" Civilisation is a deception " - A Hermit's Guide to Longevity

[Kibric]

If someone chooses to live as a hermit one of the many realisations they will have is
" Civilisation is a deception " - Awi
Man has a place in nature and can use nature to achieve longevity.

Below are some guidelines and tips on how to achieve longevity by using the natural world.

Using the environment

" The air my food
The fire my blanket
The rain my shower
The earth my bed " - Ananda

Adopt a Pure in = Pure out approach to your body, what you put into it and what you expose it to.

Observe what the deer and local wildlife eat.
Where do the animals go when they're sick.
The animal tracks are roads and maps, be careful who's home your stepping into.
The animals are your teachers, they're patterns and behaviours contain wisdom.
They can sniff out freshwater better than you...
Know what plants are antibacterial
Know what fruits are poisonous
Can sense changes in the weather and predators.
Know where and when food sources are available.
The methods the animals use to adapt to the environment are the methods you need to adopt.
Observe investigate copy.

Stop counting the seasons. The concept of time has to be lost.
Unstick from time. Time is ouroboros.
All birthdays and holidays need to be forgotten.
It will feel like only months have passed after decades if you let go of time
If you don't let go of time, months will feel like years.
When the mind has nothing to hold onto that could mark the passage of time
you live in a timeless state where your perception on time passing becomes non-linear.

Live in a place with clean unpolluted air.
Live in a place that is not overly busy and crowded. Animals or people.
Work at a easy pace. So that all work becomes peaceful.
Use caves as shelter.
Walk barefoot.
Eat raw vegetables and fresh fruit.
Drink rainwater and dew.
Follow the rivers to they're sources and drink from there.
Eat your boogers. I know its gross but there's a good reason why its a natural instinct for many mammals.
Use fire as your blanket and your protection as animals have a natural fear of fire.
Use the earth as your bed, sleep like the animals do.
Cover your body in ash for insulation, and it masks your scent,
the ash will mix with the oils in your skin.

Reinforce the elements within your body

Earth - Dig a shallow grave and get in, partially cover yourself in dirt. Sleep a couple of nights a week in the grave. All the minerals from the earth will detox your body.
Fire - Spend hours sitting in the sunlight after midday building up a sweat. Get your body accustom to the heat of the sunlight.
Purging. Make and use a Sweat lodge regularly. Take it very carefully with this.
Water - Bathing or sitting underwater for an extended period of time more than twice a day.
Air - Hours of breathing techniques, Pranayama in clean unpolluted air. Preferable high mountain air. Walking around naked for extended periods.

" Let the wind carry through your skin " - Lao Tzu

Use the silence of the forests to quiet your chattering mind.
Use the songs of the birds as music while you work.
Use the smell of the earth to focus your attention.

I hope to continue to update this thread with more tips. If anyone else wants to contribute to A Hermits Guide to Longevity go right ahead.

Words of wisdom
" Retain a calm heart, sit like a turtle, walk swiftly like a pigeon, and sleep like a dog. "
- Li Ching Yuen

[Andro]

Do you do all these things, Kibric?

[Kibric]

Do you do all these things, Kibric?
I have done. I was taught by my friend Awi, who spent a long time living as a hermit and studied at the Splinter of Mu.( a very old library in the asian archipelagos )

[elixirmixer]

I'd love that lifestyle. If i wasnt a Daddy.

BTW. Im a chatterbox ex-salesperson and I could have told you civilization was a deception when i was 16. In fact at any stage over the last 15 years i would happily give you a lengthy anicdote as to why civilization is a total crock even back to the first stone buildings ever built.

Nevertheless; rockin' it out in a cave would be nice for a while.

[Kibric]

I'd love that lifestyle. If i wasnt a Daddy.
You can still do some of the things. Thomas Edison drunk rainwater from his boot for 3 days while stuck on a train.
You could dig a shallow grave in the backyard, although it might give the wife the wrong impression.

[Kibric]

Update using the environment stories

Here is an account of a Divine man inhaling wind and drinking dew. Using the natural world.

The Ku-ye mountains stand on a chain of islands where the Yellow River enters the sea. Upon the mountains there lives a Divine Man, who inhales the wind and drinks the dew, and does not eat the five grains. His mind is like a bottomless spring, his body is like a virgin's. He knows neither intimacy nor love, yet [仙聖] immortals and sages serve him as ministers. He inspires no awe, he is never angry, yet the eager and diligent act as his messengers. He is without kindness and bounty, but others have enough by themselves; he does not store and save, but he himself never lacks. The Yin and Yang are always in tune, the sun and moon always shine, the four seasons are always regular, wind and rain are always temperate, breeding is always timely, the harvest is always rich, and there are no plagues to ravage the land, no early deaths to afflict men, animals have no diseases, and ghosts have no uncanny echoes. - The Liezi, Lie Yukou.

A story from The Shenxian zhuan about a woman hermit using a the natural world.

"During the reign of Emperor Cheng of the Han, hunters in the Zhongnan Mountains saw a person who wore no clothes, his body covered with black hair. Upon seeing this person, the hunters wanted to pursue and capture him, but the person leapt over gullies and valleys as if in flight, and so could not be overtaken. [But after being surrounded and captured, it was discovered this person was a 200 plus year old woman, who had once been a concubine of Qin Emperor Ziying. When he had surrendered to the 'invaders of the east', she fled into the mountains where she learned to subside on 'the resin and nuts of pines' from an old man. Afterwards, this diet 'enabled [her] to feel neither hunger nor thirst; in winter [she] was not cold, in summer [she] was not hot.']
The hunters took the woman back in. They offered her grain to eat. When she first smelled the stink of grain, she vomited, and only after several days could she tolerate it. After little more than two years of this [diet], her body hair fell out; she turned old and died. Had she not been caught by men, she would have become a transcendent."

[elixirmixer]

I like the idea of the 40 fastin challenge in the wilderness. Working up to it this year I hope.

[Dragon's Tail]

Food is abundant if you know where to look and what social customs need to be overcome.

In the heat of summer and the cold of winter, "wild edibles" can become more scarce, but you can eat more things than not. Learn what's toxic first, experiment with everything else. Right now in the midwest, my favorite is ox-eye daisies with a little wood sorrel. Tasty and filling.

However

One thing that human beings seem to have forgotten at some point is that we are omnivores, and insects can provide tons of nutrition that will keep you alive and fed. Even in modern aboriginal cultures, small critters serve more of a food source than those which need to be hunted and cooked.

Gathering isn't limited to plants.

[Kibric]

Food is abundant if you know where to look and what social customs need to be overcome.
If you are without spiritual corruption you'll be surprised what creatures you can observe copy and partially integrate with in order to find food and water sources.


Learn what's toxic first,
Smells are vibrations and to the nose of many animals this is how they pinpoint and identify whats edible and whats not.
Paying close attention to how animals sort through possible food sources, you can find out what a digestive system like yours can or can't eat.

[Kibric]

I hope to continue to update this thread with more tips. If anyone else wants to contribute to A Hermits Guide to Longevity go right ahead.
This thread has become a blog. Please visit the blog for greater detail on the topics.
http://forum.alchemyforums.com/entry.php?80-quot-Civilisation-is-a-deception-quot-A-Hermit-s-Guide-to-Longevity