(no subject)
Musings on survival.
Modern life in a western state like Germany is pretty easy. I am sort of disabled from working, so I get money from social security, the agency even pays my rent. If I can work again I either find a job, or if I don't get one I'll get money and rent from something similar as the social security agency, the 'unemployment insurance'. That covers finances.
The thing about modern life, however, is that you become dependent on systems and structures to take care of oneself. What I could not do, for example, is to set up my place in a forrest, by living in a tent or something. There are legal matters, such as being unallowed to live in forrests, and practical matters, such as me being unable to properly take care of myself alone in a forrest. I have no gun, and even if I had one, hunting game in the woods wouldn't be allowed. At best I could collect mushrooms, herbs and some kinds of berries, but even that is impossible in the winter. I couldn't even fish without a license. I could not make myself new clothes except perhaps some silly skirts made of leafes.
Organized life in my country relies on indirectness. For example, there is almost no way for me to directly gain myself something to eat. I would have to work somewhere, earn money, and then buy food from someone else, with that money. However, that depends of how much worth my work is and how much the money I get is worth. That is all pretty much out of my control, since I don't have exceptionally rare and exceptionally useful skills. If I had the skills to construct a bike out of junk and scrapmetal things would perhaps be different. But all I can offer is some medical and nursing skills, some simple computer skills, knowledge of english and knowledge of history. These are the useful skills. I also know about computer games, some art, I have a good general knowledge. But it wouldn't be useful for a job. What I don't know very much about at all are true survival skills. I can collect mushrooms lol. If I had a rifle I think I'd know how to shoot a deer and would know how to skin it and cook it. With only a little bit of practice I could learn to fish. I could make a campfire with a lighter or matches. But that's all so simple. I don't know much about herbs and their properties in medicine or cooking. I only know about local mushrooms, whether they're poisonous or not. And as far as clothes go I'd still be helpless. I could go into a shop and buy myself linen seeds, and with the assistance of a book I could maybe grow linen. But would I know how to harvest it? How to spin it and weave it and such? If I had the finished linen and a needle and thread and scissors I could make myself a t-shirt and underwear and summer pants. It wouldn't look pretty but I could manage. I learned some tailoring in elementary school. I could also do a little woodwork, if I had the tools. A simple table and chair, would be possible for me, I think. But a whole wooden house?? No way, man. A crude hut perhaps.
If I lived in a world thrown back into something like the medievals then I could also forget about a scholarly career. There'd be far less opportunities to study or work intellectually, and those opportunities would probably be taken already by far brighter minds than me. There wouldn't be a bunch of hobby scientists or intellectuals anyway. Any somewhat intelligent and educated man knows how little some people think of theory-intellectuals and high education anyway. My own mother belittles it constantly. In many circumstances, education just means trouble and arguments. It seems intelligence and strength need each other. Efficiency.
My art? What art? The few poems? Apart from their use for myself, of what use are they to others? Let's imagine the oil crisis comes and in my area of Germany people use steam locomotives again. Should I go there and write some poem about steam locomotives, about travel with it and the like? I could not write expressionistic stuff. I could not write something that ridicules some types of passengers. I could not write about my impressions of life and death while looking out of the window in the train. I'd be better off getting an acoustic guitar again and writing simple little songs on train riding, stuff with lyrics like 'k, I sit on my train again, work's behind me I'm riding home, and the steam blows past my window and just like this one day I'll be gone' etc etc. I would have to praise the colorful woods of autumn and forget about expressing my associations of autumn and history and 19th century civilisation and suicide and love and death and so on. Even if I were to write a poem suitable for an audience on a steam locomotive celebration or something, would I be able to recite the poem on stage and not feel utterly ridiculous like I felt in my childhood when I had to recite poems in school or on christmas eve?
More later.
Modern life in a western state like Germany is pretty easy. I am sort of disabled from working, so I get money from social security, the agency even pays my rent. If I can work again I either find a job, or if I don't get one I'll get money and rent from something similar as the social security agency, the 'unemployment insurance'. That covers finances.
The thing about modern life, however, is that you become dependent on systems and structures to take care of oneself. What I could not do, for example, is to set up my place in a forrest, by living in a tent or something. There are legal matters, such as being unallowed to live in forrests, and practical matters, such as me being unable to properly take care of myself alone in a forrest. I have no gun, and even if I had one, hunting game in the woods wouldn't be allowed. At best I could collect mushrooms, herbs and some kinds of berries, but even that is impossible in the winter. I couldn't even fish without a license. I could not make myself new clothes except perhaps some silly skirts made of leafes.
Organized life in my country relies on indirectness. For example, there is almost no way for me to directly gain myself something to eat. I would have to work somewhere, earn money, and then buy food from someone else, with that money. However, that depends of how much worth my work is and how much the money I get is worth. That is all pretty much out of my control, since I don't have exceptionally rare and exceptionally useful skills. If I had the skills to construct a bike out of junk and scrapmetal things would perhaps be different. But all I can offer is some medical and nursing skills, some simple computer skills, knowledge of english and knowledge of history. These are the useful skills. I also know about computer games, some art, I have a good general knowledge. But it wouldn't be useful for a job. What I don't know very much about at all are true survival skills. I can collect mushrooms lol. If I had a rifle I think I'd know how to shoot a deer and would know how to skin it and cook it. With only a little bit of practice I could learn to fish. I could make a campfire with a lighter or matches. But that's all so simple. I don't know much about herbs and their properties in medicine or cooking. I only know about local mushrooms, whether they're poisonous or not. And as far as clothes go I'd still be helpless. I could go into a shop and buy myself linen seeds, and with the assistance of a book I could maybe grow linen. But would I know how to harvest it? How to spin it and weave it and such? If I had the finished linen and a needle and thread and scissors I could make myself a t-shirt and underwear and summer pants. It wouldn't look pretty but I could manage. I learned some tailoring in elementary school. I could also do a little woodwork, if I had the tools. A simple table and chair, would be possible for me, I think. But a whole wooden house?? No way, man. A crude hut perhaps.
If I lived in a world thrown back into something like the medievals then I could also forget about a scholarly career. There'd be far less opportunities to study or work intellectually, and those opportunities would probably be taken already by far brighter minds than me. There wouldn't be a bunch of hobby scientists or intellectuals anyway. Any somewhat intelligent and educated man knows how little some people think of theory-intellectuals and high education anyway. My own mother belittles it constantly. In many circumstances, education just means trouble and arguments. It seems intelligence and strength need each other. Efficiency.
My art? What art? The few poems? Apart from their use for myself, of what use are they to others? Let's imagine the oil crisis comes and in my area of Germany people use steam locomotives again. Should I go there and write some poem about steam locomotives, about travel with it and the like? I could not write expressionistic stuff. I could not write something that ridicules some types of passengers. I could not write about my impressions of life and death while looking out of the window in the train. I'd be better off getting an acoustic guitar again and writing simple little songs on train riding, stuff with lyrics like 'k, I sit on my train again, work's behind me I'm riding home, and the steam blows past my window and just like this one day I'll be gone' etc etc. I would have to praise the colorful woods of autumn and forget about expressing my associations of autumn and history and 19th century civilisation and suicide and love and death and so on. Even if I were to write a poem suitable for an audience on a steam locomotive celebration or something, would I be able to recite the poem on stage and not feel utterly ridiculous like I felt in my childhood when I had to recite poems in school or on christmas eve?
More later.