by Ray Jason
Perhaps you awaken in the midnight stillness and find
yourself lost in the labyrinth of an elusive but disturbing dream. As consciousness returns, you realize that it
is not a dream that is troubling you – it is the reality of your life. You suddenly realize that the modern world is
not providing you with joyous possibilities.
Instead, it is ensnaring you in a digital desert.
You recognize that your 1,243 Facebook
friends are actually 1,243 Falsebook strangers. And you are forced to acknowledge that you
hardly ever see your real friends - unless it is their image on a handheld
screen. You wonder why you feel so
isolated and alienated and ALONE - in a world that is supposed to be so
connected.
Even more disturbing is your awareness
that your future prospects seem just as bleak as your present condition. You are halfway through college, and your opportunities
seem to range between barely tolerable and grim. How will you repay those student loans on a
barista’s income? Indeed, your cynicism
has grown so pronounced, that you now refer to this trendy occupation as a
“serfista.”
One of your classmates mockingly
describes your university as an Institution of Higher Indoctrination. When you first heard him voice such blasphemy,
you were outraged. But now in your
sophomore year, it is starting to seem like an accurate description. The prophetic words of George Carlin ring
truer every day: “Schools are not designed to encourage critical thinkers - their
purpose is to produce obedient workers.”
At a stage of life when you should
be sorting things out, you are instead, floundering in confusion. All of the supposed bedrock institutions of
the status quo seem bankrupt and corrupt to the core. Politicians only care about the rich people
who donate to their campaigns. Religion
keeps claiming that it is a beacon of morality, when it is actually a catalyst
for repression and bloodshed. The
mainstream media has abandoned its duty to be a buffer against too much power
and is now an enabler of too much power.
The entertainment industry seems completely dedicated to distracting you
from any meaningful consideration of the state of the world.
Or to sum it all up: Nothing seems to be getting
better! And what makes it even more
disheartening, is that almost none of your peers seem to notice the depth of
this culture’s dysfunction. It is hard
for you to not feel like the proverbial stranger in a strange land.
*******
Having spent much of my youth in the
same nonconformist and almost outcast predicament, I feel genuine empathy for
you. And more importantly, I believe
that I can gift you with a bold suggestion that might bring joy and meaning
back into your life. My solution is
simple but radical. JUST SAIL AWAY FROM IT ALL!!!
Don’t waste money on a college
degree that will allow you to be the smartest worker at the take-out
window. Buy a good, solid ocean-worthy sailboat
that will sell for about one tenth of what a decent house would cost. Go out and spend a year learning a
tradesman’s skill like welding or refrigeration repair. I assure you that in the sea gypsy world a
diesel mechanic is far more appreciated than a hedge fund manager. While you are acquiring an actual trade that
is of value to someone, you can also master the basics of sailing and then
learn how to choose the right type of boat for your new contrary-to-ordinary
life. I have devoted an entire essay to
helping newcomers achieve this - which you can find here.
Now here are some of the wondrous aspects of
shifting to a sea gypsy approach to life:
·
IMMERSION IN
NATURE – The average person lives almost entirely in the human-built world of
cities, freeways, malls, and office cubicles.
It is an artificial maze of steel, concrete, glass and pulsing blue
screens. This separation from the
natural world is considered by many wise thinkers as one of the main reasons
for the enormous problems that plague our societies. For example: the mass shootings, the need for
prescription drugs to relax, sleep and enjoy sex, and the apathy in the face of
the accelerating decline of freedom and joy.
These are all symptoms of our severing ourselves from Mother Nature.
When living the cruising life you reconnect to the majesty and wonder of the natural world. There will be periods when your only companions are the creatures of the Sea and the Sky. You will learn anew that you are a human animal that is an integral part of the web of life and not a human being that is a master species ordained to rule over all the other life forms. It is both an uplifting and humbling lesson.
·
SELF-RELIANCE – A
major characteristic of the switch from nomadic tribal living to sedentary
civilization was the steady erosion of personal independence. All the members of a hunter-gatherer group
could fend for themselves with equal efficiency. Everyone could forage, build a fire, skin an
animal, etc. But Agriculture brought “division
of labor” meaning that the basket weaver was dependent on the farmer who was
dependent on the plow maker. And they
were all under the thumbs of the rulers and the priests.
An ocean sailor is forced to regain self-sufficiency. Out on the Wide Waters there are no repair shops to pull into. You have to complete the repairs yourself. You learn to sew patches on your sails, maintain the diesel engine and navigate the old-fashioned way if your GPS goes down. This “re-skilling” is tremendously empowering in an age when experts seem to be the only people who can fix things.
·
ASTONISHING
FREEDOM – How sublime is it to be able to hoist your anchor and sail off to
someplace else if you desire to do so?
Imagine not contributing a penny in taxes to a government that will use
much of that money to bomb innocent women and children. How exquisite is it to sail thousands of
miles just relying on the wind and the ocean currents. And if you decide to raise a family while
enjoying the sea gypsy life, you can home school them and protect them from
educational systems that strive to regiment them and stifle their creativity
and individuality. And because an ocean
wanderer embraces many of the “old ways” you are not contributing to the
mindless frenzy of the supposed “real world.”
You are turning your back on reality TV and Artificial Intelligence and
the suffocating surveillance web.
·
YOU ARE EMERGENCY
READY – Most people believe that Humanity will just continue to muddle along
with the quality of life gradually declining.
But there is considerable evidence that suggests that catastrophic
events could be lurking out there beyond the horizon. If a mass societal unraveling should occur,
an ocean-ready sailboat is the ideal escape pod. Because we can make our own water and carry
large stashes of food and generate electricity through solar and wind, we are extremely
collapse resilient. Plus, we are much
less likely to have to deal with marauders on the open sea. I have devoted a few essays to this
topic. The best one to begin with can be found here.
*******
And now let me return to that
initial dream that inspired your reassessment of your Life Path. My wish is that you will consider the sea
gypsy life as a better choice than the monotony and drudgery and conformity
that so dominates the modern world. I
further hope that one day soon you too will be sailing the Wide Waters. And perhaps you will again awaken in the
midnight stillness. However, this time
you will be dreaming of dolphins rubbing against your little ship. But then you will suddenly realize that it is
not a dream. And while laughing with
delight, you will head to the bow to greet these amazing kindergarteners of the
sea.