Read this. And, if nothing else, you’ll understand a little (more or less) what I’ve been wanting to put into words for a while, but just couldn’t find the right ones.
I just stumbled across this essay after doing a google search for “drop out of society.” I decided to do this search for the heck of it after I spent the morning driving the tractor around the hayfield, raking the last of the hay into piles to take into the barn and then pitching the last of the hay into the haystacks. The phrase “dropping out” I think has negative connotations for most people. I grew up thinking that “dropping out” of school at any stage was always a bad thing. People used to be labeled “drop outs” if they were of questionable moral character.
So it is a silly idea, really, to think that what I really want to do is drop out of society. I really do, but I hate the phrase, which is why I like his essay so much. From what I’ve read of Ran’s essay, I agree or am working towards just about everything mentioned in it (aside from dumpster-diving for food, but even that makes sense). If I don’t agree with it, I at least find it interesting. (I like what he says about having kids, too.)
To drop out is to become who you are. Do not feel guilty about using strengths and advantages that others do not have. That guilt is a holdover from the world of selfish competition, where your “success” means the failure or deprivation of someone else. In the dropout universe, your freedom feeds the freedom of others — it’s as if we’ve all been tied up, and the most agile and loosely tied people get out first, and then help the rest.
It was hard to choose the right part to quote, but that passage says a lot. It is as if we’ve all been tied up, and in most cases, I think we tie ourselves up thinking we need what we do, when we truly don’t. Alas, he sums it all up very nicely in the last paragraph.
If you do read it, don’t miss the criticisms page too!