Living Car Free - Joy of Less

This seems like the point of view some of you car-free people take:

http://happydays.blogs.nytimes.com/2009/06/07/the-joy-of-less/?em

I second the recommendation of reading Walden. I found it very inspirational.

I second the recommendation of reading Walden. I found it very inspirational.

I guess I will Third it :)!

Very good stuff indeed. I enjoyed reading that. Thank you for the link!

Jeff

I guess I will Third it :)!

I will fourth Walden and first Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance by Robert Pirsig.

I will fourth Walden and first Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance by Robert Pirsig.

Hey GodsBassist, is that the First Zen Reader? It sounds interesting, gotta find it on amazon. Could you point it out to me? Thanks!

Anywho, great article... Everybody should read The Dharma Bums too btw.

I will fourth Walden and first Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance by Robert Pirsig.

So reading the article I see no reference nor author by the name of Walden.. Am I missing something? I love to read, could you display this Waldens entire name so I can google him?

Thank you. Jeff

So reading the article I see no reference nor author by the name of Walden.. Am I missing something? I love to read, could you display this Waldens entire name so I can google him?

Thank you. Jeff

http://lmgtfy.com/?q=walden&l=1

So reading the article I see no reference nor author by the name of Walden.. Am I missing something? I love to read, could you display this Waldens entire name so I can google him?

Thank you. Jeff

"Walden" is the name of a book written in the mid-1800s by a writer named Henry David Thoreau. He lived for a little less than two years in a small cabin he built in the woods, on the shore of a lake called Walden Pond, near Concord, Massachusetts.

"Walden" is largely about economics, but there are many scientific and poetic observations about nature, and commentaries on the lives of ordinary people in Concord. The book is an entry into the wonderful mind of it's creator--much as Thoreau said that a lake is God's eye, through which one sees the mind of the Creator. I first read "Walden" when I was 15 or 16, and it literally changed my life. No other book has had such an impact on me.

I always put in a plug for Ken Kifer (http://www.kenkifer.com/). He was a great cyclist, writer and teacher who was killed while riding his bike a few years ago. His wonderful web site includes the entire text of Walden (http://www.kenkifer.com/Thoreau/index.htm), annotated by Ken. Ken was certainly a proponent and practicioner of living simply with a bike.

http://www.kenkifer.com/Thoreau/images/tcabin.gif http://www.kenkifer.com/Thoreau/images/thoreau2.gif

(images from kenkifer.com)

"Walden" is the name of a book written in the mid-1800s by a writer named Henry David Thoreau. He lived for a little less than two years in a small cabin he built in the woods, on the shore of a lake called Walden Pond, near Concord, Massachusetts.

"Walden" is largely about economics, but there are many scientific and poetic observations about nature, and commentaries on the lives of ordinary people in Concord. The book is an entry into the wonderful mind of it's creator--much as Thoreau said that a lake is God's eye, through which one sees the mind of the Creator. I first read "Walden" when I was 15 or 16, and it literally changed my life. No other book has had such an impact on me.

Wow! Thank you for your time in writing all that out.. I really appreciate it and will for sure check this book out at the library very soon. Again thank you.

Jeff

A claim in the blog post linked in post#1 is that happiness in large part comes from wanting less.

Let me encourage you to consider another perspective: that focusing on people, and focusing on how you can share yourself, touch, and inspire other people, is a big part of living a life you'll enjoy. Focusing on material possessions, or focusing on much of anything else, has the potential to destroy your happiness IF it gets in the way of making real connections with other people.

I second the recommendation of reading Walden. I found it very inspirational.

uhhh....ya

to learn of beans or beans of me?

no doubt

no wonder Thoreau is (well, was in my day) High School required reading.

dude threw out a stone paper weight when he realized it collected dust and required dusting!

clocks
railroads
bushels of beans

a fool to sell your noons and forenoons...

etc...


Thoreau, Huxley, and Kerouac... some of my favs!

uhhh....ya

to learn of beans or beans of me?

no doubt

no wonder Thoreau is (well, was in my day) High School required reading.

dude threw out a stone paper weight when he realized it collected dust and required dusting!

clocks
railroads
bushels of beans

a fool to sell your noons and forenoons...

etc...


Thoreau, Huxley, and Kerouac... some of my favs!

Yeah! Gotta check out this Huxley character (but which one?), I love the other two. Thanks!

Yeah! Gotta check out this Huxley character (but which one?), I love the other two. Thanks!
Aldous Huxley's dying words "LSD, 100 micrograms I.M." .
It used to be that L.S. D. Long Slow Distance was used as a way to build up bicycling prowess. The idea that if you just ride a lot you'll naturally get better. I think the idea has been discredited among racers but it might be a good maxim for people going car-free. Don't work at it just ride. I'm not sure about the 100 micrograms I.M. part of it though.

Long Slow Distance may be a terrible way to train for racing, but I bet it's not bad as a way to train for Long Slow Distance!

This past month I walked and was otherwise physically active at a low intensity, for most of the hours from sunrise to sunset. Felt like it was great for my physical health, but now that I'm back to always-at-the-computer-at-work, and lots of computer related tasks to do when I'm not at work...

I'm sure I'll lose a bit of physical fitness. Such is life.

Aldous Huxley's dying words "LSD, 100 micrograms I.M." .
It used to be that L.S. D. Long Slow Distance was used as a way to build up bicycling prowess. The idea that if you just ride a lot you'll naturally get better. I think the idea has been discredited among racers but it might be a good maxim for people going car-free. Don't work at it just ride. I'm not sure about the 100 micrograms I.M. part of it though.

Who knew? I always thought it meant something else. It had more to do with flying than cycling. I didn't know Huxley was a cyclist either. Amazing.

I'm not sure about the 100 micrograms I.M. part of it though.
Instant messaging... great in small doses.

Having less just unburdens your life, because you are freed from taking care of it, storing it, updating or upgrading it... you can just ignore all that and think about other things. You are also freed from the need to make more money in order to buy and maintain these things... because once you have something, you sort of assume you will always have some later version of it. Or, you can still make more money, but now you can spend it on things that really matter.

Do you own your stuff, or does your stuff own you? How about those super expensive racing bicycles?

By the way, a nice, interesting, simple book to read might be "The Tao of Leadership", by John Heider. It really encapsulates the Tao in a way that moderns can readily understand.

I've just gone through the process of getting rid of quite a bit of my stuff (most of which is now in storage), and moving into a small cabin way out in the middle of nowhere with Rowan. It's interesting, and will likely take a bit of adjustment.

It's winter here, and our heat source, for example is the fire. Rowan is really good at laying the fire etc., but when he goes back to work, I will need to know how to do that so I don't get too cold during the day.

We're working on setting up a solar system to provide us with power, and on setting up a system so we can have running water. We do have some power at the moment provided by a generator, and we do have a flush toilet in an outhouse, but we'd like to be able to have a bathing and sink system too.

Rowan has been insulating the cabin for warmth, and we did purchase a lovely down duvet so we can be warm at night ... much more function than decorative!!

But it is gorgeous out here and quiet and peaceful ... except for the birds and cows. Already I feel very comfortable way out here without a lot of the luxuries of modern life. :)

I've created a set in Flickr called Love Shack, and have put all the photos of the Love Shack (where Rowan and I are currently living) and area in it ... including some I've taken over the past couple days.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/14302884@N04/sets/72157619719051119/

We've got running water now, and Rowan is working on a drainage system as I type. :)


(I might have to read this Walden book ... it sounds interesting)

LSD is the psychedelic drug used frequently by Aldous Huxley. He was asking his wife (as he lay on his deathbed) to administer 100 micrograms IM (which means: with a needle, in other words, IntraMuscular). She did so twice, and he died at 5:21 pm on 22 November 1963, the same day as president JFK!

LSD is the psychedelic drug used frequently by Aldous Huxley. He was asking his wife (as he lay on his deathbed) to administer 100 micrograms IM (which means: with a needle, in other words, IntraMuscular). She did so twice, and he died at 5:21 pm on 22 November 1963, the same day as president JFK!


Makes a heck of a lot more sense than the previous explaination. I love cycling, but on my death bed I will not refer to it! ;)

I've created a set in Flickr called Love Shack, and have put all the photos of the Love Shack (where Rowan and I are currently living) and area in it ... including some I've taken over the past couple days.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/14302884@N04/sets/72157619719051119/

We've got running water now, and Rowan is working on a drainage system as I type. :)


(I might have to read this Walden book ... it sounds interesting)

I love it! Thanks for sharing, very cool! :)

-Grant

Selfsatisfaction is highly overrated.