Lessons to Integrate
From Rob: I am high in extraversion and can build community engagement into my system. I've been reluctant to take up space publicly (do speaking, create a podcast, "put myself out there" publicly because I thought in would inflate my ego. On my wall I have a little picture of Vince Harding, one of the guys in MLK's inner circle whom history has largely forgotten. Under the picture I wrote "Kick ass quietly." The idea being not to do great things out of egoic desire to be memorialized or get a statue in your name, but simply because it's the right fucking thing to do. Then you die, become worms, and are forgotten. But now I can see I will have to do more "putting myself out there" in order to grow, even if there is a risk of ego inflation.
Relevant Theo Katzman song:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4xsfOuLM2J8
From Callie: The idea of being a goatherder sounds pretty fucking dope. I have a stoke response to wandering through the wilderness with one's goats feeling like Gandalf. I agree with @AxelHeyst's take on her lifestyle. Though I am someone who really thrives when I'm connected to a community, so spending three months as a goatherder would be more of a rite of passage for me than a permanent lifestyle. I do like proximity to wilderness, so perhaps starting some sort of Zen center in the mountains would be more my style.
From Jacob: I don't really seek to emulate the specifics of Jacob's day-to-day life - we are quite different in personality and temperament. But Jacob is a master strategist and systems thinker, and I will need the ERE design principles and philosophy to create what I do want.
@jacob can you elaborate on the specific meanings of each of the C's? For example, what is the difference between compiling, coordinating, and computing? I get a sense of what you mean but would like clarification.
I love the "If not me, then who?" mantra. Everyone likes to think they would have been an abolitionist had they lived in 1830, but few would really take action. During my teenage years as an activist I was always really wary of the Leninist concept of the vanguard, but with more experience I can see why it's important. Almost by definition, large cultural shifts originate in the fringes of society - salons, cafes, and, nowadays, Internet forums where sophisticated communication around important issues can take place and we are free to pursue depth. Of course, any cultural shifts must truly be worldcentric in orientation - most of the 20th century socialist regimes suffered from the "meet the new boss, same as the old boss" problem. That's part of why I no longer really subscribe to actively trying to overthrow governments, unless you're resisting an actual fascist state. Having a flawed democracy is a hell of a lot better than the power vacuum that exists after it's gone. Had I lived in 1830, I truly hope I would have been friends with Frederick Douglass and Elijah Lovejoy.
I love the idea of sticking one's head back into the cave to talk to the dwellers. I am an explorer, but I'm wired to be an excellent teacher.
I don't think stoke is entirely rational. For me it comes from tapping into Deep Soul Purpose, which for me is in the transrational realm. I have no clue why I'm so stoked on linguistic diversity in the Amazon basin, other than a magnetic attraction to Spanish when I was twelve and contact with an acid being two years ago.
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On that note, my deepest stoke is the Amazon. That's what I have to design my systems around. This means I have some more research to do about international law, immigration, and not-for-profit corporations that operate in multiple countries. I also need to make sure I have ways to earn an income while living in Mexico or Colombia - here I could leverage my language skills to do a translation-service-based digital nomadicism (no stoke but may be practical), or learn more about how regenerative businesses operate in those regions. My impression is that multinational corporations are doing whatever the fuck they want in the Amazon without regard to ecosystem health or human rights (just look at the Steven Donziger case in Ecuador), so I doubt legal restrictions are too tight. The key thing would be finding out whether an ecologically/socially regenerative business model could generate enough income to support a livelihood.
I ran some numbers today. If I can stabilize my CoL at 1 JAFI (<$10k) and assume a SWR of 4% (ik there are disagreements on SWR), I would need a financial yield of $250,000 - invested in regenerative, resilient, and socially just investments - to consider myself financially independent. Obviously this does not replace other forms of capital - skills, relationships, healthy ecosystems, physical and spiritual health. I am torn on the FIRE / Semi-ERE debate. On one hand, I can see wisdom in knocking it out - I could be FI by 26, build a great life in the meantime, and then have the whole REST OF MY LIFE LEFT!!! On the other, I have Deep Soul Purpose and we all know what happens when you refuse to go to Nineveh. Either way, I'm grateful for the opportunity to pursue an authentic life.
So to get back to basics, pulling this off hinges on the ability to live at 1 JAFI and the ability to generate the adequate financial yields. I believe there is a market in my area for locally sourced food, honey, etc, as well as "transition coaching," i.e. getting paid to help people transition their households towards sustainability. This is what I'll be exploring for the rest of the year, as well as how to transition to the Amazonian stuff I want to do.
I still have some work to do to stabilize at 1 JAFI. Frankly, since returning from Canada I got a driver's license and have been sucked into my family's consumer culture. My systems were not sufficiently mature to resist living in a household of consumers who have no interest in making a change. That's okay, I don't blame myself. I just have to make sure not to stay that way. In order to shift towards 1 JAFI spending, I have to:
.Eliminate car transport - bike to work, fix my chain, and organize a carpool to the meditation center on Sundays.
.Make a decision on my health insurance. I'm attached to the family plan, but I don't know how long that lasts. I will most likely just choose disaster insurance and make my main health insurance... actually staying healthy.
.Vasectomy - I actually love kids, but I don't want them myself. I would love "cool uncle" status though. This would ensure a MAJOR expense never happens.
.Cancel superfluous Internet subscriptions
.Cut a deal with the BJJ people. I plan to deeply pursue both martial arts and music, which would be my only real expenses outside of the basics. The exception is if I decide to pursue psychotherapy. But regardless, it would be worthwhile to see if I can work out a skill exchange like Rob Greenfield did with yoga and other services.
And just to take stock of my assets:
.A couple thousand dollars
.1 bicycle
.High social and spiritual capital
.Language skills
.Vision
.Grit
Not too bad. To the Great Work!
*Removed a couple details