RoamingFrancis' Journal

Where are you and where are you going?
Post Reply
RoamingFrancis
Posts: 591
Joined: Wed Oct 30, 2019 11:43 am

RoamingFrancis' Journal

Post by RoamingFrancis »

Hello everyone, this is RoamingFrancis. I recently moved to a permaculture farm in my hometown, where I am doing 10-15 hours of labor a week in exchange for room, board, and skills. I am also working in legal translation and landscaping.

When I first arrived here, I realized, shit, this Gert stuff is real. I believe the people living here can be classified as mini-Gerts. I am now a micro-Gert. When I first arrived, ERE stopped resonating. I just want enough free time to relentlessly pursue my passions; the FI component doesn't matter very much. In fact, if I retired early I would probably end up back working someplace, because I like the skills and socializing that workplaces provide. So my goal is Gertitude and a passionate, meaningful life, and ERE is the map I'm using.

I realized another thing - that I am pretty useless. I am still a long way from the Renaissance Ideal, and still have a lot to learn by hanging around these forums. But it felt like a chapter had ended in my ERE journey, so I made a new journal. My previous journal is largely about getting control of my life and time. The goal now is to pursue the Renaissance Ideal. And so, with the closing of one chapter and the opening of another, I symbolized the shift with a new journal.

On the Renaissance Ideal—when I first got into ERE, I wanted to know everything. And I tried to do everything at once. And made very little progress on actual skill development. I also realized building new skills takes time. And you have to be focused. And no one can really know everything. As such, I believe each person's pursuit of the Renaissance Ideal should be like finding a Renaissance ecological niche, rather than trying to be kinda good at a lot of things. Some degree of specialization and mastery is worth pursuing, depending on each person's unique inclinations.

This is all a long-winded way of introducing the 6 categories of my Renaissance Ideal, my own niche. These are my areas to strive for mastery. I'll review where I'm at in each category and propose a next action for each.

Language

High degree of fluency in Spanish and German. Conversational ability in Arabic, Portuguese, Russian, French, and Esperanto. Beginner level in Sanskrit. Still looking for the indigenous language I want to learn. I've flirted with Potawatomi. I know how to learn languages, but I need more exposure time to level up. The key reason I was able to achieve fluency in Spanish and German is that I spent a lot of time in social environments with native speakers. My others have petered out around intermediate because I learned over the computer, but have never been able to speak and interact with real people. I think to really level up I'll have to travel. (By the way, there is an excellent Sanskrit course at https://en.amarahasa.com/start-here/)

Next action: complete Sanskrit course

Fitness

I am healthy. I have yoga, weightlifting, climbing, martial arts, and diet/cooking all listed as skills worth developing. I am at a beginner-intermediate level in all of them.

Next action: find more challenging yoga videos

Meditation

As you may know, I am dedicated to this as a lifelong practice. We're aiming for stream entry, baby!

Next action: enroll in Unified Mindfulness Pathways course

PEB:

This is my acronym for Permaculture, Ecology, and Botany. In my mind, it's all just one thing. Since arriving at the farm, I have become a beginner in beekeeping and landscaping. I've learned how to mulch, plant trees, and do edging work. Ecological stuff is starting to click more intuitively. I can't express it yet, but I can feel my brain changing. My difficulty here has been establishing deliberate practice loops. It's like, how do I practice understanding how nature works? Like sure, there are practice loops for individual skills involved in beekeeping, or planting or watering, but what does deliberate practice for running a farm look like? I'm hoping that just living here and doing stuff will be enough.

Next action: learn as much as possible during my time here? Maybe some of you accomplished permaculturalists could give some advice

Relationships:

This is a hugely important category, but tracking relationships linearly doesn't make sense to me. What's a heuristic and set of Best Practices for one's relationships? How does one even begin to intellectualize this?

Next action: Let the forums INTJs come up with a mental model for tracking this because I am clueless

Music:

I used to play piano. I was pretty good. Compile, maybe. But then my teacher died and I stopped playing. Now I haven't practiced for a long time. I suspect/hope what I used to know will come back quickly. I also have intermediate guitar skills. Unfortunately, singing is really uncomfortable. It just feels weird in my throat. I don't know how to articulate sounds. I'm not god-awful terrible, and I'm not afraid to sing in front of an audience. It's just that I know it's my biggest weak point.

Next action: Take voice lessons

Conclusion

This is the start of a new and exciting chapter; I am extremely grateful to have the support of these farm folks to build my life. I couldn't do this without them. Hope everyone is well out there.

Peaceably,
RoamingFrancis

not sure
Posts: 141
Joined: Fri Feb 05, 2021 2:34 pm

Re: The Making of a Renaissance Hobo

Post by not sure »

Hey, RF!
I like your selected set, look forward to following your journey.
Do you know how long you will be at this farm for?

RoamingFrancis
Posts: 591
Joined: Wed Oct 30, 2019 11:43 am

Re: The Making of a Renaissance Hobo

Post by RoamingFrancis »

Until it gets cold :)

I am planning to meet one of my anthropological heroes this fall and do some slowtravel in Latin America.

not sure
Posts: 141
Joined: Fri Feb 05, 2021 2:34 pm

Re: The Making of a Renaissance Hobo

Post by not sure »

:)
so you won't see the full yearly cycle for the PEB category?
although slow travel in Latin America sounds nice

User avatar
Alphaville
Posts: 3611
Joined: Thu Oct 03, 2019 10:50 am
Location: Quarantined

Re: The Making of a Renaissance Hobo

Post by Alphaville »

hey pancho, great to hear from you!

everything looks good from where i see you. dont worry about not being leonardo da vinci, or lacking the patronage of princes and popes and kings--there was only one leonardo, everyone else just admires. concern yourself with becoming what you are, not with emulating others. you're in a good place for your age--i'm almost jealous! except i'm not morrissey, and so i'm happy for you :D

as for your questions:

relationships are emotional, so don't overintellectualize them. people are not "types" so all typologies must be used with a big fat pinch of maldon. better to hone your instincts, both for good and for bullshit. and work on your emotions--it's hard work, but a more direct payoff.

keep on keeping on, and i look forward to hearing future updates.

ps if you need any latin american tips, let me know either here or via pm. guitar goes a long way in those parts btw... enthusiasm & authenticity are more valued than "voice" in a 3am bar or around a campfire. but yeah good voice helps lol.

RoamingFrancis
Posts: 591
Joined: Wed Oct 30, 2019 11:43 am

Re: The Making of a Renaissance Hobo

Post by RoamingFrancis »

@not sure I won't see the full yearly cycle. Winter makes me unhealthy and melancholy—better to dip.

@Alphaville I have my inspirations and personal heroes, but I'm definitely not trying to copy someone else's life.

I'll keep the journal posted on Latin America. I've managed to get fluent Spanish by hanging out in diaspora communities, but have spent little time in LA itself. I think I understand the culture fairly well already, though it'll be interesting to see how travel deepens that perspective. For now, I'm thinking a route of Southern Mexico --> volunteer on a sailboat to cross the Carribbean / Central America --> Work my way southwards towards Colombia's Sierra Nevada and finally the Amazon.

Haha yeah I know you don't need a perfect voice, and as I said I'm not afraid to sing in front of an audience. It's just that it usually feels clunky and awkward. Like it's straining my vocal chords or something.

ellarose24
Posts: 175
Joined: Tue Feb 02, 2016 9:44 am

Re: The Making of a Renaissance Hobo

Post by ellarose24 »

I really love you reframing ERE as a “tool” and not the end goal, I have similar visions. This sounds like a great journal and I’m looking forward to taking inspiration from it. Do you mind if I ask what age-range you are?

RoamingFrancis
Posts: 591
Joined: Wed Oct 30, 2019 11:43 am

Re: The Making of a Renaissance Hobo

Post by RoamingFrancis »

Not at all, I'm 20.

RoamingFrancis
Posts: 591
Joined: Wed Oct 30, 2019 11:43 am

Re: The Making of a Renaissance Hobo

Post by RoamingFrancis »

https://imgur.com/a/8zHPYup

Here is a little graph I drew up of the skill areas I'd like to develop. I used the Common European Framework of Reference for Languages fluency levels on the y axis, as that's what I'm most familiar with in terms of evaluating skill mastery. It could easily be replaced with Bloom's Taxonomy or Jacobs C^6 model.

User avatar
Alphaville
Posts: 3611
Joined: Thu Oct 03, 2019 10:50 am
Location: Quarantined

Re: The Making of a Renaissance Hobo

Post by Alphaville »

i see that the relationships area has no goals/model. what are your wishes/desires though? and what are the obstacles?

AxelHeyst
Posts: 2102
Joined: Thu Jan 09, 2020 4:55 pm
Contact:

Re: The Making of a Renaissance Hobo

Post by AxelHeyst »

+1 what alpha said. I spreadsheet track almost everything in my life, and I have no idea what you mean by "tracking relationships linearly". It doesn't sound like a good idea, whatever it is. ;)

You might start with self-reflection along these lines:
-How do you view all of your current and past relationships?
-Are there any categories you can sort them into? (inner circle, acquaintances, people you tolerate, people who tolerate you, family, "good", "bad", "toxic", etc?)
-Can you categorize the people in your life in possibly meaningful ways? Among the people who you vibe with the best, are most of them introverts or extroverts? Men or women? Younger, older, or the same age as you? Among the people you vibe with the worst, what are their characteristics?
-Thing back to your highlight reel: think of some of the *best* relationship experiences you've had, and some of the *worst* relationship experiences you've had. Are there any common denominators to those experiences? Do you have any explanations for those experiences? With what confidence? Could anything else be going on there? Are there certain kinds of people who tend to treat you a certain way, and you do/don't like that? Do you understand why they treat you that way, like actually though?
-Generally, when you think of the various and different ways that people behave, do you feel like you understand why? Do you think you have a good model of other people's minds, in other words? Do you think you understand how other people see you? Do you think you're being fair with that model? Are you skewed positively or negatively (do you view yourself favorable or unfavorably through other people's eyes?).

What I'm getting at here is that self-knowledge and other-knowledge is a foundation for high functioning relationships. If you don't understand yourself well, that's the first thing to sort out. If you don't understand other people's minds well, if people's minds are black boxes to you, you have to dig into that, because there's no way to have solid relationships with people if you have to rely on what they tell you (unless they're unicorns who mean what they say). Working on, for example, "good communication" isn't going to get you very far if you don't understand yourself well and others well. Although, it's an iterative process, because communication is how you figure out other people.

Western Red Cedar
Posts: 1200
Joined: Tue Sep 01, 2020 2:15 pm

Re: The Making of a Renaissance Hobo

Post by Western Red Cedar »

RoamingFrancis wrote:
Sat Apr 24, 2021 10:45 pm
The goal now is to pursue the Renaissance Ideal. And so, with the closing of one chapter and the opening of another, I symbolized the shift with a new journal.
Congratulations on the new journal @RF! I've noticed a strong sense of direction and clarity from the last post in your old journal and the first one here. It is great to see you applying ERE principles to build a dynamic and unconventional life. I'm looking forward to hearing more about your adventures on the farm and future travels.

Picking up Spanish songs on the guitar or piano might be a great way to weave a couple goals together. I have a few in my repertoire, but plan on pursing this more in the future.

User avatar
Alphaville
Posts: 3611
Joined: Thu Oct 03, 2019 10:50 am
Location: Quarantined

Re: The Making of a Renaissance Hobo

Post by Alphaville »

Western Red Cedar wrote:
Tue Apr 27, 2021 8:16 pm
Picking up Spanish songs on the guitar or piano might be a great way to weave a couple goals together. I have a few in my repertoire, but plan on pursing this more in the future.
apréndente unas bonitas

guitarra
https://youtu.be/xkMJNTyw4GI (he wrote it when he was like 14 or something)
https://youtu.be/SaJ2B31Oorw bit of a worn out tape looks like... but great old song
this has become by now, pretty much, a hymn https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ek4qqkJ9950
se falas português: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g6w3a2v_50U
this guy from spain for something more recent https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Rj02LmHe20Y this is piano mostly

piano
https://youtu.be/XPGejazeq7c if you know what the lyrics are about you'll shudder... this particular video collage might help....
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0oWhz0G4-Tg sibooooneeeeeeeeyyyy.... that song is almost a century old
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Xxy93UXisaU this man died just recently. the video is old and the arrangement somewhat corny. but his boleros melted the heart of many abuelitas in their day :lol: (it's easily performable in piano which is why i added)
here's a bit of fito. he can be annoying, but this is a good song https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=344Hdfcjqic
bola de nieve!! genio... https://youtu.be/qUWiN688-70 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q_lq-W3cako https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1fhS2glY20g
Last edited by Alphaville on Wed Apr 28, 2021 1:13 am, edited 2 times in total.

RoamingFrancis
Posts: 591
Joined: Wed Oct 30, 2019 11:43 am

Re: The Making of a Renaissance Hobo

Post by RoamingFrancis »

@AxelHeyst Yeah, that's why I didn't put anything on the graph XD I think it's important enough of a thing to be in my six areas of focus, but I have no clue how you would graph it. I wrote it down anyways so I don't ignore it.

As for music, I'm happy with where my piano and guitar are at for now. The main thing is I want to learn how to sing—I have no idea how to breathe or project my voice or anything.

Sanskrit

Almost done reading the beginner's Ramayana! Should be done before the end of April. I will plan to read (beginners' versions of) the Diamond Sutra in May and the Bhagavad Gita in June.

Cooking

I will make a lentil gruel recipe. After I've got that under my belt I'll try making some Mexican dishes.

Permaculture

I don't know how to do deliberate practice for permaculture. A lot of the nature insights I've had have just come from spending more time in it, quietly observing. Maybe this is all I need—I'm not sure.

User avatar
fiby41
Posts: 1610
Joined: Tue Jan 13, 2015 8:09 am
Location: India
Contact:

Re: The Making of a Renaissance Hobo

Post by fiby41 »

I thought I replied yesterday but perhaps the post didn't go through... congrats on getting language learning down to a science!
Your rationale for starting a new journal is compelling but those who have replied or wrench symbol>> 'subscribe topic'ed your previous journal won't get an email/notification about this one.

You seem to be learning best by total immersion rather than reading books but here is a handy collection of English books for learning Sanskrit: https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/ ... sp=sharing

That amarahāsa site is indeed good especially considering it was launched only this year. You keep finding these language learning gems as in your previous journal so thanks for sharing it with us.

It is always interesting finding similiarities accross languages.
Example: amarahāsa mostly means 'the immortal smile' because only other possible meaning is 'the undying laughter.'
the a prefix is for negation, same as in English,
If one knows the root mṛ to die, the Russian cmert' death might be intuitively understandable,
as is the noun form mara,
has is the root meaning to smile, and the masculine nominative singular is Hasan, a proper noun for a boy,
meaning jolly, just as people name their child Joy, but this name is more used in Arabic.

User avatar
fiby41
Posts: 1610
Joined: Tue Jan 13, 2015 8:09 am
Location: India
Contact:

Re: The Making of a Renaissance Hobo

Post by fiby41 »

Also, if you could explain the gert/itude concept, that'd be really helpful.

RoamingFrancis
Posts: 591
Joined: Wed Oct 30, 2019 11:43 am

Re: The Making of a Renaissance Hobo

Post by RoamingFrancis »

Thank Stephen Krashen for getting language learning down to a science, not me :) On the shoulders of giants and all that.

Thank you for the Sanskrit resources! It looks like there's some good stuff in there. Thank you for the etymologies too! It occurs to me that the root for death in the Romance languages (muerte, mort, etc) may originally be from Sanskrit. And in a true ERE sense, the word mortgage could be traced back there as well. Though "mrt" in Arabic is a wife, so etymologies are not always what they seem :)

It's been interesting diving into Vedic/Hindu texts. I have an acquaintance whose family participated in Ambedkar's mass conversion to Buddhism. Reading up on Ambedkar has definitely changed how I view Hinduism, as for Ambedkar Hinduism is synonymous with the caste system. It's led me to the question—can Hinduism exist without caste oppression, or are they too deeply intertwined? I haven't found a good answer to that question.

https://permies.com/t/gert

This is Gert's origin page :)

User avatar
fiby41
Posts: 1610
Joined: Tue Jan 13, 2015 8:09 am
Location: India
Contact:

Re: The Making of a Renaissance Hobo

Post by fiby41 »

Amberkar had proposed to make Sanskrit the official language of India. That earns him my respect.
Source

Hinduism==caste discrimination is a false equivalence like ERE==lentil soup.

Caste part:
The word caste comes from the Portuguese casta meaning class. It is now applied to any and every community- either based on lineage (common ancestry), vocations and occupations, geography and even language (same caste which calls itself by different name in a different language or which is geographically separated become a different caste.)

Lets look at the Chinese flag. The four smaller stars stand for the four social classes, “the working class, the peasantry, the urban bourgeoisie, and the national bourgeoisie.” No one asking is class oppression an integral part of Chinese society?

The primary concern of the varṇāśrama-dharma is to maintain the separation of powers. But when the French do it its cool and when Indians do it uncool?
A brāhmaṇa is supposed to dedicate his life to the cultivation of knowledge without letting mundane materialistic questions like 'Is this useful?' 'Will I be able to earn money after studying this?' get in the way. They are allowed to live by begging for alms. An austere and simple life is prescribed.
A kṣatriya would rather die than live by begging. They take it upon themselves to protect the society from threats external and internal even at the cost of their own lives. Police, military, home guard, security guard.
Vaiśyas are allowed to hoard wealth because they are entrepreneurial traders, farmers, artisans.
A Śūdra is anyone who serves others in exchange for money. Employees, workers, servants.

Discrimination has been however a historic fact.

To remedy it, 50%-67% seats in colleges, parliament, government jobs are reserved for the socially backward classes. If one belongs to a scheduled caste/tribe, they can get much more leyway in terms of eligibility criteria, age requirement, application cost, have to pay only a fraction of the fees, etc.

Under the Prevention of Atrocities Act, 1989, if one feels so much as verbally insulted, one can approach a fast track court, and file a complaint. Anything under this act is a non-bailable offence.

What can be said empirically is India cannot exist without Hinduism because secessionist movements gain hold everytime the demographic composition changes.

chenda
Posts: 3281
Joined: Wed Jun 29, 2011 1:17 pm
Location: Nether Wallop

Re: The Making of a Renaissance Hobo

Post by chenda »

RoamingFrancis wrote:
Wed Apr 28, 2021 9:37 pm
Reading up on Ambedkar has definitely changed how I view Hinduism, as for Ambedkar Hinduism is synonymous with the caste system. It's led me to the question—can Hinduism exist without caste oppression, or are they too deeply intertwined? I haven't found a good answer to that question
Many Hindus would say yes, though it's a complex issue. This lecture by Dr Nick Sutton does a great job of addressing the issue: https://youtu.be/H-rU3thF6bE

One point he makes is that Hinduism is arguably in a better position than other religions do adapt to modern values, as scriptural authority is much looser than in say Christianity and Islam, where it's harder to dismiss sections of the Bible or Koran which may in some readings clash with modern values.

Edit: I've if not mentioned it to you before and your interested in Vedic philosophy, check out Swami Sarvapriyananda's Ramakrishna Order lectures on you tube, they are astounding.

RoamingFrancis
Posts: 591
Joined: Wed Oct 30, 2019 11:43 am

Re: The Making of a Renaissance Hobo

Post by RoamingFrancis »

This is sparking some interesting discussion! Excellent lecture by Dr. Sutton, thank you for sharing.

He argues there was women's equality in Vedic times as will, which is interesting. What are the differences between Vedic Hinduism and influences that came afterwards?

When did the caste system arise? Showing that Hindu philosophy predates caste would be good evidence on the "caste is a cultural phenomenon" side of the debate.

I have a deep respect for Ambdekar, but I wonder if he threw the baby out with the bathwater in his rejection of Hinduism.

Post Reply