RoamingFrancis' Journal

Where are you and where are you going?
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RoamingFrancis
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Re: The Making of a Renaissance Hobo

Post by RoamingFrancis »

Really interested in Oaxaca and Chiapas.

Western Red Cedar
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Re: The Making of a Renaissance Hobo

Post by Western Red Cedar »

Good choices. Both are amazing areas. You are also right next door to northern Guatemala which has a lot of indigenous communities that are still relatively intact and speak local languages.

RoamingFrancis
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Re: The Making of a Renaissance Hobo

Post by RoamingFrancis »

I'm heading to South Dakota! SD has long been one of my favorite states. If I stay based in the US, I think I'd be happy to call it home. SD as a whole is LCOL, so I may look at a couple to get the vibes before getting a place.

For the first time I've actually been feeling really excited about business. My goal is simply to earn enough for a very simple life and to pursue my interests, so the goalposts are intentionally set very low.

My spending has fluctuated over the past couple months due to instability, so I will need to take a more concrete look at my spending when I'm there, and make some projections for future spending based on my Web of Goals. Once I have a clear idea of my FI threshold, business decisions and strategies will become more clear.

I feel that I'm in an advantageous position - I will be arriving in several of these towns with the eyes of a college student, that knows what I and other young people would be looking for. But unlike most young people there, I will not be spending time on formal education, but rather looking for business opportunities. Once I've saved enough to invest, I could get a building, do cool eco shit there, and rent rooms to students. That's just one idea ofc; I could just as well fix up and sell some bicycles from a junkyard.

Though my heart yearns to return to Latin America, I'd be okay waiting in SD for a while to build up a stable foundation - home base, finances, business, social life. Schultes himself began his career in the great American West, and only got to Oaxaca and the Amazon later. On my recent vagabond adventures I fell in love with the West. It's my favorite region of the country, and I hope I never have to live east of the Mississippi again.

Though I had made the connection between language loss and ecosystem destruction, it was only in my recent case study of the Penan that it came full circle and I saw a direct connection between Western consumption (in this case palm oil and timber) and the extinction of a culture. Sarawak's forests have been cleared, and with them the Penan lost their ability to live as hunter-gatherers. In doing this reading, I saw that ERE does in fact directly connect to the destruction of the ethnosphere as well as the biosphere, and feel renewed motivation to pursue it as a result.

RoamingFrancis
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Re: The Making of a Renaissance Hobo

Post by RoamingFrancis »

Things to Consider in South Dakota

Basics: I haven't kept track of my expenses in the whirlwind of the last three months. I'll have to take a good hard look at my actual spending habits and do a push to get my CoL to <1 JAFI.

Business: My long-term business goal is to create 1 JAFI in passive income. Assuming a 4% SWR, this would be a $218,450 nest egg. Assuming a $50,000 salary and 1 JAFI spending, this would be achievable in slightly over 5 years. With an $80,000 salary this could be done in 3 years.

Look for home base. Though I have nomadic yearnings, I need a roost to come back to. LCOL, college town, and proximity to nature are things to look for. Honestly, the only thing about South Dakota that seems unappealing is the winters.

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Surplus Lifestyle Expenses

These are any expenses apart from shelter, transport, food, and clothes. Currently it mainly consists of (audio)books. Access to a university library would reduce this category and is one of the arguments in favor of being based in a college town. Despite a long-term business goal of 1 JAFI passive income, I believe a Semi-ERE approach is wisest so I have time for other goals. Particularly if I find meaningful work, I am okay with working to fund these activities.

There may be other expenses based on my Web of Goals. For young people (18-32), the IMS Three Month Vipassana Retreat is at a sliding scale with a minimum cost of $1,680, plus $420 to meet the prerequisite of three 1 week+ retreats with recognized IMS teachers. Though these long retreats are best done at a residential center, I think it's wisest to take advantage of solo and Zoom retreats, and set up an area in my living space specifically designated for practice.

At this point in life, I am okay with strategically flying in order to do the language protection work I feel called to do. I believe the flight + other transport would be the only expense apart from the necessities, as living with hunter-gatherers isn't exactly a high consumption lifestyle. I can also combine this category with the previous, and for example use time in Asia to both document the Penan language (for example) and do retreats.

I am willing to pay a private music tutor, though this is perhaps an area where alternative forms of capital will work well. Another argument in favor of college towns is that they're likely to have choirs and bands I can join to enrich my social life.

I am done paying for gyms, especially after a recent conversation with a personal trainer friend on bodyweight training. I am, however, still wanting to pursue martial arts, and would like to do ReWild University's Forest Monk program, which places a strong emphasis on primal fitness and martial arts. This is likely an area where an MMM Coworking space would come in handy, to gain access to a dojo space without crazy fees.

It should be noted that I am a fairly extroverted person with a desire for a rich social life, which is another argument in favor of a college town. I will have to keep that in mind as a design criteria - I will need an ERE neighborhood, not just a single house. An MMM Coworking space is wise, as is finding a place with a Dharma and music scene.

RoamingFrancis
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Re: The Making of a Renaissance Hobo

Post by RoamingFrancis »

Books percolating in my consciousness:
*Tools For Grassroots Activists - Patagonia's book on business skills for rebels
*Nature and the Human Soul

RoamingFrancis
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Re: The Making of a Renaissance Hobo

Post by RoamingFrancis »

Contemplative

I'm finally diving into Wilber. The dude has given me a lot to think about. Particularly interesting to me are the distinctions he places between Waking Up and Growing Up, and looking at stages of mature adult ego development.

I'm a little skeptical of his claims around the chronological development of various cultural stages of consciousness. If Wilber is right, he may have a strong argument against Boas' cultural relativism. I wonder if there is any evidence of teal/turquoise consciousness in hunter-gatherers.

Continuing with the Buddhist practices I've been using and learning/synthesizing with modern Druidry.

The first couple days of returning to a suburban environment were really rough (reverse culture shock?) but I've since felt better. Since completing my trip I seem to have a new baseline of calm/centeredness.

Business

Though I got really stoked on going to South Dakota, I sat with it for a couple more days and decided it would be wisest to stay put for a while. I'm setting up a business for my translation services. I already have the skills, but I'll have to build a solid website and market it really well. If I do this well I should have a foundation for being to earn money with just a laptop and Internet connection, and should be able to slide into a digital nomad lifestyle if I so choose. I learned that the sort of research I'm interested in is not really being funded. The good news is that all I really require is living expenses - so I may be able to self-fund with business savvy and ERE knowledge.

This has provided an interesting perspective shift on the world, and somehow has made me more curious about exploring sci-fi and techno-utopian thought.

Social

My social life is largely revolving around the local sustainability org and a youth meditation group I attended. I am grateful to have found some people that I really resonate with, but I do find myself wishing for more social interaction in my day-to-day life, which recently has mainly been philosophy and building a website.

ulisesbeltran
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Re: The Making of a Renaissance Hobo

Post by ulisesbeltran »

This reminded me of an old Sherlock Holmes movie where idk who asks him might have been Watson. He asks him about being good at many things and Holmes responds with “what’s the point of having an Arsenal if none of ur weapons are sharp” something along those lines but I really liked the reflection aspect of the whole journal it makes for a meaningful/conscious journey. Best of wishes!

RoamingFrancis
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Re: The Making of a Renaissance Hobo

Post by RoamingFrancis »

Good metaphor. I also like "If you dig too many holes, you'll never reach water" from S.N. Goenka.

RoamingFrancis
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Re: The Making of a Renaissance Hobo

Post by RoamingFrancis »

Beginner's Mind

It's occurred to me that with regards to ERE, my understanding of theory is way ahead of my level of practice. I've been thinking about how to build systems and telicity and stuff, thinking that if my design were super efficient I could somehow Wheaton myself out of the need for a job.

I'm going to take a step back and go to Wheaton Level Two for a while.

Blackjack
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Re: The Making of a Renaissance Hobo

Post by Blackjack »

RoamingFrancis wrote:
Fri Sep 24, 2021 1:46 am

Look for home base. Though I have nomadic yearnings, I need a roost to come back to. LCOL, college town, and proximity to nature are things to look for. Honestly, the only thing about South Dakota that seems unappealing is the winters.

I am done paying for gyms, especially after a recent conversation with a personal trainer friend on bodyweight training. I am, however, still wanting to pursue martial arts, and would like to do ReWild University's Forest Monk program, which places a strong emphasis on primal fitness and martial arts. This is likely an area where an MMM Coworking space would come in handy, to gain access to a dojo space without crazy fees.

It should be noted that I am a fairly extroverted person with a desire for a rich social life, which is another argument in favor of a college town. I will have to keep that in mind as a design criteria - I will need an ERE neighborhood, not just a single house. An MMM Coworking space is wise, as is finding a place with a Dharma and music scene.
Ummm pardon me for asking, but have you considered the actual MMM coworking space? All these things you’ve mentioned are conducive to Longmont, take the bus down to Boulder for the library at CU (but honestly the Boulder and Longmont librarys are already top notch), and have apps you can use to get audiobooks once you have a library card. Rent is not universally cheap, but you can find rooms for $300-400 in Longmont if you look the right ways. Longmont itself isn’t a college town, but many many CU students are there due to the pricing. Boulder zen and Boulder Shambala and RMERC are close, and the music scenes are all there too (maybe have to venture to Denver at worst). And to top it off you have perfect close access to nature.

RoamingFrancis
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Re: The Making of a Renaissance Hobo

Post by RoamingFrancis »

Don't pardon yourself! Advice is welcome; that's why I post here!

I hadn't considered Longmont; thank you for the recommendation :)

RoamingFrancis
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Re: The Making of a Renaissance Hobo

Post by RoamingFrancis »

Career Paths

I am currently in the process of discerning whether or not pursuing a career as an academic (anthropologist) is a good idea. Though I feel strongly drawn to this field, some of the realpolitik aspects of the path make me wary. Anthropologists have few practical skills outside of an academic context, it's a long and narrow road to get a PhD and then tenure, and the job market kinda sucks.

If I decide not to pursue academia, which it seems will be the case, I will need a career path that I find satisfying.

The primary requirement, of course, is that is has to pay the bills. I will have to be able to ride this road to FI.

Ideally, I would like it to be a eco- or service-based profession. And ideally it would value the language skills that I already have. Or possibly let me join the Peace Corps or a similar org to satisfy my anthropological itches.

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Re: The Making of a Renaissance Hobo

Post by jacob »

RoamingFrancis wrote:
Mon Oct 18, 2021 7:31 pm
I am currently in the process of discerning whether or not pursuing a career as an academic (anthropologist) is a good idea. Though I feel strongly drawn to this field, some of the realpolitik aspects of the path make me wary. Anthropologists have few practical skills outside of an academic context, it's a long and narrow road to get a PhD and then tenure, and the job market kinda sucks.
I'm really torn on this. The "rational thing" would be to NOT do it. You already see how academic anthropology is [most likely] an academic dead-end. (Ask potential supervisors about the 'placement levels'---what do their former students do 10 years after graduating?). Once you hit the professor level, the Peter Principle ensures that your focus will shift from research (you'll only be doing that vicariously through grad students) to grantseeking and management. OTOH, the ability to live on sub-10k per year unlocks a tremendous amount of possibilities. I know I'm not emotionally healthy when "thinking for pay" (I'm okay with physical grunt work for pay, no problem). I've almost always managed to fulfill that even if FI took somewhat longer with that strategy.

Incidentally, one of the big Danish figures in FIRE is a former anthropologist. Not sure if she ever worked in academia. Last job was in the "art industry" (IIRC). However! She used her anthro-skills to sniff out new investment trends (active investor) since she got hooked in investing at a very early age and have been pursuing this as a highly competent amateur for decades. FIRE'd at ~45. It's conceivable that with a CFA she could easily get hired into a hedge fund or analyst company. This is just to show how it's important to pursue parallels paths and continually seek positive telicity. This could certainly be done in another form. I figure the [long] education does lead to developing a new way of thinking when it comes to being able to hold space for multiple perspectives (while not projecting one's own). This is valuable for others as well.

RoamingFrancis
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Re: The Making of a Renaissance Hobo

Post by RoamingFrancis »

Thanks Jacob. Seeking positive telicity really resonates with me.

The other bit of wisdom I received is that there are multiple paths to the island I want to reach, so there is an element of trusting, letting go, and surrendering. Yesterday I decided I wouldn't think about any of this at all and went for a long walk. Ended up getting some insights about evolutionary biology because my mind wasn't preoccupied with my career track.

It feels like I'm on an island, and I can see another island on the horizon that few people from my culture ever visit. There's a lot of fog between here and the other island, so I'm not sure how I'll actually get there, or even what the next step is, but I know it's time to take a leap of faith and push the raft into the water.

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mountainFrugal
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Re: The Making of a Renaissance Hobo

Post by mountainFrugal »

I would second @jacobs analysis. If you are seeking the academic track then it is usually a game of staying in long enough until a position opens that you are qualified for, the department wants your specific research/teaching program, etc. All the hard work in the world will not outpace the "luck" factor for all of those things aligning to find a position. The hard work will put you in the position to then become lucky. If you have very low needs otherwise (ERE), or come from a wealthy supportive family then it makes that waiting for luck game much easier to play. Also know that ERE + PhD would allow you to get non-tenure adjunct status fairly easily. You could then use the resources of the university (library, potential grant writing through the institution, etc.) in exchange for some teaching without having many of the drawbacks Jacob mentions. Once again, ERE allows you to be flexible, especially if you do not care about the "status" that tenure brings. Play a different game.

RoamingFrancis
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Re: The Making of a Renaissance Hobo

Post by RoamingFrancis »

Integrating Surrender

I spent the past two months doing some healing and basically ignoring my life goals, which was really refreshing. I learned a lot about letting go, and though I'm getting back on the "working towards goals" train, I want to make sure to integrate the letting go lessons I learned over the past few months. I have noticed in the past day that it is easier for me to relax into a difficult yoga posture or meditate through physical discomfort, I think largely due to the healing work I've done. I believe that for each of these categories there will be a process of leaning in, finding my edge, and releasing. I got a big chunk of this healing done now, but there's always more, so I will likely return to this process at some point in the future. This time around I went with Reiki, which worked pretty well even though I was initally skeptical. I'm also aware of other modalities I can use, including Teal Swan Parts Work, Hakomi, and Somatic Experiencing.

As a side note, you may notice that some of the previous categories I used have chunked, and are now bigger categories with more details.

Buddhist Training

I visited a local Thai monastery I didn't know existed until recently, and felt immediately at home. I plan to return there to inquire about opportunities for further training. I will lean into my daily practice, and have also been turned on to Ken Wilber. I plan to read the following books:
  • Integral Buddhism: And the Future of Spirituality
  • Integral Life Practice: A 21st-Century Blueprint for Physical Health, Emotional Balance, Mental Clarity, and Spiritual Awakening
  • Integral Meditation: Mindfulness as a Way to Grow Up, Wake Up, and Show Up in Your Life
  • A Brief History of Everything . . . Sex, Ecology, Spirituality
(It was recommended to me to read Brief History of Everything, and read SES if I really liked it.)

Druidry

@AxelHeyst turned me on to Druidry, and after taking a look I realized their curriculum offered a solid framework for things I have been wanting to do anyways. Given its environmental focus, and resources for bardic training, both Emergent Renaissance Ecology and music have chunked into here. While I've gotten a lot out of Buddhist training, it can at times feel a bit flat. The Druidry feels very playful to me, a sort of trickster energy, and I think the two paths of study and practice complement each other extremely well. I plan to work through the First Degree curriculum:

Earth Path:
  • Spend time in nature each week
  • Read nine books about your bioregion
  • Make three environmentally friendly lifestyle changes
  • Plant a tree
Sun Path:
  • Celebrate the changing of the seasons
Moon Path:
  • Practice meditation and Sphere of Protection
  • Keep a journal
Bardic, Ovate, or Druid Exploration:
  • Spend 20 hours learning a new skill in one of the above categories
Most of this is stuff that was already on my Web of Goals, but the curriculum and resources the Druids offer make it easier for me to keep track of. I will be doing all of this over the coming year. Of course, ERE emphasizes skills and systems rather than check-the-box lifestyle shifts. Since lack of skills was the wall I ran into last year, I think I'll be best served by making my three "changes" 20 hours practicing cooking, bike repair, and gardening each.

Body / Movement / Relationships

The healing I was doing was very on sexuality, and as such my "relationships" and "health/body" categories have sort of fused together. I'm trying to think of a shorter name that doesn't suck - the best I came up with was "intersubjective movement," which I'm not a big fan of. My relationships are all in okay places, so the focus here lands on my fitness goals.

I have been doing a good job about staying active every day, mainly with hiking and yoga, some weightlifting here and there. I got a bunch of natural movement books, which I am working through and started a thread on here: viewtopic.php?t=12178.

I would say my main goals are to learn the basics of Latin dancing and become a skilled martial artist. I think 20 hours of Zumba should suffice for the former; for the latter I'd like to be as good as I possibly can get. In theory, I would also like to add about 20 pounds of muscle to my body, though I am wondering if it is perhaps better to focus on performance-based goals than weight-based goals. Not really sure.

My weakest link with regard to physical health is food. I'll post a meal plan soon to help me stick to eating real food.

I've noticed I do best when I get the chance to move first thing in the morning, before even meditating or breakfast. When I'm physically exhausted after a workout, it usually makes my meditation more relaxing and food taste better. I think I'll do well by starting the day moving, then sitting, then having a simple late breakfast of oatmeal, fruit, and honey.

I will make a stop at a thrift store to pick up less restrictive pants. I've been wearing jeans that really restrict my mobility during the day, which hasn't felt good. My shoes are in their last days too - afterwards I'll transition to minimalist footwear / Vibrams.

Lastly, I'm looking for a personal trainer / group fitness instructor cert. I think I'll go with the ACE, but I'm not sure yet. There's an open gig at the local gym supervising the workout area (i.e. sitting at a desk, reading a book and making sure no one kills themselves). I applied for it and am going to ask which certs are actually used in the industry.

Anthropology

With all of this on my plate, I probably won't actively be learning a new language for a while, but I met some Thai speakers (the monks) as well as some Zapotec speakers with whom I will be cultivating relationships. Then I will have the relationships in place when I decide to put the languages on the frontburner.

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Re: The Making of a Renaissance Hobo

Post by shaz »

ACE is definitely one of the big personal trainer certs and well worth considering. The other main ones in the US are NASM and NSCA. Before you commit to one, I suggest you talk to a number of personal trainers, the people at gyms who hire personal trainers, and also consider what you want to do as a personal trainer. For instance, do you want to work at a big gym or a smaller boutique facility or have your own business? Which populations do you want to work with? Are you more interested in general fitness, injury prehab/rehab, sports performance, special needs? Do you intend to have a college degree in a related area? ACE publishes a salary report that you might find enlightening if you can obtain a copy.

RoamingFrancis
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Re: The Making of a Renaissance Hobo

Post by RoamingFrancis »

Dunning-Kruger

I have felt increased confidence in many areas of life recently (ERE, meditation, Integral Theory), and then I looked at a diagram of the Dunning-Kruger effect and realized I am right at the peak of Mt. Stupid in most of these. Just throwing that out there.

Image

Integral Druidry

Have been on a Ken Wilber binge for the past couple days. I'm going to finish up Integral Life Practice, then take a break before getting into ABHE and SES. Integral Druidry is basically what it sounds like - I'm shifting my spiritual practice towards an Integral ecocentrism. This journal might begin to be more like @daylen's (though likely less of an acid trip :D ) and look more like a practice journal.

Interembodiment
  • Nodes for physical health and relationships had fused together - "interembodiment" is the best word I came up with to describe it, but that kind of sucks too.
  • Definitely moving forward with ACE certification
  • Still need to thrift some clothes and shoes that are less restrictive.
  • Finding that I do best when I eat breakfast (oatmeal, fruit, smoothies) consistently and move first thing in the morning.
  • My dinner recipes are mostly limited to soups, so I'm trying to expand my repertoire. Going to be making tacos and pizza soon.
Anthropology

I think I may have been romanticizing hunter-gatherer cultures. Still sitting with that.

Miscellaneous

Got a job at UPS unloading trucks. Pay is decent, as it's a union job. Working a double shift gets paid time and a half. Deciding if I should knock out the ACE certification ASAP, or white knuckle through two months of double shifts to get a cash stash first. Most of the good parts of the job are thanks to being part of the Teamsters union, so I've found myself taking another look at my high school anarcho-syndicalism, trying to make sense of it in the context of everything else I've learned since then. Been playing a lot of IWW songs and folk music.

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Re: The Making of a Renaissance Hobo

Post by fiby41 »

RoamingFrancis wrote:
Wed Nov 10, 2021 11:13 pm
  • Finding that I do best when I eat breakfast (oatmeal, fruit, smoothies) consistently and move first thing in the morning.
Breakfast like a king, lunch like a prince, dinner like a pauper ... or so the saying goes.

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Re: The Making of a Renaissance Hobo

Post by RoamingFrancis »

I picked up John Steinbeck's Travels With Charley in Search of America and Bill Bryson's The Lost Continent, both of which are quite reminiscent of my own journey across the country.

I find myself strategizing for 2022 and beyond. I finished up the holiday season at UPS, and in doing so at least proved to myself that I am in fact capable of making decisions I'm not immediately stoked on in service of a higher goal/vision. While certainly not wealthy, I have a couple thousand saved now and feel at least a little bit more financially secure. I also got a driver's license after five years of resisting to it. While I plan to design a lifestyle that is independent of automobile transport, Americans place such a high value on cars that it has come with immense social validation. In Integral terms, I really dislike the right-hand quadrants of the entire car system, hence my stubbornness over the past several years. But having a driver's license IS really important for the lower left quadrant. It's basically letting me blend in as a "normal adult" while I strategize the best way forwards.

I have an overwhelming urge to write. I have had such a vast range of experiences over the past three years, and it feels like it is finally time to exhale. To contribute somehow. To create something. I don't really have any idea what this will look like, but I've been forcing myself to hole up in the library and write until I can't anymore. And then keep writing. I have heard that you have to write a million words before you have anything worthwhile to say, so it's best to start sooner rather than later. The primary themes I am exploring are how human culture has changed with each technological shift in production, developmental psychology in hunter-gatherer societies, ecology, and to what extent "paleo" design principles are useful in modern life.

I am reading Move Your DNA and it's making me realize I need to change my entire lifestyle again. I spend quite a bit of time hunched over reading books, and though I exercise, I don't have a movement-based lifestyle. This has increased my desire to run a homestead, where hard physical labor is simply a part of life. In fact, I'm coming to really embrace manual labor as a positive good. I plan to transition ASAP to minimalist footwear and going pillowless/matressless. I'm also adding more variance to my walking routes, and switching up frequency and distance. And am planning to go chairless.

I read the Gervais Principle last night. Well, most of it. It is certainly relevant to me at this stage, and I can see the importance of understanding the principles it contains. As always, discussions of power should always be connected to discussions of ethical use of that power. I am curious to explore what power looks like when embodied at a green/teal altitude. I plan to reread this piece later to suck the marrow out of it. And I'll revisit it at the end of this post to discuss how it applies to my FIRE strategizing.

The Gervais Principle touches on arrested development - getting stuck somewhere while maintaining the illusion that one is "on a lifelong path of learning and growing." I want to bring the concept into awareness to decrease the likelihood of this happening to me.

I feel that I am beginning to peek my head into WL7. The systems stuff is making sense. Permaculture is starting to click. I am seeing waste as resources out of place. My skills are starting to improve. The systems are nascent, and I need to grow and stabilize here. There is some conscious competence, but not yet unconscious competence. I am reverting to Amazon for some Christmas presents, for example.

The two primary systems for me to build are my income systems and my urban homestead. While reading a permaculture book a while ago, I experienced a mindset shift from "someone who is interested in permaculture" to "someone who is already running an urban homestead, albeit not a very well-developed one." Time and patience are my best allies here. With regards to income, I've suddenly become fascinated with business. Frankly, the idea of working a corporate job for a short time even sounds interesting. I feel grounded enough in my values and strategy that I don't think it will crush me. Selecting the highest-income tolerable career, and doing writing and my other interests in my free time, could be a great strategy. The Gervais Principle is relevant because, if I decide to play the game, I would think it best to play it well. My main concern in entering that world is the extent to which it is possible to maintain ethical integrity given the circumstances. I won't do anything that compromises my morals for FI.

I was happy and surprised to see Bruce Lee and Bill Plotkin at levels 9 and 10 of the Wheaton Table. :D

As always, please give feedback!

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