A lot of great observations here, especially the parts about the cabin being a metaphor and the recognition that we have some control to essentially simulate that which we desire most out of the cabin in the woods, right where we are.
Thoreau has had an outsized role in my life, and I've written a fair amount about it (we even named our son Walden) along with Jon Krakauer's 'Into the Wild.' The desire to escape modernity is something I've reflected on a lot over the years and is interestingly always changing in my mind as I age. As I now see it, I think it has something to do with our innate desire for novelty and autonomy, but I think there's also something paradoxical here: Even if we could all escape to our imagined versions of the cabin in the woods, we'd perhaps find that the honeymoon phase might also soon fade, and we'd begin imagining another novel experience, one where we are trying to once again obtain our autonomy.
My grouof sparrows at my condo have brought a bit out of the woods to me every day and a sense of Creation and consistency! And over 5 years have bcome like 50 little children! that feeling was left in the woods for many!!
The desire to escape to the woods may not be a desire to escape pressure, but to exchange one distribution of pressures for another. Modern life has reduced many direct pressures from hunger, cold, predation, and the natural environment, while intensifying another set of constant inputs: competition, evaluation, relationships, work demands, information, and uncertainty. The woods do not eliminate pressure; they reduce some pressures while reintroducing others around resources and the environment. What people may want to escape is not modern life itself, but a structure of pressure that is too dense, too continuous, and increasingly difficult to exit.
Ahh, yes, the return to simplicity. As I read this on my large screen, I enjoy my coffee on a padded chair in a room kept at a comfortable temperature. Does this comfort make it easier to dream, or is it just another longing, and something else to have?
I certainly relate. I found a lot of relief in an 8 day silent retreat at a Benedictine monastery. Sometimes I tend to think in extremes: I either live in the city or want to be away from everything and everyone. But even a weekend in silence can do wonders.
Ooof I've had this same fantasy for years! I always envision myself in a cabin in upstate New York or living off the land in rural New Mexico. Completely agreed that we can cultivate this ourselves, it just feels so much easier dreaming about it in a new place off-grid.
Have you considered volunteering or working in communities where this simplicity you crave is the way of life?
A lot of great observations here, especially the parts about the cabin being a metaphor and the recognition that we have some control to essentially simulate that which we desire most out of the cabin in the woods, right where we are.
Thoreau has had an outsized role in my life, and I've written a fair amount about it (we even named our son Walden) along with Jon Krakauer's 'Into the Wild.' The desire to escape modernity is something I've reflected on a lot over the years and is interestingly always changing in my mind as I age. As I now see it, I think it has something to do with our innate desire for novelty and autonomy, but I think there's also something paradoxical here: Even if we could all escape to our imagined versions of the cabin in the woods, we'd perhaps find that the honeymoon phase might also soon fade, and we'd begin imagining another novel experience, one where we are trying to once again obtain our autonomy.
https://thosewhowander.substack.com/p/on-youth-and-longing-to-escape-modernity-337
My grouof sparrows at my condo have brought a bit out of the woods to me every day and a sense of Creation and consistency! And over 5 years have bcome like 50 little children! that feeling was left in the woods for many!!
The desire to escape to the woods may not be a desire to escape pressure, but to exchange one distribution of pressures for another. Modern life has reduced many direct pressures from hunger, cold, predation, and the natural environment, while intensifying another set of constant inputs: competition, evaluation, relationships, work demands, information, and uncertainty. The woods do not eliminate pressure; they reduce some pressures while reintroducing others around resources and the environment. What people may want to escape is not modern life itself, but a structure of pressure that is too dense, too continuous, and increasingly difficult to exit.
Ahh, yes, the return to simplicity. As I read this on my large screen, I enjoy my coffee on a padded chair in a room kept at a comfortable temperature. Does this comfort make it easier to dream, or is it just another longing, and something else to have?
I certainly relate. I found a lot of relief in an 8 day silent retreat at a Benedictine monastery. Sometimes I tend to think in extremes: I either live in the city or want to be away from everything and everyone. But even a weekend in silence can do wonders.
Ooof I've had this same fantasy for years! I always envision myself in a cabin in upstate New York or living off the land in rural New Mexico. Completely agreed that we can cultivate this ourselves, it just feels so much easier dreaming about it in a new place off-grid.
Ah, I feel this so much!