Comfort in a Post-Modern Age

I have been trying to find a way to express my feeling on this subject, and I was re-reading "One Man's Wilderness." If anyone understood living a happy, comfortable life without all the modern day fuss, I'd say it was Mr. Proenneke. My feelings were stated so perfectly that I just quoted it. I'm still working towards de-cluttering and getting back to basics, so find it inspiring.

"Needs? I guess that is what bothers so many folks. They keep expanding their needs until they are dependent on too many things and too many other people. I don't understand economics, and I suppose the country would be in a mess if people suddenly cut out a lot of things they don't need. I wonder how many things in the average American home could be eliminated if the question were asked, "Must I really have this?" I guess most of the extras are chalked up to comfort or saving time.

Funny thing about comfort - one man's comfort is another man's misery. Most people don't work hard enough physically anymore and comfort is not easy to find. It is surprising how comfortable a hard bunk can be after you come down off a mountain.

I've seen grown men pick at food. They can't be hungry in the first place. Or maybe their food has been too fancy and with all the choices they've had, they don't really know what they enjoy anymore."

The same here Chalk Creek. As soon as the son, dil, and 2 grands move into their own apartment I will declutter like a mad woman. Now this is not to say that I don't love them but 5 1/2 years is enough. I hate knickknacks and things that have very little functional use or true aesthetic beauty. I want a simple life, an uncluttered home and few luxuries. I want to live a quiet, peaceful life.
The quote from the book is oh so true. I love getting my hands in the soil, planting seeds and harvesting the food I have grown. All 6 of my siblings hATE, any type of physical labor and see it as somehting to be feared, dreaded and avoided at any cost.

cool! look forward to a full report and pics!

another person that saw the shackles of "comfort" and "luxury" was thoreau. i recall reading thoreau's walden about college age, and finding it one of the most profound books i'd read. you can find walden and some of his other works here:
http://thoreau.eserver.org/

--sgl

We carry our drinking water in stainless milk pails from the spring.
We carry our bathing and cleaning water in from rain catchment tanks just outside.
We heat our home and water with wood.
We do our laundry outside, with a wood fired outdoor water heater, and an old Maytag wringer washer--and dry on a clothesline, year 'round.
We grow and preserve our own food.

Comfort, to me, is a deep hot bath in the dead of winter.
Comfort is having clean clothes to wear.
Comfort is clean sheets, clean wool blankets, and a well worn out body resting until the next morning.
Comfort is quality food to see me through the next day, and cool, fresh water to drink.

Everything else is chaff.

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“I would remind you that extremism in the defense of liberty is no vice! And let me remind you also that moderation in the pursuit of justice is no virtue.” Barry Goldwater.
III

Like most things there is a balance to be found. The Spartans went to one extreme to harden themselves. Some folks boast on how simply or Spartan they live. Others relish in their luxuries.

Paul had it right:

Philippians 4:10-12 (King James Version)

10But I rejoiced in the Lord greatly, that now at the last your care of me hath flourished again; wherein ye were also careful, but ye lacked opportunity.

11Not that I speak in respect of want: for I have learned, in whatsoever state I am, therewith to be content.

12I know both how to be abased, and I know how to abound: every where and in all things I am instructed both to be full and to be hungry, both to abound and to suffer need.

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I read that again last year, I like it.

I'm giving up nothing... all the comforts I enjoy now, I'll enjoy post teotwawki... may not enjoy my large tv and fancy computer monitor as much, but I'll still enjoy em 'some'!

Shy of zombies roaming the street, I'm giving up nothing!

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Luck is what happens when preparation meets opportunity. Seneca
Learning is not compulsory... neither is survival. W. Edwards Deming

I'll get all my comforts once TEOTWAWKI hits. Until then, it's day to day living in the modern world.

There is a difference between "living" and "existing". I prefer to "live". Why bother staying alive if life is miserable? I prep so I will be able to live in comfort.

The level of comfort my change from a house to a tent, but even a tent can be comfortable with planning and work. A caveman could have woven cloth, sewed it into a comforter, and stuffed it with cotton for warmth and comfort IF he'd had the knowledge to do so.

Comfort is something we can make ourselves. It doesn't have to be purchased. Commercials on TV are used to manipulate people into thinking they have to buy comfort. They work hard to convince us that we "must" have what they are selling in order to be happy and comfortable. It's a lie that many fall for... that's why we are now a debt nation.

Which leads me to the observation that happiness can't be bought. People think they are buying things that make them happy and comfortable. They soon tire of whatever "gadget" they purchased, then move on to spend money on whatever the next commercial tells them they will now want. Not a good way to find happiness at all.

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Spinner you are SO RIGHT!

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"Live your life, and forget your age." Norman Vincent Peale

:lock1: I still prep, both for short term emergencies and for my kids. When I first found out about my deteriorating health, I threw myself a pity party for a week or two - but that got real boring. So, like everyone else, I live a day a day at a time - and like everyone here, I prep!

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Marvelous Madame
Be kind to others. You do not know what burdens they are carrying.

To give their families incentive for cannibalism?

If I'm going to resort to cannibalism, it's not going to be a menopausal grandmother. Got anything fresher?

That is what folks would refer as a stewin' hen

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http://www.xanga.com/shackman A blog about whatever

Adolescents?

If this thread was a jet fighter, I'd be pulling the bailout handle right about now and hoping my chute opened.

Better hope you don't land in Texican's field. You might end up in his freezer.

Okay. I'll play nice and be serious too. I like my creature comforts. The older I get, the more I like them. In fact, I like them so much, they'll have to be pried from my cold dead hands.

I like our clean burning, energy efficient natural gas furnace and water heater. I like a car with ample space to get to town and fit a month's worth of shopping in the trunk. Running water, filtered drinking water, grocery stores, and all the other modern conveniences.

If it ever looks like things will deteriorate in this country so far we wouldn't have them and civil war could break out at any moment, we would leave, take our kids and set up somewhere with a stable functioning society. Because in the end, the name of the game is survival. And a stable, functioning society is the most guaranteed way of ensuring your kids and grandkids can carry on with their lives in relative peace.

I despise fighting and violence. Maybe I'm a softy, but I'd prefer to flee than try to tough it out under those circumstances. I love my family too much to think of putting them in harms' way for the sake of fighting a heroes fight in which nobody wears a team color and everyone is a potential enemy. Life is too short and precious to waste on anxiety, fear and rage.

Just my .02.

Related to stuff. I have passed over the line where I no longer own things, but they own me. I have to clean them, repair them, charge them, replace the batteries, find them under other things, etc, etc etc.

Thus I am in the mode of reducing my piles of stuff. Looking forward to having several yard sales. Of course that takes time too..... Even getting rid of them, they own my time until they are gone.

Sigh...........................

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We will meet in the golden city, called the New Jerusalem,
All our pain and all our tears will be no more.....

I was there two weeks ago ... took a camera, and didn't take a single snapshot ... but some of my friends (that I met there) did.

I'll be making a new thread on it, and posting some links to blogs and photos of the visit.

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I LOVE DONUT BALLS

i dont like to think tooo much before i speak ... heehee ... i like to be just as surprised as you are.