Occasionally in life you come across kindreds in such demure methods that really give vindication to theories such as “The Secret”, Law of Attraction, and the pairing of Quantum Physics with Spirituality ala “What the Bleep Do We Know”. Yesterday was a case in point for me.
Casually surfing on Craigslist I came upon a random ad asking for a Photographer for a project. I directed my mouse to the website sited and began reading what looked like a manifesto. I continued to read in excitment and discovered that this person was:
Giving up his possessions, moving to Austin, and restarting his life from NOTHING!!!
I thought to myself, this isn’t a just project… It’s a Life Experiment. His name is Russ Freeland, and he currently lives in Boston. However soon he will be living wherever he can in trade of art or musical performance. “Will create Art for food” indeed. Here is his site.
Russ reminds me of myself when I was getting ready to leave for Thailand after the tsunami. I stripped myself of everything but a backpack, a laptop and my camera and set off to a country I had no clue about. In much the same way that Russ is doing now.
I envy his position in some respects. The biggest rush of my life was the weeks leading up to the day I cast myself into the unknown. It was thrilling and I knew that I was really alive! An experience I hadn’t felt in months. Just listening to him talk about his idea has my blood bubbling with anticipation.
The flip side is the thought that he is experiencing something similar to what I got from a number of close friends. Those friends were concerned for my safety and unsure about going to another country.
It got me thinking why more people don’t drop everything and go into the world like Russ. Why don’t people just up and “walk the earth, meet people… get into adventures. Like Caine from ‘Kung Fu?’ ”
Are people scared? Do people feel so attached to their belongings and this raped country that they associate that stuff as them? Stuff comes and goes, jobs come and go, friends come and go, loved ones come and go. This is your life and it’s ending one minute at a time. The world is full of chaos and wonder, and to think you can control a small aspect of it is presumptuous.
The best you can do is stay true to yourself, always move forward, and praise your maker by celebrating everything and everybody that he made in addition to you. The biggest impact you can have on your life is to travel like a pauper.
Maybe we will come to a point where the term Life Experiment is less used, because the majority of people are living their lives as they wish to and not because they were coerced into taking on a culture they did not want.
