A less convenient life

I arrived in the island-nation of Dominica yesterday.  I've been thinking of coming here for about a year now in search of a very different way of life--a less convenient way of life.

I'm acting on an idea that has been getting stronger in me lately:  we modern people are addicted to convenience.  Quicker=easier=better...right?  The more functions your phone can perform, the better it is.  More square feet in your house, more horsepower under your hood, more letters after your name indicating the degrees of education you have earned--these are all important and good by modern standards.

I'm skeptical, to say the least.  What we call the modern way of life seems to be destroying the planet.  What we think of as modernity seems to be diminishing rather than increasing the quality of life on Earth for all forms of life, not just human.  We can email and talk with someone on the other side of the world, but who is your neighbor?  Do you and your neighbors like on another?  Do you ever help one another, or just get together because it's good to be together?

We can't "turn back the clock" and pretend that the industrial revolution and the modern explosion of scientific and technological "progress" didn't happen.  Well, we can but then we'd be in denial.  It happened, and we are where we are at this point.

But I do think we as modern people can and need to explore simpler, lower-tech ways of living.  That's what I'm here to do.

Of course, there's all kinds of contradictions in my experiment in simple living.  I flew here on an airplane (though I did try to figure out how I could get here by sailboat).  And obviously I'm writing this blog posting on a computer, and will post it through the internet.

I'm not an extremist or purist when it comes to simpler, lower-tech, more natural ways of living.  I just think it's a direction we need to explore.  It's a direction that I'm really excited to explore.  

Simple, natural, "lower-tech" living is obviously not my original idea.  Far from it.  The Amish have eschewed more complex technologies during modern times, and can still be seen plowing their fields and traveling on roads with real horses providing the power.  Many other peoples have either rejected "higher technology" or don't have access to it and so live lives that by modern standards are very "poor" and simple.  

Simple, natural and lower-tech is the only way that most human beings throughout history have lived.  If you go back far enough in your lineage and could visit some of your distant ancestors, you would find people making things with stones, wood, plant fibers, bones and shells.  Most modern people--including me--possess very few of the handworking skills that our ancestors used both to survive and to create beauty.  (I have a special appreciation for indigenous people such at the Sentinelese man mentioned in this article who shot an arrow at a helicopter that was sent to "rescue" his people after the 2004 tsunami.)

To me, this is a sad loss.  Back in September of this year I attended a permaculture course.  In it, this man taught me how to make a simple basket using only locally grown tule reeds, my hands and a beautiful and ancient technology that was perfected long ago by local native people, who can weave baskets with tule that hold water.  Making my crude but functional little basket in this way was a wonderful experience.  I felt pride in my simple but beautiful accomplishment.  One of my teachers, Martin Prechtel says "These ancient ways are not quaint, they are elegant and noble."  He also says "Your spirituality is in your hands."  These kinds of sentiments move me deeply, and fuel my life's direction.

So, why Dominica as a place to pursue this way of life?

Many reasons.  I love islands, I love the tropics, and I love the Caribbean which is close to my family and friends in Florida.  Dominica in particular has a unique history and place in the Caribbean.  It is also the only Eastern Caribbean island that still has a population of pre-Columbian native Caribs, who were exterminated or driven from neighbouring islands.  I was greeted at the airport yesterday by one of the chiefs of the Carib people of Dominica (they call themselves "Kalinago"), Chief Charles Williams.  I had a very nice stay with him and his wife, Margaret at their guest house.  

Dominica is also known for being exceptionally beautiful and naturally rich.  It is the most volcanic and mountainous of the Caribbean islands, and is home to a great abundance and diversity of life. 

Unlike many Caribbean islands, which are still ruled/administered by the U.S. or European countries, Dominica is its own country.  I like that.  I'm relatively small and independent myself, so I like that about Dominica.  :-)

Another good thing about Dominica:  I've been offered access to land here.  A really nice guy from Boston named Gerry owns this land in the southeast of Dominica.  Though it's listed as for sale, he seems more dedicated to good stewardship of the land than making money from it.  I will go to meet and get to know this land in the next few days, and probably start living there in a hammock strung up between two trees, with a tarp over it.

Speaking of low-tech, I made a purchase today that I'm really excited about:  a machete (known as a "cutlass" in Dominica).  Mine looks exactly like this one:

I really like it.  These things are standard, necessary equipment for working the land in places like this.  It's a very simple and yet very powerful tool.

Another low-tech addition to my life here is a new friend named Florian.  He's from Austria, here for a few weeks of hiking.  He goes by "Flo"--I like that.  This is Flo:

He claims that he works in a bank in Austria but I don't believe him.  Too nice of a guy to work in a bank.

We're sharing a room in the capital city of Rouseau.  This is the view from our room:

Ok, gotta go.  Flo and I are gonna go out and enact another ancient and low-tech ritual--going out on the town on a Friday night in search of a good time.  :-)