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The man who lives without money!

by joseph7384
4 replies
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Meet Mark Boyle.

The man who lives without money » Banoosh
  • Profile picture of the author seasoned
    MAN, he misses the point ENTIRELY!

    But that evening I had a realisation. These issues weren’t as unrelated as I had previously thought – they had a common root cause. I believe the fact that we no longer see the direct repercussions our purchases have on the people, environment and animals they affect is the factor that unites these problems.
    OVER SIMPLIFICATION!

    The degrees of separation between the consumer and the consumed have increased so much that it now means we’re completely unaware of the levels of destruction and suffering embodied in the ‘stuff’ we buy.

    Very few people actually want to cause suffering to others; most just don’t have any idea that they directly are. The tool that has enabled this separation is money, especially in its globalised format.
    Well, some would never care ANYWAY, but still, he misses the point....

    Take this for an example: if we grew our own food, we wouldn’t waste a third of it as we do today.
    If we only wasted a third, that wouldn't be so bad. In a way, food is like a transplanted organ. As part of the host, it may live for even weeks. Pull it off, and it may start dying INSTANTLY! One wonders what happened before refrigeration, but refrigeration is bad in ITSELF. Yeah, if we could only pick what is needed, it would be GREAT!

    If we made our own tables and chairs, we wouldn’t throw them out the moment we changed the interior décor.
    Well, I still use a coffee table, end table, and sofa my mother bought over 40 years ago! My entertainment center(due to it being an oldstyle QUALITY oak piece), is one I bought about 30 years ago. Well, you get the idea. BTW MY taste has never changed in that way.

    If we had to clean our own drinking water, we probably wouldn’t shit in it.
    Yeah, if I could, I would try to use Sh.. to help compost, etc... ALAS... Well, I am working to a punchline here!

    So to be the change I wanted to see in the world, it unfortunately meant I was going to have to give up money, which I decided to do for a year initially. So I made a list of the basics I’d need to survive. I adore food, so it was at the top. There are four legs to the food-for-free table: foraging wild food, growing your own, bartering and using waste grub, of which there far too much.
    AGAIN, let's save this for the punch line....

    On my first day I fed 150 people a three course meal with waste and foraged food. Most of the year I ate my own crops though and waste only made up about five per cent my diet. I cooked outside – rain or shine – on a rocket stove.
    WOW, more for later...

    Next up was shelter. So I got myself a caravan from Freecycle, parked it on an organic farm I was volunteering with, and kitted it out to be off the electricity grid. I’d use wood I either coppiced or scavenged to heat my humble abode in a wood burner made from an old gas bottle, and I had a compost loo to make ‘humanure’ for my veggies.
    WOW, he had the same idea I did about the SH..! I didn't read ahead, but I digress...

    I bathed in a river, and for toothpaste I used washed up cuttlefish bone with wild fennel seeds, an oddity for a vegan. For loo roll I’d relieve the local newsagents of its papers (I once wiped my arse with a story about myself); it wasn’t double quilted but it quickly became normal. To get around I had a bike and trailer, and the 55 km commute to the city doubled up as my gym subscription. For lighting I’d use beeswax candles.
    RELIEVE the newsagents? Did he STEAL them? And where did he get the beeswax?

    Many people label me an anti-capitalist. Whilst I do believe capitalism is fundamentally flawed, requiring infinite growth on a finite planet, I am not anti anything. I am pro-nature, pro-community and pro-happiness. And that’s the thing I don’t get – if all this consumerism and environmental destruction brought happiness, it would make some sense. But all the key indicators of unhappiness – depression, crime, mental illness, obesity, suicide and so on are on the increase. More money it seems, does not equate to more happiness.
    AGAIN, he is missing the point!

    Ironically, I have found this year to be the happiest of my life. I’ve more friends in my community than ever, I haven’t been ill since I began, and I’ve never been fitter. I’ve found that friendship, not money, is real security. That most western poverty is spiritual. And that independence is really interdependence.
    It depends whether it is REALLY INTERDEPENDENCE! As for diseases, he is probably exposed to less, but STILL...

    Could we all live like this tomorrow? No. It would be a catastrophe, we are too addicted to both it and cheap energy, and have managed to build an entire global infrastructure around the abundance of both. But if we devolved decision making and re-localised down to communities of no larger than 150 people, then why not? For over 90 per cent of our time on this planet, a period when we lived much more ecologically, we lived without money.
    Right answer! WRONG REASON!

    Now we are the only species to use it, probably because we are the species most out of touch with nature.
    AGAIN, WRONG!

    People now often ask me what is missing compared to my old world of lucre and business. Stress. Traffic-jams. Bank statements. Utility bills. Oh yeah, and the odd pint of organic ale with my mates down the local.
    OK, great for him!

    OK, NOW for the TRUTH! Let's take the septic system. Where I live, it is AGAINST THE LAW to have a septic system unless you have at least 2acres! WHY? Because they figure that is about how much you need for the leach field. OK, OK, if you had a COMMUNITY field, it could be 1/3rd the size per person. If you made it compost area, maybe a third of that, but still it is SPACE! And what of contamination, etc?

    And YEAH, growing plants is nice, but you need space, care, water, light, etc... AGAIN, you need space.

    As for furniture? Most furniture made today is JUNK! If it were quality, people would use it to death, or resell it! Money DOES have a hand in recycling you know!

    As for shelter, why didn't he do THAT naturally?

    In short, his idea DOES NOT SCALE! It requires things that often DO NOT EXIST! TRY hunting rabbit, etc... in the city! TRY growing a decent amount of food in an apartment. TRY communal sewage, etc....

    Many countries DID do things as he suggested. Eventually, new diseases appeared. THEN, they cleaned up and grew into what germans call CEMENT CITIES. Food isn't as plentiful, so certain companies make certain types of food. Waste needs to be moved, so companies move that. ad nauseum..... Bartering at this scale becomes impractical so they need a COMMON barter medium, and CASH was born!

    So all these problems, and cash, are part of the over population problem. As the population grows, we move away from the ideal he talks about.

    Steve
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  • Profile picture of the author Kay King
    He makes a lot of sense, doesn't he? Good to know there are still places where you can live like that and not be hassled.

    I believe the fact that we no longer see the direct repercussions our purchases have on the people, environment and animals they affect is the factor that unites these problems.

    The degrees of separation between the consumer and the consumed have increased so much that it now means we're completely unaware of the levels of destruction and suffering embodied in the 'stuff' we buy.

    if all this consumerism and environmental destruction brought happiness, it would make some sense. But all the key indicators of unhappiness - depression, crime, mental illness, obesity, suicide and so on are on the increase. More money it seems, does not equate to more happiness.
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    Saving one dog will not change the world - but the world changes forever for that one dog
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    Live life like someone left the gate open
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    • Profile picture of the author Kay King
      Steve -

      His idea doesn't have to scale - it works for him for now.

      You couldn't do it here, either - too many regulations and rules and pokey noses around.
      Signature
      Saving one dog will not change the world - but the world changes forever for that one dog
      ***
      Live life like someone left the gate open
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  • Profile picture of the author Dennis Gaskill
    I found this comment thought provoking, "independence is really interdependence." Unless you're living a similar lifestyle to his, it's true.

    In the comments below the story a few people commented that they wanted to live like that. I'd bet money none of them ever make that choice. Too many creature comforts to give up.
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    Just when you think you've got it all figured out, someone changes the rules.

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