantly in a state of renewal, instead of being sucked out of me for money.

Spartan_Warrior
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Re: Do you really understand ERE?

Post by Spartan_Warrior »

ERE, to me, is a philosophy of life that supports the end objective of a ludic life, that is, one in which the line between work and play is blurred to the observer and the self. ERE supports this by encouraging the efficient use of time/life energy to develop many different skills, which interconnect and relate to one another, forming a "personal permaculture" wherein each skill aids and supports the others naturally in pursuit of the goal. When an individual is skilled enough to produce what he needs efficiently, he can freely pursue his own interests without coercion or fear of lack.

Spartan_Warrior
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Re: Do you really understand ERE?

Post by Spartan_Warrior »

Should've included in there that the skills form a resilient web, such that if one skill should fail or become obsolete, other skills or "strands" of the web can strengthen to support the load.

In this context, investing and living frugally are just a few skills (or groups of skills) out of many that could be used to efficiently meet one's needs and achieve the desired ludic lifestyle. For instance, one of my idols here on the forum is the user Prosaic, whose FI strategy involves earning thousands of dollars a week selling eBooks. Is she living the ludic life? Sure looks that way. Was investing/saving a (major) part of getting there? Apparently, not really.

Likewise, I consider Devil's Advocate's "guy who runs out into the woods to live without saving any resources" not only a valid ERE example*, but a better example than, say, if Mark Zuckerberg decided to retire and live on a beach. The guy living in the woods requires more (and more resilient) skillsets than Zuckerberg, whose primary strength/skillset is earning money.

*This assumes the guy in the woods really is capable of producing/supporting his own needs and is not stealing time/resources/life energy from others to support himself. Otherwise he is not skilled enough, and this would be a form of "evil ERE", like going on welfare.

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