This post was really just a journal entry for me. I'm not as much of an isolationist as this may sound. But I do have my bouts. I think, in certain contexts, it can be black and white. I do believe in human communities, and the absolute need for them. But I have a problem with national identity, and state tribalism. We are creatures fit to live in bands of no more than 200 people. When we have institutions controlling millions or billions, disaster happens. That’s when we have massive homogenous cultures, that out of necessity, are dictated and controlled by the large entities that benefit form the predictability.

I have to admit though, I’ve become very cynical over the years. I started off very optimistic, I wanted to build intentional communities, I tried to connect, teach, and reach out to my local community as much as possible. But I was burned or disappointed time and time again. My location makes it really difficult. I’m technically right in town, but it’s a large undeveloped plot on the edge of the city. It’s a poor manufacturing town, and outside of the town are Monsanto farms for miles. It’s a bleak, backwards culture here. So at some point I had to let my hope for deep intentional community, in my immediate area, go. I joined a permaculture meetup that is great, but we’re all spread out, so the distance makes it less of a real community for now.

I admire all those who make it their work to educate and expand people’s minds, but I find myself too intense for most people’s tastes. I guess I’m a bit like Sepp Holzer or Fukoaka, in the sense that maybe one day after my methods have proven themselves, interest will peak and I’ll begin to teach. But right now I’m a mad man in the woods 😁