A Brief Confession

This article is from Emergency: This Book Will Save Your Life, recently published by Harpers.

I 've begun to look at the world through apocalypse eyes.
It usually begins in airports. That's when I get the first portent of doom. I imagine explosions, sirens, walls blown apart, bodies ripped from life.

Then, as I gaze out of the taxi window after arriving in a new
city, I see people bustling around on their daily routine, endless rows of office buildings and tenements teeming with activity, thousands of automobiles rushing somewhere important. And it all seems so solid, so permanent, so unmovable, so absolutely necessary.

But all it would take is one war, one riot, one dirty bomb, one natural disaster, one marauding army, one economic catastrophe, one vial containing one virus to bring it all smashing down. We've seen it happen in Hiroshima. In Dresden. In Bosnia. In Rwanda. In Baghdad. In Halabja. In New Orleans.

Our society, which seems so sturdily built out of concrete and custom, is just a temporary resting place, a hotel our civilization checked into a couple hundred years ago and must one day check out of. It's an inevitability tourists can't help but realize when visiting Mayan ruins, Egyptian ruins, Roman ruins. How long will it be before someone is visiting American ruins?

That's how the world looks through apocalypse eyes. You start filling in the blanks between a thriving city and a devastated one. You imagine how it could happen, what it would look like, and whether you and the people you love could escape.

Of course I don't want it to happen. Hopefully, it will never happen. but for the first time in my life, I feel there's a possibility it will. And that's enough to motivate me. To motivate me to save myself and my loved ones while there's still time.

I don't want to be hiding in cellars, fighting old women for a
scrap of bread, taking forced marches at gunpoint, dying of cholera in refugee camps, or anything else I've read about in history books. I want to be writing those history books on a beach far away from the mess that self-serving politicians, crooked CEOs, and committed madmen are making of the Western world.

I want to be the one who gets away. The winner of the survival lottery.

I didn't always think like this. But then again, I was naive. I
belong to the American generation that believed it was beyond history. Until this millennium, nothing bad had happened to us like it had to every generation before. Those who came of age in the first twenty years of the century had World War I. The next twenty years were marked by the Great Depression. The following twenty years began with World War II. The next generation inherited Vietnam.

And then, from 1980 to the close of the century -- nothing. Or at least no war, no national catastrophe, no defining event powerful enough to pull us outside our self-centered, solipsistic world, outside our preoccupation with ourselves and our financial and emotional well-being, outside our comfort zone.

Of course, society wasn't perfect, but to many Americans, it
felt like we were just a cure for AIDS, a solution to the drug problem, and an effective campaign against urban gang violence away from getting as close as possible.

But then, swiftly and without warning, it happened.

History happened to us.

Terrorist attacks. Domestic crackdowns. Flooded cities. Bank failures. Economic collapse.

I can't tell you the exact date along the way I lost faith in the system, because for me there were five of them. And over the course of this gradual awakening -- which perhaps coincidentally, perhaps not, covered the span of the Bush administration -- I decided to equip myself with the tools necessary to survive whatever politics and history threw at me next.

Preparing myself for hard times has been an incredibly challenging task, because some people were born tough. I wasn't. My parents live on the forty-second floor of a seventy-two-story building in Chicago. They didn't camp, hunt, farm, cook, or even fix things themselves.

As for learning skills after leaving home, I spent most of my adult life as a music writer for the New York Times, so I could tell you anything you wanted to know about rock and hip-hop, but nothing about growing food or building fires or defending yourself. In fact, I'd never even been in a fight in my life, though I had been mugged twice.

In short, if the system ever did break down, the only useful
skill I really had was the ability to write about it. Perhaps, at best, I could talk someone with practical knowledge into helping me out. Or maybe they'd just mug me.

But that wouldn't happen anymore. Today I can draw a holstered pistol in 1.5 seconds, aim at a target seven yards away, and shoot it twice in the heart. I can start a fire by rubbing two pieces of wood together. I can identify seven hundred types of footprints when tracking animals and humans. I can survive in the wild with nothing but a knife and the clothes on my back. I can find water in the desert, extract drinkable fluids from the ocean, deliver a baby, fly a plane, pick locks, hot-wire cars, build homes, set traps, evade bounty hunters, suture a bullet wound, kill a man with my bare hands, and escape across the border with documents identifying me as the citizen of a small island republic.

When the shit hits the fan, you're going to want to find me.
And you'll want to be doing whatever I'm doing. Because I've learned from the best.

You can call me crazy if you want.

Tags:

Comments

Not crazy

Submitted by Anteros on Fri, 03/27/2009 - 16:42.

Back in the 80s I once heard a brilliant young physicist remark "Survivalists may well have the last laugh." Then he had a chuckle over that himself. If he could say that then, I certainly don't believe you're crazy to think it now.

That said, I hope your freshly acquired skills won't come in quite so handy as you're prepared to make them. It's all very well if you're relatively young and strong and prepared for the event to talk about survival. But I'm pushing fifty, and I'm not some tough outdoorsman survivor dude, nor prepared in any way. If the shit the fan right now I would be deep in it, as I suspect would a lot of people.

Crazy

Submitted by -mohseyep- on Fri, 03/27/2009 - 18:19.

I want to, so I'm going to do it: you are crazy. To my mind, survivalism is the last refuge of fear-motivated living. Its anti-life, and profoundly egotistical. Why not allow for the bread line? It might just be the adventure your spirit needs to break free of fear, and put down that fast-action pistol for good. Frankly, I'm a little surprised that your article made it onto RS.

I know I'm in love with you.

mohseyep.wordpress.com

Totes

Submitted by bennyvonskinny on Sat, 03/28/2009 - 14:15.

I agree. This only spreads the fear and draws the feared outcome near. This article is de-evolution. It provides no solution, just a desperate escape in this time of pollution.

You might be able to eat the inner bark of pine trees...

Submitted by Jedi Mind Traveler on Fri, 03/27/2009 - 18:29.

But can you work with other people and create the most peaceful, beautiful, garden of Eden paradise, on a chunk of rock spinning at 18 miles per second through empty space?

called for . . . or maybe not

Submitted by RogerscottQ on Fri, 03/27/2009 - 18:44.

A spectrum of thoughts is required, no? for any 'freedom of choice'?

Or not?

This isn't something, like, new.

What is the Boy Scout's motto?

I don't know, but, think if people can publish anything anywhere! bully for them.

It was on an impulse with the idea uppermost of the idea: 'the razor's edge' and some talk between Pinchbeck and Strieber about 'doomsdayers' that this child even looked at this web-site in the first place.

So, then, break it down or analyse it a little more fully and digest it and then present the antithesis or better idea right here and now!

I don't know. I think I can actually see a pretty good sense of humor in this piece. BLIS: not certain that was intended. I think it was.

---------

I like fishing as much as the next guy. Prana's better and evidently much harder to catch.<

maybe not

Submitted by Michael Matejka on Fri, 03/27/2009 - 19:03.

I can't say I think you're off the deep end, and the future you project certainly seems within the realm of possibility, but I don't understand the goal of survivalism. I don't want to simply tell you to think positive (though I think you should)--I want an insight into what drives you. What would give you the strength to attempt survival? I mean, if everything you fear comes true, it still seems to me that your preparation won't secure you a life any better than those inside the concentration camps, or any of the other dystopic possibilities.

In the spirit of Camus, in the world you are preparing for, why wouldn't you commit suicide? From my perspective, it seems like you are preparing yourself for a miserable existence in which you will have no hope for any possible improvement. I suppose there is something romantic in the idea of being the last free human being, but it's not a life I'd want to live.

I'm asking sincerely: what would you live for?

I have no answer to this question. Given the choice, I would reject a long life in the outlying wastelands and accept the gas chamber. Of course, I am single, and I can understand wanting to live if you at least have the company of your family. But I imagine having a family significantly reduces the feasibility of survival.

I'm groping here to understand why you would even bother to prepare for the worst case. Maybe there's something you see that I don't, and if you tell me, I'll start getting myself in line too.

I do have to say that your list of skills at the end of this essay is quite impressive, though a few of them I hope never to learn. But anyone who can find water in a desert and deliver a baby gets my respect.

A human being should be able to

Submitted by Lygeia on Fri, 03/27/2009 - 20:27.

"A human being should be able to change a diaper, plan an invasion, butcher a hog, conn a ship, design a building, write a sonnet, balance accounts, build a wall, set a bone, comfort the dying, take orders, give orders, cooperate, act alone, solve equations, analyze a new problem, pitch manure, program a computer, cook a tasty meal, fight efficiently, die gallantly. Specialization is for insects." - Robert Heinlein

Lygeia

Submitted by terseword on Sun, 03/29/2009 - 20:58.

I love the story that is your namesake. I have read this line of Heinlein's before, and I must say I love it. Reading some of the first comments gives me pause, as I have long put practicable knowledge above all other virtues. Though I too want to help co-create a peaceable kingdom with fellow lovers of life, I have also been in 'the shit' a couple times in my life. As rogerscott (with whom I often disagree) said, Be Prepared is a damn good maxim to keep.

If a man believes and expects great things of himself, it makes no odds where you put him, or what you show him ... he will be surrounded by grandeur. -Henry David Thoreau

Interesting

Submitted by katsmeow on Fri, 03/27/2009 - 20:40.

I appreciate your piece, Mr. Strauss. I appreciate it for alot of reasons. One, it appears genuine. Two, it assumes more than a fair share of humbleness. Three, it does not assume, as many do, that all good things come in pretty packages.

I think we struggle most of our lives between what we know of ourselves and what we would like to improve. Thinking and living on a grander scale takes dedication and passion. Sharing that larger "scale" takes guts and a calling. I admire it. Walk the talk.

Healing of a world resembles each one journeying into the quicksand of life. It is greatly discouraged and wholly discounted, and there is nothing pretty about it. So, as far as "mass appeal"...pretty low on the totem pole. Love, is on the other side, but it is not, necessarily, the path. It is the reward. IMO.

who needs a knife

Submitted by Brother Frank on Fri, 03/27/2009 - 22:30.

We are so removed from our environment that we even frame this type of natural living as survival. Why the struggle? To be able to provide for our own well being from the great bounty around us, with ease and, dare I say grace, is knowing our connection with the world we call home, Years ago I worked with some of the biggest, badass teens from NYC, a real tough bunch. When I would take these kids into the woods most of them were truly terrified; mice, insects, going off trail were all things that brought out panic and anxiety. With a few very basic primitive wilderness living skills, taught within a few hours, these kids opened up in a deep and powerful way. To be able to provide for our well being from this very abundant planet which we call home is not difficult. A pile of leaves can keep us comfortable in freezing conditions, a plastic bag tied around an evergreen branch gives us water, friction fire can be made by a child, and animals and plants live in the densest of cities. A few good books or weekend courses offer us this connection. And knowing that we can still appreciate abeautiful sprout, even if the world is burning all around us, is truly the force of life.

Disappointed. . .

Submitted by rr on Fri, 03/27/2009 - 23:27.

. . . to see this kind of unimaginative, pseudo-right-wing crap on RS. Very disappointed. Might as well give ol' Alex Jones a column too. Oh, and a quick note to the "pickup artist": history will not absolve you, sir. This isn't a situation where you can shoot your way out and go. . . but I wish you luck nonetheless.

A Brief Response

Submitted by Neil Strauss on Sat, 03/28/2009 - 02:15.

A book is a journey. It begins at one point, and the character takes an arc and usually (hopefully) comes to some sort of realization and enlightenment at the end. From reading the comments, I urge you to keep in mind that this is excerpted from the introduction to a book. If you care to read it, you'll see that the conclusion - after three years immersed in everything from survivalism to permaculture to PT and other subcultures - is very different than the introduction. And probably more in line with the comments you're making. Especially, ironically, the more venomous ones. That said, it was really interesting to read your comments, thoughts, and discussion.

Fun with Rumi

Submitted by katsmeow on Sat, 03/28/2009 - 02:23.

“Sell your cleverness and buy bewilderment.”

The fight is now, the fight is not later.

Submitted by the music on Sat, 03/28/2009 - 06:59.

Oh I get it, it was an introduction to a book! In retrospect, it turned into a great exercise for me personally. I thought every comment written in response to the actual text provided was profound. I found them to be filled with compassion and love and did not detect the "venomous" overtones referred to sans a little cosmic humor. As humans, I think we all feel and plan a little bit for worst case scenarios regarding the supposed end times in our spare time. The fact that you have taken it to the extremes you outlined is a personal decision and it may just be one that makes you get by. I am sure it has been healthy and fulfilling for you to experience it, and I am happy for you in finding yourself. There is no fault in any of the skills you have learned and no fault in any way anyone chooses to prepare for the upcoming age change. For many, I would have to imagine that the words regarding killing just don't come out right no matter what the circumstances you are trying to justify. I think the thing that is itching at some people is that they know there is not all this to "worry" about because there is an inner faith that exists. A faith that has nothing to do with religion, but only with spirit. What if you focused your mind to imagine that all the idiots in the world that surround you at the airports were not being maimed, but rather being shown the true nature of existence? My point is, the brain is the most powerful tool of survival we have. Like you have proven to yourself, the brain can be trained for survival on another plane; a plane that does not yet exist. I too am training myself for survival, but in a more lazy fashion. It is being formed faster and faster and faster every day that goes on until the upcoming shift. I think it takes extreme patience, especially given where we currently are. Are we close to the point where the majority of humans have become sentient? I don't think so. But it is progressing. There are transformations in evolution taking place right before our eyes. This is the kind of survival I seek, not the fear induced survival that only prolongs the inevitable. The fight is now, the fight is not later. The fight is for enlightenment of the mind. Maybe if you understood that this was all only a dream, you might lose the fight for your ultimate survival and feel the calling for non-violence. Maybe if you were able to let go of your current self, realize you have lived before and that this is only a part of an undying cycle (a cycle that that doesn't have the ability to stop) you would take all of your new-found talents and concentrate them on solutions that involve more people than just yourself. And Maybe, just maybe, you should post your cell phone number so I can call you when all hope is lost and I desperately need your help. Or maybe I'll be gone and dead. the music

Neil is not Crazy

Submitted by McNuggetz on Sat, 03/28/2009 - 07:51.

What's really crazy is that Neil is probably right. I believe that people will and do come together if and when SHTF but sadly only after it does hit the fan. I have this saying at work...You have to tell everybody, everything over again, every two weeks. That's just to keep the place from falling apart. Even when the word is put out over and over again, people still fuck up at work. Civilization, like my workplace, will always make the same mistakes over and over, you might go years without a mishap but eventually a mishap is going to happen. So civilizations rise and fall. History repeats itself. Shit happens. If your reading this comment and your thinking that Nuggetz is not saying anything that you don't already know, then yes you are right. It's just the same old stuff over and over again for the thousandth time. You'll probably hear it again in two weeks from someone else who heard it two weeks before. lol

The world has always been barbaric, you could argue that world has never really experienced civilization. I think that Neil is just sharing his acceptance of the ugly truth. The Kubler-Ross model has five stages...denial, anger, bargaining, depression, acceptance. The question is what stage are you experiencing now (concerning the economy, 2012 or whatever)? What stage are you stuck in? How do you want to go out? Neil has a plan to go down swinging, I can respect that plan. I plan to go down smoking and joking like a true dude.

Life first, kung fu afterwards

Submitted by Edutainment on Sat, 03/28/2009 - 11:31.

Unless of course we're in the midst of perpetual warfare, ontological or otherwise, as we are presently. When born into warfare the course of actions are predicated from the moment of birth. We learn to defend or naught.

When born in the midst of peace-fare, kung fu is still practiced, as not to be forgotten, however, perhaps a form along the lines of 'drunken monkey' emerges, rather than 'Tiger claw'.

Either or, It's all about where you place the emphasis, focus your intention, cast your spell, channel your energy, and what ever else you might fancy.

For now, I will: Kung fu first, Life after ward(ing off those intent to do harm to us).

I have to agree with

Submitted by cdcaleo on Sat, 03/28/2009 - 11:56.

I have to agree with lightinmyhands. I find it very interesting that most people posting actually have a problem with learning any and all skills necessary to protect yourself and your loved ones/community. To hope the UNIVERSE won't put you into situations where you won't have to use force or violence is hopelessly naive at best, and if you have a family to protect, it's dangerously deluded. I guess I grew up in different circumstances than most on RS, but knowing how to defend oneself wasn't an intellectual choice, it was a necessity. I've had my ass kicked before, and had weapons used against me, and the only reason I'm still here is because of skills I learned when I was young. That includes extended time spent in the so called "wild". I am all for community building and sharing and cooperation at all levels. But If TSHTF in our time, hoping the UNIVERSE is going to save you is CRAZY.

Be prepared, but not eager

Submitted by DavidCain on Sat, 03/28/2009 - 12:54.

Great read. There's definitely something to be said for getting in touch with the animal instincts we're going to need if/when the SHTF.

I'm hearing a lot of talk about global breakdown and survivalism these days, and to be honest, I think this enthusiasm might be what brings it on. A lot of people actually seem to LOVE the idea of worldwide chaos, so they can finally get a chance to play Tarzan or Charles Bronson. All of them seem to be dudes.

It's all understandable but I think it has less to do with practicality than with the romantic notions surrounding it. Fair enough, I understand the urge. We're still just cavemen wearing pressed slacks. But who am I to talk... I'm studying jiu jitsu and loving it. I can break your wrist and crush your testicles in 1.4 seconds.

Just give me a reason... *breaks brick over forehead*

http://www.raptitude.com -- The gentle art of sanity amidst civilization

The Survival Aesthetic

Submitted by Pippalayana on Sat, 03/28/2009 - 13:19.

One would think of a balance ... between fear-based "survive at the expense of all" mentality ... and Socrates ... "voluntariliy drinking hemlock"

Alot of these skills that are mentioned are common sense ... and intuive ... in our watered down version of cub scouts/Boy Scouts ... well we could use alot of these indigenous skills to free us up from co-dependance with more "Colonized dependencies.

Our survival "is" our free will in action ... yet co-operatrion with others {within the bounds of organic and indigenous "getting by" ... certainly makes ones endeavoring "truly humane" ...

Civilization for civilizations sake ... versus ... survival for survival's sake

Extremes will always be extremes ... necessary only in extreme conditions.. living to kill ... killing to live ... each man is always on his own to some degree in these regards.

In the wild the strongest or smartest of the species guides the others towards whatever level of perfection they can gain in the eevelopment of those skills.

Yet how is peaceful diplomacy not a "survival skill ... "lobbying" ... same thing ... "begging for mercy" ... "lying" ... etc etc

Or maybe do the Jeshua {Jesus} thing ... survive the soul by not involving the body in further Karmic action and reaction ... even in the name of singing the sweetest song{s} of Religious Salvation/Yogic Liberation/Shamanic Vision ...

Yet again ... "no sloth unpunished ... no skill unrewarded" ... nothing beyond it's karmic context however

Peace and War for Karma ... Peace and War for Dharma ... or try eating the Fruits off the "tree of life" ... transcendental to the birth and death of every "OM"

... surviving ... only for the duration of each manifest alpha & omega moment ... large and small ...

Live at expense ... die ever free ... the slogan of every lost partiot ..

Patriots of every lost cause

As the flower breaks through the soil, millions of microbial colonies experience genocide ... ... Lillies of the Field ... comitting mass terror ... to varying degrees only ... each unto oneself

What is needed now?

Submitted by zulumurphy on Sat, 03/28/2009 - 16:06.

I understand Neil's journey towards survivalism. The more technologicaly advanced we become as a society, the more distant and less connected we become with one another; the more people, the less patient we become with each other. Neil grew up in a densely populated city and building he called home for many years. Does Neil despise humans? No, he wants to share these seemingly excessive methods of survival with everyone. He is inviting everyone, when the time comes, to find him and join him; that is, if he hasn't mastered the art of camoflage. He is also very entertaining. I hope we aren't taking the apocalypse so seriously or personally that we cannot find amusement and value in Neil's work. Far too often we treat grounds, forums, buildings as sacred and when we do, we make them exclusive. RS is not a sanctuary or safe haven. RS is open so we may all channel our thoughts, feelings, even anxieties. Neil, nor anyone else should feel he has to apologize for what he writes here nor should he justify it. We know why we read RS. We love each other. It is not easy. It gets easier, but that does not mean it is ever easy. From the beginning of Neil's article to the last comment posted, I experienced a wide range of thoughts and feelings concerning survivalism. Well done Neil and well done everyone else for our candidness, frankness and well meaning. I hope we all remember times are always scary, hard, and apocalyptic. That never stopped many of us from taking vacations, making new friends, or tyring new things. It also has not inspired many of us to learn to shoot guns, kill people with our bare hands, and, well, it is a long list Neil. You have been busy.

Live and let live.

Submitted by Flying Carpet on Sat, 03/28/2009 - 16:23.

It's interesting how even after he brings us back to the fact that this is an introduction to a novel, for which we do not know the end, there is still toxic revulsion expressed towards his piece. It's almost as if that even as fiction, it is putrid. Perhaps we should forgive him? Perhaps it is a cry for help? Some kind of reverse psychology? A distorted suicide note? Or maybe admire him? He's voicing his shadow... No one has the time for this shit anymore man. Get a life. Or go learn how to tie a noose, and tie it around your neck after you sling the rope around a tree branch. In the end, critical mass will tip the scales, and you, my fellow being, will be in the minority. "There is no reality, except the one contained within us" - Herman Hesse

hmmm

Submitted by Marcus on Sun, 03/29/2009 - 00:45.

I like bodhimind's comment too. However, it may not be popular to admit it but, I think there is value in what the author is saying.

I don't comment here very often because I don't have much to add but also because I don't think much of what is discussed is very practical.

Like many of us here, the most peaceful and meaningful times of my life were catalyzed by a psychoactive substance. I've felt unending love from within myself and from the universe (and I'm a complete lightweight compared to most). It was great. It stopped me from killing myself.

What frustrates me about RS and some other communities is that they don't acknowledge (IMHO) that there are very real and tangible threats to our existence over the next turn. I think an evolution in conciousness would be great (even though I don't know exactly what that would mean) but what about all of the threats to the biosphere and to our well being?

Maybe I'm just not as sophisticated as others, but I think it's a difficult argument to say that we won't even encounter immediate and potentially violent situations, whatever destination we have in our future...

Sorry for the crudeness, but none of these psychedelic penis comparisons are going to make a lick of difference when Johnny 5ive is waiting at my door to take me and my fam to a "holding camp." How will I convince the storm troopers with assault rifles that we are "creating our own reality" and tell them about all of these groovy ideas about our "evolution to a new conciousness."

I like this article and I'd like to read the entire piece. I don't think the ability to draw a handgun fast will help anybody but putting flowers in their gun barrels won't fix it either.

I don't expect answers, but I felt like I should comment on this. I'm confused and concerned about the future but I'm not a survival nut. I've fired a gun once in my life (and one fistfight) and I'd like to keep it that way.

My basic point is: if some souless storm trooper is threating my life, my family's life or my dogs, I wouldn't hesitate for a minute to do what I could to stop it.

Anyone who says otherwise is fooling themselves or so far evolved that I want to stay where I'm at.

rhetoric

Submitted by Marcus on Sun, 03/29/2009 - 00:44.

"if we are merely digging in and preparing to survive this transition, again, what kind of world will come out of this? I think it's a failure of imagination if this crisis/opportunity is a wasted one, where the future mindset of man is no different from the one which has led us into this situation in the first place. "

This is a good example of what I'm talking about. This sounds good. This looks good. Chicks dig this stuff. But it doesn't mean anything. I think sometimes our perspectives are too broad.

You mention you live in Oakland. I've lived there too. I think it's awesome that you try to resolve conflicts without violence and you're right, it takes more of a man to do that than to raise his fists. good shit, for real.

However, talking your way out of a mugging will be a walk in the park compared to what I think we potentially face in this country. And I'd much rather "dig in my heels" and not give in than sit down and let people do unjust things to me or my fam.

I'm sorry if this is one of the "aggressive posts" you were referring to earlier Mr. Pinchbeck. I've made an attempt to express myself without being too confrontational. I hope it was somewhat successful.

Apologies

Submitted by rr on Sun, 03/29/2009 - 02:25.

Consider my previous comment retracted. I somehow missed that this is an excerpt (more specifically the beginning of a book!!!). That makes a HUGE difference. My bad.

Crazy? Yup...

Submitted by TaosJohn on Sun, 03/29/2009 - 03:16.

Those are great skills to have, and your book will probably sell a bunch, but if you believe in the inevitability of the Shit Hitting the Fan, then yes, you're certifiable.I don't believe in the system, either, but you actually do! :-) There's nothing the least bit enlightened in the survivalist stance. Say it all comes true and you're out there gnawing on bones, THEN what? (Happy now?) You'll have "survived," and to what end, exactly?Trapped in the old belief system, you are.www.farrfeed.com

I also agree with MOSDUFF. I

Submitted by cdcaleo on Sun, 03/29/2009 - 10:28.

I also agree with MOSDUFF. I have only posted here a few times because most of this community seems detached from practical reality. I am not a survivalist and I don't have a weapons fetish. I would love nothing more than to wake up on Dec.22nd,2012 and celebrate a mass awakening with the rest of humanity. But practically speaking I find it highly unlikely. I hate to break the news to the majority of the RS community, but %98 of the human population, at least in the U.S., does not think or feel about things the way you do. If they even know what 2012 is, they don't much care.You can hate/fear these folks, or love them, but they're not all going to disappear and make room for your utopian dreams. You think simply thinking about apocalyptic scenarios manifests them? Then I guess you don't know what happened after Katrina.And that is simply a tiny example of what happens when people far less "enlightened" than you have their back up against a wall. As I've said before, I will work over time to help build a sustainable community built on sharing and cooperation, but pretending social breakdown can't or won't occur because it might force you to react in ways you don't like is childish. As far as skill sets are concerned, I want as much info and as many skills as I can get to ease my journey and build security for my friends and family. I have found If I project love and understanding out to the world, I will usually get it back tenfold. I stress the world usually, because no matter how much I don't want to deal with negative people, they are here and they are not going to evaporate after a PHASE SHIFT IN CONSCIOUSNESS, whatever that is. I firmly believe in dreaming of a better Earth, but the only way to make your dreams come true is to WAKE up and deal with practical reality.

word

Submitted by Marcus on Sun, 03/29/2009 - 11:49.

"I hate to break the news to the majority of the RS community, but %98 of the human population, at least in the U.S., does not think or feel about things the way you do. If they even know what 2012 is, they don't much care.You can hate/fear these folks, or love them, but they're not all going to disappear and make room for your utopian dreams."

agreed.

Indeed

Submitted by Moontrap on Mon, 03/30/2009 - 16:35.

I was just thinking the same thing.

Binary Dogmas

Maybe I didn't make myself

Submitted by cdcaleo on Sun, 03/29/2009 - 22:55.

Maybe I didn't make myself clear, although I thought I did. I do not want nor do I absolutely expect a horrible apocalyptic scenario to unfold.I do not think the current government could pull off nationwide martial law for any extended period of time. I do not own a T.V., so my views don't come from watching junk on the boob tube. They arise from personal experience.I will repeat again :I will bust my ass building a community based on sharing and cooperation. I would love it if we all woke up one day and everyone wanted to hold hands and live in an egalitarian society.BUT, I will also prepare myself for the possibility that that isn't going to happen. It is not about living in a dystopian nightmare or focusing on it all day every day, at least not for me. It is about being practical and accumulating as many skills as possible. Our thoughts DO influence reality to a CERTAIN EXTENT, but they can't influence the millions of people who don't think and feel and react the way you do.Prepare for the best AND the worst.

2 cts from a cynic

Submitted by zanoni on Mon, 03/30/2009 - 07:31.

His plan is to get to an island when the shit hits the fan... So as some people may lose hope and see it coming, he wraps our basic fears under rationality, and in these days of doubts, he may very well appeal to enough people to have his plan financed.

If surviving requires we descend into this, if the only values who survive "apocalypse" are the ones who created this mess in the first place, I think I'll pass.

Right on

Submitted by Edutainment on Mon, 03/30/2009 - 08:33.

'Everything's all fluxed up and it's because of a dominator meme. Now look at your horror, be terrified, feel the torturous isolation I have nurtured within you and when 2012 comes I'll play the flute and quell the serpent.

There's another option, of course, there always is. But it involves being a 'Them'. And good luck with that, because separation is what caused this mess... wait I mean domination. Confusion is setting in...

Here have some more fear. And I'm your savior, don't forget. Read this book it will encourage a sense of serenity and unity. Peace and joy.' Fatten wallets or at least enough green in the pocket to work 4 hours a week, tops, and survive...

I'm just dripping with cynicism, if this guy actually could do a sliver of what he claims, he wouldn't need to write and sell a book to knee-knocking desperates to get up the money to escape his responsibilities to his homeland.

There goes another highly skilled wordsmith that would be sipping daquiries if shit hit fan... pht, this is why I pray for peace. I don't think I could stomach the exodus if war ever swept this land.

Pick up a pitchfork people, come on... This really is sad stuff. Then again I should have guessed from the 'New York Times Best Selling Author' part that it's just snake oil. Oh wait, I haven't 'bought' and read the book yet... right.

Seriously, peace

assumptions ...

Submitted by Marcus on Mon, 03/30/2009 - 14:04.

in response to "Jeff Charest," have you read Mr. Pinchbeck's book? Do you remember the last part where he talks to the Chief of the Hopi?!

The amount of evidence that supports a view of extreme challenges ahead of us, economic, environmental, governmental, etc.. makes me wonder about the objectivity of this comment:

"To say that your dystopian fantasy is more likely than others' so-called 'utopian' ones is irrational--none of us knows what may or may not happen. Prepare for whatever you want, however way you want to, but it's also irrational to assume that your scenario is gonna be everyone's. It's also a little childish to be calling everyone else who is working in practical ways for something a little brighter than death and destruction, 'utopianist' or impractical. It's a little condescending too, frankly."

I think it would behove you to review the definition of irrational. To accuse me of being irrational for observing evidence to support my view, and you, rational for saying we all create our own reality, is. well. confusing. And it takes much more than posting in a forum to qualify for trying "practical" solutions. I think perhaps you and I don't agree with the definition of that word either.

These challenges that we will undoubtedly face will possibly create a better world, in the end. Between here and now there is going to be violence, starvation, disease and war. Bet on it. There are already hundreds of thousands of people in Africa who are literally on the brink of survival. I only see this problem being getting worse, not better. When I refer to your comments as being "impractical" it's because I don't see any recognition of this, or any of the other extreme challenges, in your analysis.

Tell the starving kid in Africa that we create our own reality, see if that fixes his/her problem.

It's rather simple to me. Attempt, for a moment, to put yourself in the shoes of those who hold the power on this planet. Whatever, their motive is, they know that the population of this planet needs to be reduced. We, "cattle", are a resource that is to be managed, nothing more. These people cannot be reasoned with or made compromises with. One thing matters to them, maintaining power.

Accusing someone of being "childish" for arguing against their position, is a symptom of your ego being too involved in this. I don't have answers, but I think my questions are just as valid as anyone else here. When I say "chicks dig this stuff," it's because I don't feel like your comments have much substance and come from an egotistical position. It wasn't the best frame, but I also tire of reading the same thing in every comment. When i say "psychedelic penis comparisons," it's because, again, we're too impressed with ourselves.

My attempt was to illustrate that, in my view, we are skipping way too many steps between here and our hopeful destination. I don't think any of us are going to live long enough to see it, so we need to play our role and ensure that we even get close to that destination for our future generations. (And short of that, make sure no storm troopers hurt my family or my dogs, ya dig?!)

I don't have answers, I don't pretend to. but I think sometimes people get too caught up in their internet travels and remember what's going on outside their door. Subjective metaphysical reasoning isn't the next step in our journey, IMHO.

also, I should clarify. RS does present many articles that I feel are full of practical and usefull information. That's why I'm here. My comments have more to do with the postings, not the articles.

Thanks for your posts dudes. My hope is that you realize I'm not trying to battle with youz, but rather I'm trying to work out my own questions.

worD.

There is no away to get to

Submitted by Duff on Mon, 03/30/2009 - 17:57.

I want to be the one who gets away. The winner of the survival lottery.

This is the kind of thinking that is causing the crises that might lead to an emergency. There is no "away" to get to.

Rather than learn "independence" skills, I prefer Charles Eisenstein's question: "what is the most beautiful thing I can do?"

Also from Mr. Eisenstein: "To be is to be in relationship." Stop running from the problems. Surrender to wholeness.

Of course, this competitive mindset is not surprising from the PUA who wrote "The Game." We must begin to think in terms of all of us, not just "me" (which is and always was an illusion anyway).

http://twitter.com/duffmcduffee

I don't want to let all this

Submitted by cdcaleo on Mon, 03/30/2009 - 18:44.

I don't want to let all this spiral into a useless exercise in hairsplitting.Again, I am not a "survivalist".But all of the daydreamers on here need to practically explain what their plan is for dealing with the millions of people in this country who aren't pacifists and don't like sharing.They exist, I promise you that they do. I work in a setting with alot of ex military.Strangely enough, I would rather be associated with them in the event of social breakdown than a group of pie in the sky dreamers. The folks I work with actually know how to organize people and build things and defend themselves in the worst case scenario. I love sharing with others, but I want to share with those skilled enough to actually build something, and strong enough to make it last. I want to share with realists, not dreamers who think no one gets hurt when social systems disintegrate. Do any of you know what happened when the Soviet Union disintegrated. The MAFIA filled the vacuum of power left open when the state collapsed. Yes, many of the revolutions in Eastern Europe were relatively bloodless initially. But once the dust settled, the predators made their move and established their own order. Again folks, like it or not, those types of people EXIST. And you're not going to talk your way out of trouble or meditate your way out of dealing with them. I know people like this. You are not going to "create your own reality " when dealing with predatory individuals with ALOT of excess testosterone. After it's all said and done, none of you have established how you will deal with people like this in your new world. Dreaming them away doesn't work. NUFF' SAID.

wo. there's another guy named Duff...

Submitted by Marcus on Mon, 03/30/2009 - 21:16.

I think cdcaleo says it better than I.

Dreams, meditation and building

Submitted by Edutainment on Tue, 03/31/2009 - 08:05.

I think 'cdcaleo' is hitting the nail on the head here. What folks like the RS crew have is a method for building their dreams that works. Be it pixelated orgiastic gatherings on the internet or physical orgiastic gatherings of seekers and the like in yoga studios, they've got that X-factor that is taught to the folks in the armed service: "We all agree" followed by "Get it done".

The magic of the situation is that there are folks capable of manifesting that which did not exist outside of their dreams. This ability to relate to dreams as less then 'simple etheric unattainables' is unfortunately highly uncommon and certainly where that pseudo-statistic of "98% of the US is asleep" comes from. While this might be close to an approximate, my guess is that the majority of folks (this 98%) are in fact willing their dreams into existence, like the crew here at RS, while at the same time an unknown, foreign presence lurks in their psyche which perhaps acts as a sort of guide for the questions they have concerning life journey and happiness.

Could go on and on with this but the point is, very few folks are 'blind' to this ability. Everyone I've come in contact with knows perfectly well that before they even so much as purchase a T-shirt they 'Dream' or 'envision' themselves wearing it and this action is actually the 'medi'tation between consciousness and physicality.

So, the ability that is described to build, like a military folk, would seem to be inherent in all. What the folks here at RS have is a consciousness (or that thing that happens before physicality) which allows a post-dream quality resonating more harmoniously with my personal dream frequency.

I too, however, look to those military folks in wonderment at their ability to will their dreams into being. However it would seem to me that the friends I have which come from a military background have a difficult time, at best, questioning the drill sergent in their heads.

Less extreme...

dont be scared, even to prepare.

Submitted by walkamongus on Tue, 03/31/2009 - 14:32.

...

23 cents

Submitted by Moontrap on Tue, 03/31/2009 - 18:46.

Skills are inherently and incontrovertibly valuable, particularly ones that can easily be lost; like those that are best acquired by a length of experience and intensity of communication. I am immediately minded of all the plant and land lore that was decimated during the wych and indigenous purges of historically recent times, and undervalued subsequently in the scientific age (ironically whilst big Pharma profits wholesale from intellectual property – I digress).

I don’t however think that conflating such an attempt at acquiring a practical skill base, with an eschatological apprehension, serves any purpose, although I am not sure of the author’s ultimate intention, as I have not been apartie to his work.

As has been similarly stated, it does no harm to be prepared for eventualities, particularly when many of these skills are ones that should ideally already be in our possession, and that can serve an equally valuable purpose in times of chaos or of calm.

I imagine some of us, including myself, that are of the country, perhaps take many of these aptitudes for granted, and forget just how frighteningly little the average urbanite knows of practical and sustainable survival (although they perhaps trump us in the one handed killing techniques).

As such and perhaps most importantly, much of this learning could re-involve people with their context and our collective environment, and hopefully positively inform our experience, and future behaviour.

Decontaminated Continuum

Apocalypse Rosy

Submitted by Joan of Art on Tue, 03/31/2009 - 23:56.

In the 4th dimension (which we are now in)- a lot of what you fear will come true. Not to mention those crazy reptilians feed off of fear. I feel and see and breathe the apocalypse too- and I thank God that a change is finally coming. I incarnated for this very revelation...there is no reason to run.... Why is that I only learned to start making money as the economy crashed? Because I primed my consciousness to learn how to attract whatever it is I want. I think that would be an even more powerful tool for you. Survival is over-rated. If your motivation is largely fear-based- you will manifest the very outcome you are opposed to and that's the hard truth. So maybe you do need all those survival skills. Thank the universe for whatever it is you want as if you already have it and watch how fast it happens (excluding million dollar helicopters). And remember that fear and love cannot exist in the same moment and that your brain will implode in the 5th dimension if you have not chosen love over fear. that's a joke and metaphoric truth.

Hello Mr. Rambo

Submitted by David Priego on Wed, 04/01/2009 - 11:09.

Hello Neil Strauss, aka (Mr Rambo 2009) your article or intro to a novel lists a prety good number of stupid skills that you have adquire there. In the attempt you make to have people believe that those skills are what a person needs for the coming future to survive here is my response, "and some truth by the way." I grow food and I can find water since I was 10. That is what a person needs to survive frist of all, not knowing how to scape from an island, like you list. Also knowing how to work with farm animals since you will need them to grow more food next year is important. Kill a person with a guyn or with your bare hands (you macho man), fly a plane, escape from a small island or republic, hot wire cars, suture a bullet wound ect ect... will not provide you survival in nature. Even if you know how to track animals, do you think you can kill a deer with your bare hands? Or a bear? Or you can catch a rabit? Or a fox? Or a wolve? (the last one will probably eat you first) I can see you have grown up very very disconnected from nature and the planet where you live. People that live off the land don't eat a quater the amount of animal produce that a person from a city does, why? because you can't kill those many animals a day or a week, and because growing vegetables, grains, is way more sustainable that go out with a machete trying to find a rabit, "which is all you can ever hope to hunt Mr. Rambo" Or do you think you can even hunt a deer even with a gun? how many have you hunted in your life? Learn how to grow food, make a good compost, fight the insects and other plagues with natural remedies, follow the moon for the cicles of sowing, and learn how to reach a persons heart face to face instead of shooting them 7 yards away in the heart. How do you think people in the country make it? by themselves or with the help of their neighboors and community? I will not buy your book or want to be near you at any end or moment in life. Learn how to love and not be scared to death I don't understand how RS let this kind of BS get published

A Balance of Levity and Gravity

Submitted by Grigori on Wed, 04/01/2009 - 14:26.

I have really enjoyed all these comments and feel I stand somewhere in the middle. I find many of the skills the author has acquired useful. I do find a bit of fear in his motivation to learn self defense, but I find a bit more reality in this than the people who think they will never need to learn how to defend themselves. I wish we could live in a world where everyone was as peaceful and enlightened as the averages RS reader. But we are not there yet.

For all the people who want to retreat to their own permaculture farms I have a question. If the system does collapse what will you do when less enlightened people come knocking on your door looking for food and god knows what else? Do you have a peaceful way of dealing with them? I might suggest giving them a meal, a place to stay for the night, and teach them a few useful skills. What if they don't want to hear this and take what they want by force? Will you let them? Will you defend your property? Or will you keep the skull of the last person to attempt this on the border of your property with a warning to anyone who wants to use violence against you. This is not a rhetorical question. I don't really know myself.

I trained in Wing Chun Kung Fu for two years and it actually made me never want to fight. I have since beat my sword into ploughshares, but I'm still glad I know how to defend myself if I should ever find myself in that situation. I stopped training because constantly thinking about ways of doing someone in can have a negative effect on you.

I think we need to balance levity and gravity in order to remain realistic, yet optimistic and healthy. Realize that just because you know how to defend yourself does not mean you will use violence as anything, but an absolute last resort.

This idea that nobody will hurt me because I'm peaceful is as naive, as the idea that the government will round people up into camps is paranoid. A more likely scenario if the system collapses involves gangs of people roving the countryside using whatever resources they can steal. So you might not be safe in the country. Again this too might be overly worried, but if you really think the SWHTF (we don't really know yet) I would prepare for this. To all you people living in the country touting how people work together: what if some people from the worst parts of our cities start working together to take what you have, because they are too lazy and short-sighted to grow their own food? Never mind the fact they would have to rip up the concrete before they can even think about this.

To all you people who think articles like this don't belong here, I would look at the interesting debate it has sparked. Perhaps the tone of the article is a bit alarmist, but it raises some good issues. I hope nothing like this ever happens, but as our current economic system collapses before our eyes we should realize things might get worse before they get better.

Nothing wrong with having your head in the clouds, as long as you also have your feat on the ground.

Posting withdrawn by author

Submitted by RogerscottQ on Mon, 04/06/2009 - 17:31.

I had to withdraw my response to a response by naga raja due to a more recent post by same.

Not going to be tied up with this.

last 3 paragraphs -- sarcasm ? ? ?

Submitted by bass_oon on Wed, 04/01/2009 - 19:44.

As a writer, this guy is either terrible or a genius.

My favorite line:

Submitted by Anteros on Thu, 04/02/2009 - 00:42.

"Survival is over-rated." (From Apocalypse Rosy.)

I think it IS sarcasm or PHISHING

Submitted by RogerscottQ on Thu, 04/02/2009 - 00:54.

Dichotomy. Select. Mine: dichotomy. The original author's? Unknown. Could be sarcasm, could be 'phishing' like what think-tanks do in the 'intelligence' communities or 'cop' states of minds. Security freaks. 'Bust 'em Danno' as 'bottom line'. Right or 'rong'.

Are you a 'fish'? You need a 'hook' in yer gullet?

This is either a 'survey' or the expression of someone on the "razor's edge" between a worker for a hopeful vision or someone prepared for the worst and working for the worst in so preparing.

Well: putting shoulder to the 'plow' does have definite sequalae: you either plant seed and watch that grow; or you abandon the work before you and let others tell you what to do for the food you think you need. Or, maybe, there's a third choice or even a fourth and . . . how many choices?

You and I and everyone living here in the West live under a presumption and a 'mode du culture' (or however that's supposed to be spelled). Buck the trend and 'seed' your own preferred or better idea. What I resent is that anyone can resent the right of anyone to put forth ANYWHERE their current state of ignorance. Like: how we gonna learn?

So you! YOU, wise guy: you inform our discressions. Kay?

Say it all! I, for one, won't resent it. I invite it and freely admit: I need it.

---------

ABC; 123: Let's Go!<

instinct / intellect

Submitted by Kristal Maya on Fri, 04/03/2009 - 15:23.

reading you makes me imagine this: you are just like a paranoid family head man in the middle of the cold war that built a bunker in his backyard, got all his family inside, with all the needed gear and provisions, and then stayed there for months, nothing never happened, just in your mind. even wough you say you have the required squills for the end of the world....one thing is to know, but much more different is being in action. instinct is much more usefull than knowledge some times. ps. being in the BEACH in a cataclism is the WORST IDEA of all the stuff you wrote. to the general population: dont listen to this guy, do your own thing, learn your own skills. and to the EDITORS: why did you liked this article in the first place?? what is the conciousness you want to spread??: fear or TRANSITION MODELS towards 2012??

Neil Strauss is a master of

Submitted by scholapreneur on Fri, 04/03/2009 - 20:20.

Neil Strauss is a master of propaganda. I came across him and his book "The Game," which is about the pick up artist scene. Funny that he leaves that part out of his little story.

His story in this piece sounds very similar to the tale he told in The Game. He went from a shy loser who had no clue about women, to the Master Pick Up Artist who could sleep with any girl he pleased. He learned from the best in the business but soon surpassed his mentors. He learned 100 different pick up lines, slept with 4 girls at one time and could get a girl into bed in 30 minutes. Sound familiar?

This guy just found the next big thing and latched onto it. Wonder how Neil found the time to memorize all those animal tracks while he was hosting seminars and selling DVDs teaching guys how to get laid.

Ha!

Submitted by RogerscottQ on Sat, 04/04/2009 - 03:39.

Great!

scholapreneur!

In my shooting from the hip, I forgot to 'search' the author.

Thank goodness of scholopreneur. I see in my mind's eye that cartoon by James Thurber: 'touche!'

http://www.cartoonbank.com/product_details.asp?sid=19016

I see scholanpreneur as the man with the sword!

Our hero!

Well done.

Love it.

(and, taking s' lead, read (past-tense) this):

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Neil_Strauss

---------

ABC; 123: Let's Go!

Strauss the marketeer

Submitted by Psirider on Sat, 04/04/2009 - 05:00.

One thing about Strauss,is that he's an astute marketeer.....wonder who let him put his article....ahem....advertorial up on RS,particularly when there are other people who teach survival techniques with an ethos that is more aligned with the RS ethos. If you are into survival enhancing books you cant go past Cody Lundin's 'When all hell breaks loose.' Strauss just doesnt get it....that for some people,to become like him....well survival just isnt worth it. No spiritual or psychological wholeness underpinning any of his works....lots of egocentric grabbiness though.Oh and adolescent boasting based on lies.

Obscenity

Submitted by Psirider on Sun, 04/05/2009 - 05:16.

To me,it is actually an obscenity,in a country as wealthy and placid as the US.....this,this obsessive concern with 'surviving'....surviving what?....third world living standards?.....congolese social order?.....oh shit we might have to organise our own food and power supplies for a time until they come back online....we might be inconvenienced for a while...maybe even never get back to a standard of luxury....yes luxury!...that we took so for granted. We have had so much gifted to us....and now some of us live in fear of its possible loss while taking advantage of our wealthy status to leave if the SHTF.....something so many people globally are experiencing without the option of escaping from it with a false passport. This obsession with 'surviving' from western,first world citizenry is truly obscene. To look at living people as possible sources of protein for you in a worst case scenario while you have access to all the benefits our society provides is to have become so trapped by a dysfunctional mindset that all I can feel is distaste.

A Brief Confession

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