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Bungala Ridge Permaculture Gardens REDUCE ... REUSE ... RECYCLE ... REPAIR ... RETURN ... REVEGETATE ... REPLENISH |
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Time to Drop Out? Copyright © Beverley Paine January 6th, 2005 I've been busy with my business Always Learning Books, so haven't focussed on my permaculture site much this last year. A lot has been happening and I hope to catch you all up soon... keep coming back to this site. There is a chance I'll set up a blog in the near future and that will probably make it easier for me to let you all know how things are going at Bungala Ridge. Here's a short piece I wrote some time ago, which sums up nicely how I'm feeling right now. I'm an avid reader of New Scientist: it alternately excites and depresses me, but it's always an interesting read. After my morning cuppa I found myself asking the question "Is it time to drop out?" Guilt drives this urge to abandon my comfortable lifestyle to 'live simply' or 'simply live' as the adage goes. But guilt isn't enough to motivate me. I've felt this guilt continuously for two decades. At times the guilt is felt acutely and I promise I'll change but most of the time my response is to reassure myself, justify my lifestyle, my consumerism, my desire for comfort and safety. Change is hard. I feel no closer to my goal of living simply than I was fifteen years ago, yet we live in a solar and wind powered home, use a composting toilet, don't own a fridge, grow vegetables and eggs, educate our children at home, manage on a low income and run an small car with low petrol consumption. Yet this is not enough. We're still on the materialistic treadmill. We're still taking way more than our fair share of the Earth's precious resources every day. How does one drop out? Is it a gradual process or a does one go 'cold turkey'? I seem addicted to spending money; the more we get the more we spend. The more we spend the more we need to spend. Have you ever noticed how much energy and money it takes to protect a huge investment that is a house with all its contents? I often yearn for the freedom of the swagman, but would I be happy 'roughing' it? Could I let go - of my possessions, the level of physical comfort I'm accustomed to, the sense of security that money provides? Letting go. Eventually it's something we all have to do. To live as though tomorrow was my last day on Earth. Can I do it? The task feels huge, overwhelming, but the impetus to take this bold step is great, compelling. I mentally torture myself daily, yet fail to act.
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