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  • From: <pbunch@cox.net>
  • To: Healthy soil and sustainable growing <livingontheland@lists.ibiblio.org>
  • Subject: Re: [Livingontheland] Transition Lifestyles: Satisfaction
  • Date: Mon, 6 Sep 2010 7:00:00 -0700

I guess this is what a non-alienated or at least less alienated life would
be. We, I, at least have tended to look at the lives of peasants as
undesirable in someways. People were dependent on the weather and other
uncontrollable factors for food, safety was often a problem, disease, the
attitude of the ruling class and taxation all made life difficult at times.
Many modern day peasants are doing all they can to escape this lifestyle.
There also are country people we know here in Colombia who have absolutely no
desire to move to the city. They like the "peasant" life. I use this word
with some caution as it has become loaded with negative connotations but it
really does describe what we are aiming for fairly well. Perhaps a new kind
of peasantry.

I wonder if life really was as bad for country folks as it has been portrayed
historically. After all it was generally the rich, educated classes of the
towns and manors that wrote about them.




---- Tradingpost <tradingpost@lobo.net> wrote:
>
> Then a more "grounded" lifestyle can mean working to produce the food we
> eat, procure the clothes we wear, build or rework our shelter and so forth
> - all work that contributes directly to our own needs and wellbeing -
> instead of working for just money to pay someone else to provide those
> things for us. There is such a profound satisfaction to find the confidence
> to do for ourselves. You folks know this in your very being.
>
> paul tradingpost@lobo.net
>
> Beware of all enterprises that require new clothes.
> --Henry David Thoreau
> *********** REPLY SEPARATOR ***********
>
> On 9/5/2010 at 6:25 AM pbunch@cox.net wrote:
>
> >Thank you so much for the responses so far, I hope there are more to
> >come. Work as an integral part of life seems to be a thread which ties
> >together all of these responses. If this is generalizable it is very
> >significant. It really is not surprising in that many psychologists have
> >worked on the problem of alienation and compartmentalization of "modern"
> >life and found them to be harmful.
> >
> >One of the issues I have come across in the transition literature is the
> >need to educate people to prosper with fewer material goods. The sense of
> >satisfaction in life is one of the fundamental components of this kind of
> >prosperity. Surviving would hardly be worthwhile if it meant living with a
> >sense of constant drudgery and boredom.
> >
> >A related issue that may be worth chatting about is well-being and how we
> >communicate it. It gets into the use of status symbols which of course
> >will never go away but will change in a low consumption society. How do we
> >tell people non-verbally who we are and that we are doing just fine, thank
> >you? Smiles and facial expressions reflecting well-being are usually part
> >of the package but we also generally use clothing, jewelry and other
> >symbols that say I am this or that and have the power to own this or that.
> >
> >This group derives status as members of the living on the land listserve
> >and through contributions to the list. We respect those that contribute
> >useful information and their status increases as they help others. This
> >appears to me to be a very healthy kind of prosperity. Membership in the
> >group also provides the benefits of being recognized as a valued part of a
> >community, sharing the benefits of knowledge, reaffirmation of beliefs,
> >and other non-tangibles.
> >
> >An example of a symbol in the community where we are becoming integrated
> >is rubber boots. People who work in this rather damp climate generally
> >ware rubber boots as their work shoes. They are just a practical
> >adaptation to the the realities of life. They do however immediately
> >scream out " here is a campesino or at least a person who works outside
> >and understands the realities of the countryside. As an unknown person I
> >am immediately accepted on a different level when I'm walking down the
> >trail in rubber boots. The greeting is likely to be "hello neighbor"
> >rather than just "hello" or perhaps some non-verbal indication that I am
> >being accepted as something other than a tourist (the most common kind of
> >"outsider" in the area.)
> >
> >
> >
>
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