Gulching

A variation on gulching, but done as a single individual with the specific goal of "Refus[al] to engage in any implementation of your personal creative ability which benefits the State[...]Tak[ing] your brains off the statist marketplace[...]Act[ing] so that only those who add to your life, not those who devour it, comprise your creativity marketplace[...]Reserv[ing] your achievements for yourself and those who will join you in the endeavor to build a sane and sensible world" is what David King termed "Shrugging"[4]. This term also originated from Ayn Rand's novel, Atlas Shrugged.

From The Wikipedia definition of Gulching


For a good long time I have been thinking of Gulching***. That means making my life a more independent one. It is a term that originally was inspired by the novel Atlas Shrugged.

Since I am not going to move into the mountains or out into the borderlands anytime soon, I am going to have the challenge of figuring it out here in the middle of Silicon Valley. Gulcher's might say that this is an impossible task. But since my task is based on my own perception of things, who really cares.

For me the first step is the independent mind.

First steps

Freedom from political parties, rhetoric and slogans. There. See. I am already freer than I was a few minutes ago.

Freedom from should, ought and have to. There are enough of those to go around anyway.

Freedom from the latest and greatest toys, cars and technology (or is that the same as toys??). I admit to liking my Hi-Def TV, my cell phone and cable connectivity for my computer. If it works then stick with it. When it doesn't anymore then I will go out and buy something new or at least more current. Current is different than having to have the latest.

Freedom from any single job. I have that right now. As Ivan Sutherland once said, 1 one X is freedom from any single job. Ten X is freedom from all jobs. I don't know if Ten X works anymore but One X still does. In any case I have One X and Ten X. The key is keeping the meaning of X (Il costo della vita) under control. That has been a challenge especially with the sudden submersion of the economy into a virtual reality version of Waterworld over the past 5-6 months.

I am not really independent financially but lowering the cost of living can lower the "X" factor. So, job-wise, I went back inside to lower our medical costs and have some decent cash flow to alleviate some of the fiscal pain. I hate the fact that freedom is based on social security and medicare still being around somewhere down the line. It is also based on inheritance which means someone has to die. Not a happy thought. Inevitable but not happy.

More on all of this as I figure it out. It will be complex to simplify our lives and there will be blood. No sane city dweller wants to go this route without kicking and screaming a bit. I did this before back in the 1970's. It wasn't perfect but it was a sense of freedom when I wanted it. Career and money never meant as much as self determination.