silent hill protagonist
Uh… that isn’t normal.
Honey, there hasn’t been an ounce of “normal” anywhere since at least 2021.
oof, never thought I’d see the baseline for “normal” set to after covid.
Jeez. I totally meant to type 2001, not 2021.
*in america…
Supply of “normal” is increasingly limited outside of it, too.
Sounds like buddism to me
My initial reaction, the socially acceptable one, was akin to “oh, wow, that’s weird.” After I gave it a minute, though… Gotta say, if I could be certain of the fact that I wouldn’t be interrupted in any way and had full control over the situation… yeah, that actually sounds like a nice getaway…
Honestly, I’d bring water and food. Why starve and suffer when you can not suffer. I know, worldly attachments and shit, but I never got the part about intentionally suffering. That is just like those Christian zealots that self-flagellated for their sins, just more passive.
But other than that, it sounds like a dream vacation.
Because wanting things is what causes suffering. If you don’t desire anything, it’s ok when you don’t get anything.
Agreed, at least around water, my kidneys are hyperactive and need constant lubrication. Food, though… meh…
And I wouldn’t do it for the suffering, I would genuinely do it for relaxation, like a full habitat sensory deprivation chamber.
What I do for suffering is try to face the sun for longer than I feel comfortable, the whole idea of self-immolation being purifying and such. I can see why some would think that, baking in the sun really does a wonderful job at bringing me back to the present through widespread pain.
I just dislike suffering without a cause. That might be more my personal view on things, though.
If I am going to suffer, then I want it to be for a reason. Like doing a fulfilling job well, or working out to feel better. Otherwise I could just punch myself in the nuts and meditate on my aching crotch.
On a side note, I don’t seem to feel hunger as strongly as other people. I mostly get tired, while other people tend to get agitated / pissed off. Maybe I should try fasting for a while just to find out how I react. But, then it would be for a cause again…
Weird only to a mind that’s used to being constantly bombarded with low quality entertainment, lulled into comfortable numbness with mostly unnecessary material goods. While this is overly extreme (and potentially hazardous… though that being 4chan it’s probably exaggerated, if even true), most people would do well to take periods of disconnecting entirely and have minimal entertainment available. Zen Buddhist retreats are great by my experience. Yoga Retreats are nice but you need to weed out the ones that are really just masturbatory Wellness holidays for rich white women. Vipassana retreats are probably good too tho I personally haven’t been to one of those. But just starting meditation would be great. https://www.wakingup.com/ is a low bar access point with guided meditations but also a lot of great philosophical discussions from several different branches of thought (notably Stoicism and Buddhism but others too). And you can get it for free (request scholarship) if the price seems steep.
Shout-out to my man Sam.
I know a lot of people here hate him for his political takes, but his meditation app can be divorced from his podcast career. His science based approach to meditation, with no spiritual conflation is so refreshing.
I’ve had so many life changing realizations about my own mind thanks to him. His efforts to emphasise the outcomes of compassion and stoicism in the face of hostility have changed my outlook on engaging with abrasive people, and is one of the most important lessons I’ve learnt in a long time.
Furthermore, the realization that free will is an illusion helps to change how you view people who annoy you. They’re victims of their own minds, and slaves to every prior cause in their life. Forgiveness and tolerance are both rational, and impossible perspectives to deny, once you can see it clearly.
He can afford to disappear for a week every month?
That’s what I’m saying!
Yeah, sign me up! Not for the starvation thing, the money thing.
I bet his friend is never worried about stupid shit.
I’d be worried about rats nibbling my nutsack while I sleep on the floor of an abandoned factory.
That is a basic survival worry. I tend to believe that humans faced with real survival issues are less negatively impacted than those who have material worries.
My stress about work is killing me.
My stress about not freezing to death leads me to do things like chopping wood, lighting fires, and maintaining my chimney. Which are all good things.
My wife doesn’t love multi day backpacking. But she loves the glimpse of how I am and how we are - during that time.
Our priorities - Stay warm, stay dry, fetch and purify water, hike the right distances to get out with food in hand, packing and unpacking our gear, avoid dangerous wildlife, cook, sleep.
When every day that’s your goal state it’s super simple - stress is actually just a response to things that might kill you again. And not 20 steps away from it. “I might perform poorly, my clothes might not be appropriate for the job, I’m running 3 minutes behind - which may cost me my job, which could be long term, and financially we won’t recover, and then we might lose the house or starve”. Up against “I need water and dry clothes”.
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Chop wood, carry water.
Sure it’s not normal. He’s chosen the Hermit path. Fair play to him.
Desire is the root of all suffering, suffering can cease when attachment to desire is extinguished.
what part of that isnt normal? The area in which we sleep can be what ever, is it just that he is alone with his own thoughts and does minimal food (most would just do rice only during these things)?
The only part I find weird is the starving/dehydrating part, the rest sounds pretty cool.
Old factory’s a bad choice. Suspended particulate matter from industry long past can ruin your lungs. Caves can be better, if there aren’t any bats or stabby bugs. As an aside, what’s the deal with humans and bats each hosting diseases that wipe the other out?
There’s likely a monastery nearby, or a field, or a forest where you can get the same experience. A tent covered with blackout curtains costs little and dampens what little sound and light you’ll find.
Agreed. Besides industrial waste, old factories often have motion-detector silent alarms. If not, they may have squatters who may or may not be cool with intruders. If not, if you have some kind of medical emergency it might be months before you are found.
Comment-OP, minimal food’s not really necessary - one of the things about Gautama Buddha is that he gave up mortifying the flesh. And you definitely shouldn’t dehydrate yourself bc that can cause organ damage.
I have a huge canvas tent that we use for SCA stuff and I take it and air it out before and after winter, and I just stay out there for a few days, we have a lot of strays that just come and chill with me and we both sleep out there at night and its real good for great cuddling and just enjoying each others presence. Plus again late night strays will sleep with us.
On the one hand, that’s adorable. On the other, I’m sad that so many friendly animals aren’t being housed.
We are out in the country so they have a good food source of mice and moles from the farm land. So we make boxes for them in the winter and put out some food once a week just for supplemental food source for them. They are good kids and if we can we get them fixed, they do a big open call for them a few times a year and they just call us and are like how many can you get and send us over lots of carriers. Then for a week our house is just FULL (we have the main house, the barn and a chicken coop to keep little ones ) till we are sure they healed correctly then as they can they leave.
That is, once again, precious. Just a self replenishing stock of friendly fuzziness to be fished out of the forest. I wish you all the best in what is assuredly the most gratifying, and exhausting, week of the year, whenever that might be
It’s normal. Anon is just detached from reality.
"All of humanity’s problems stem from man’s inability to sit quietly in a room alone.” – Blaise Pascal
Anon’s friend is just Batman going through his early training montage.
Post-industrial Buddhism is what it is. Yeah like it’d be great to do that in a cave or forest or open prairie but who the fuck can afford those things?
Abandoned buildings are free as long as you don’t fuck with the native inhabitants’ meth.
I would just worry of asbestos or heavy metal contamination in the buildings, especially if I’m sleeping on or near the floor
All the good caves are taken.
Are you worried about this sort of thing in general? I would argue that these things are pretty esoteric concerns.
who the fuck can afford those things?
Anybody? Where do you live that hanging out in the forest costs money?
In the middle of a city, which doesn’t have nearby forests.
If we’re talking about the US, that’s no city I’ve ever seen except maybe the southwest
You’ve never seen an abandoned building in Baltimore, DC Philadelphia, Detroit, or Chicago?
Outside of the tourist zone you can find wastelands of abandoned buildings.
I’m not doubting there are abandoned buildings in cities. I’m doubting any city within the US with the exception of the southwest is more than a few miles from a forest.
Oh ok. But to refute your forest idea, while there are forests a few miles outside those cities, you can’t easily walk to them. There also aren’t any forests near those major cities where you wouldn’t immediately be noticed by park rangers if you tried setting up a random tent. Abandoned buildings don’t get daily police sweeps whereas parks do get sweeps because of lost/injured at nightfall when the parks close to everyone without a camping permit. And legal camp sites are very popular so you wouldn’t be getting away from people- like those who have their playlists blasting out their phone while hiking.
Transportation to and from the forest isn’t free.
Also some places have laws against camping on public land to discourage homelessness and these would likely fall afoul of those.
I promose you those places also have laws against camping on private property in an abandoned building.
Yes, but not as many people go to abandoned buildings so you’re less likely to be seen by others and reported.
I’d be way more concerned about running into someone in a 'bando than out in the woods though.
Hiker in the woods is going to go the other way. A homebum in a bando? Who knows how they’ll react.
bando
What flavour of english is this
Easter Island
What forest? Most people live nowhere near a forest
Most American cities have a forest within a few miles. Our largest city, for example, has 50 acres of forest right in the Bronx.
Most people don’t live in America either
Most people on 4chan do
Actually the larger parks near me (the only places that have enough trees to qualify as something close to a forest) do cost money (american city metro area)
OP didn’t mean the cost of going there, they meant still paying the bills while going to the forest instead of work
That’s still going to be a problem living in an abandoned building though. That part doesn’t change regardless of where their friend goes to meditate (unless that place is work I guess)
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That’s about the scariest shit I can imagine, but I admire him.
FIFO workers often do multiple weeks on, and a week or more off.
As a practicing Buddist, I do this often. Smoke enough weed, and an empty shack becomes a temple of delight.
Doesn’t the meditation bring on is own kind of high after a while?
Pot works better
Umm, hello, is this the Based department? I’d like to report someone…
