Neither to Rule or be Ruled: Adventures in Intentional Living: Creating a positive imbalance

Sunday, March 22, 2009

Creating a positive imbalance

Ideally I live for balance in the sense that I wish to do no harm, and avoid harm by trying to cause as little impact as possible. My last post is not sitting well with me, not because it is wrong, but because of the unfortunate circumstance of dealing with unfortunate issues and individuals.

But as I stepped outside to relax, and appreciate the life which is all around us while the politicos are trying to keep us down, I noticed the large oak next to the big house.. it must be between 150 and 200 years old, if not older.. (I suspect much older!)

How is this relevant? Well it made me think of a few timbers I have harvested for my own home. I know that I have two timbers which started their lives at least 125 years ago, probably more since I harvested these timbers long after they died..

Still, how does this relate.. well I know that given the methods I am using, this house should stand for more than a century with most likely no maintenance, and hopefully longer than that so that I can get at least the same usage out of these timbers as they enjoyed life.. While I "owe"nothing back to these trees in that I have not harvested live trees, still if I can make them last, that is be useful and live again essentially, for another two centuries., can you imagine how friendly this is to our neighbors, our utilities (though I am on none) and our planet this is?

Compare this to your own ranch style home or the McMansion.. these are built for maybe 30 years if you are lucky and that with constant maintenance.. these waste energy, waste effort, and provide little comfort in comparison.

So the balance I am seeking to find for myself here and perhaps as an example for others, is to live a life without coercion, a life in which I do not make others provide for me, or take advantage of any theft from others. I seek to create what power I need myself, or through voluntary association, with little or no harm to anything else, and most likely with an abundance of power created by solar, wind and personal energy..

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Quotes of Relevance:

"Whenever a man casts a longing eye on (political) offices, a rottenness begins in his conduct"

--- Thomas Jefferson

"Anarchism is founded on the observation that since few men are wise enough to rule themselves, even fewer are wise enough to rule others."

— Edward Abbey

"How to Overthrow the System: brew your own beer; kick in your Tee Vee; kill your own beef; build your own cabin and piss off the front porch whenever you bloody well feel like it."
— Edward Abbey

"I heartily accept the motto, "That government is best which governs least"; and I should like to see it acted up to more rapidly and systematically. Carried out, it finally amounts to this, which also I believe — "That government is best which governs not at all"; and when men are prepared for it, that will be the kind of government which they will have. "
— Henry David Thoreau (Civil Disobedience)

"If the injustice is part of the necessary friction of the machine of government, let it go, let it go: perchance it will wear smooth--certainly the machine will wear out… but if it is of such a nature that it requires you to be the agent of injustice to another, then I say, break the law. Let your life be a counter-friction to stop the machine. What I have to do is to see, at any rate, that I do not lend myself to the wrong which I condemn."
— Henry David Thoreau

"A man may be very industrious, and yet not spend his time well. There is no more fatal blunderer than he who consumes the greater part of life getting his living."
— Henry David Thoreau