As
we enter into the new millennium, the dreams of a fading era carry us all
to an uncertain destination. The
modern age has in no way resolved the human crisis, which is not
significantly different except in terms of scale and severity, than the
tragedies found within the last 5000 years.
Our desires have not culminated in any glorious finale as imagined
by futurists and philosophers. Instead
the same issues of corruption and destruction as in any past century,
continue to be played out on the stage of historical unrest.
Today we pause in hesitation, racked by an inner doubt as to the
appropriateness of a society gone mad.
We pause because we are torn by the partial realization of the
modern reality, like the breath held at the scene of an impending
disaster.
Within the dreams and aspirations of the collective subconscious,
clarity, good will and love carry us forward into an enlightened world
society. With some part of
our being we all seek peace, prosperity and universal benefit for all
beings, knowing that the good of all is also the good of the individual.
Yet at the same time the daily routine propels us like a sniper’s
bullet, into a nightmare given form by waste and greed.
Within this dark place the dollar is worshipped as God and all
other things are dismissed as irrelevant. The human being, like the rest
of nature, has become a “resource” to be used up and thrown away, like
any other disposable commodity. Now, the definition of “person” reads more like that of a
replaceable machine part than as an intelligent, spiritual entity.
The decadence of a materialistic society is burning itself out.
It is a fire that rages hot and dry, searing tender life to ashes
in the name of the Money-God. We
are thrown by our own momentum into international war, disease and self
suicide on a mass scale, while technology is misused to destroy a once
beautiful planet.
Both our brightest and darkest visions wrestle in subconscious
contest with one another, doing battle upon the ravaged fields of human
collective consciousness. Ours
is a perpetual war of inner civil unrest.
As nations fight over dwindling global resources, the average
individual finds discord between mind, body and spirit.
After examining a world re-made in our own image we despair.
The realist concludes that the mortal combat waged between nations,
is not so much a matter of guns and knives as it is with the inner foe of
careless ignorance and artificial values.
International war, like domestic violence, is not truly fought for
reasons economic or political. Our
malady is found within the mind itself, as the unnatural fixations of the
modern age do battle with the natural order which governs the Cosmos.
We are still undecided about the use of our own enormous power to
either destroy recklessly, or create with wisdom.
As the war of inner (in)decision continues on, each of us must
choose between an allegiance to the nightmare of consumerism, or the
vision of planetary love hastened to fruition through material
practicality. Every single
person who now lives must decide as to which of these two banners they
will rally behind, and which will represent a life’s investment of time,
energy, focus and daily routine. Within
each moment that passes the choice for the destruction or creation of a
promising new millennium is made anew.
More than any other single factor, how we live day to day will
literally determine for our childrens’ children the reality of continued
life, or an agonizing death. Our
choices must not be made lightly but with the full knowledge that the
continued existence of all Earthly life is conditional. So is human
life by the same token. We
are not immune through some Divine right or special consideration, from
the devastating effects of misused technology or short sighted governmental
policy. If society does not
finally recognize that the conditions which make life possible are more
important than the making of an immediate profit, then it, like every
other failed experiment of evolution, is doomed to extinction.
We shall see if Homo Sapiens is truly wise enough to live up to its
own self-given namesake, in realizing that natural and spiritual laws are
higher than those imposed by any court or government.
To survive past centuries of human folly, it is necessary for the
individual and the community to return to natural ways with a diligence
born of spiritual dedication. This
implies replacing human-made spiritual concepts with those which were
already in place countless eons before the first single cell on Earth.
Our dedication to natural ways and natural laws, represents
adherence to a spiritual path more ancient by far than any religious
concept, and yet one that remains eternally present.
The native peoples of the world have all known of this Path, just
as the ancestors of European descent once knew it.
Only through simplicity, practicality and a continued sensitivity
to nature can we return our own bodies to health, our minds to intelligent
function and our spirits to bliss. To
evolve and fulfill true human potentials, we must reject the foolish
suppositions and faulty methods of consumerist materialism, to again
embrace the wisdom of our ancient ancestors. At stake is the survival of
our species, our sanity, our health and the fulfillment of the innermost
dreams of every human being.
Unlike the vast majority of modern literature, the Survivalists’
Guide for the New Millennium does not pull any punches with regard to
the human condition. It makes
no excuses for our planetary and social problems, and instead faces them
squarely with the blunt straightforwardness of realism.
This is a book for
those who are unsatisfied with a media filled with misinformation, as well
as bookstores lined with mediocrity and placating pop psychology, designed
only to cater to the publics’ comfort zone.
The Survivalists’ Guide gets down to the business at hand, by
spelling out our current crisis as a materialistic culture.
In short, it demonstrates through graphic example and undeniable
logic how we are destroying ourselves, each other and the Earth.
We remain destructive because of deep-seated, cultural
misconceptions regarding the purpose of life.
Today we believe that our existence is about making money, of
scaling mountainous profit margins and acquiring social status.
Our children are raised to believe that their happiness lies
primarily in the ability to buy more flashy material objects than the
neighbors. Thus the ability
to earn as much money as possible in the shortest period of time, at the
cost of health and sanity, is considered acceptable if not admirable.
These things our children are taught to do to an excess without
limit, as a measure of “success”, solely for the purpose of egotism
and self indulgence. We call
this indulgence without limits, “consumerism.”
Translated literally this terms means simply, “a state of being
which consumes”, or in other words, which devours everything in sight
including our fellow human beings and the whole of planet Earth.
The Survivalists’ Guide deeply examines our otherwise
unquestioned values as a society. Without
doubt, these are shown to be lacking to the point of self and mutual
suicide. The Guide recommends
a return en masse and individually to the basic and ancient values of
natural living. It
demonstrates through metaphor and well considered thought, the reasons why
we must return to nature as a
spiritual lifestyle and ultimate remedy for modern ills.
To this end the Survivalists’ Guide for the New Millennium
advocates a fundamental change of lifestyle, from a material orientation
to one that is based upon spiritual and natural laws.
To accomplish that purpose the book explores:
1)
The basic
principles of natural law and how they may be followed in daily life.
2)
How to
live in a way that is simple, practical, efficient, truthful, sanely
prioritized and progressive.
3) The material measures needed for a successful return to
natural living.
a) Avoiding
credit and getting out of debt.
b) Getting
rid of the extravagant house, car and other impractical possessions.
c) Working to
live rather than living to work.
d) Living in
a van or RV as a lifestyle.
4) A
reconnection to nature
a) Extended
excursions into national forests and other natural areas.
5) Communing
with nature
a)
Backpacking and tent living.
b)
Spiritual
revelation through natural purification.
a)
Finding a greater
understanding of God, nature and the self, (as composed of a common,
universal medium, sometimes referred to as “consciousness”).
