Leaving Suburbia..

Choosing a more self sustainable way of life.

There are many different reasons that people are giving, as to why they want to move out of cities and suburbs. The people in the cities are primarily fleeing a rising crime rate, both with theft and violence. The people in the suburbs are fleeing from the city folks who are flooding the area, and bringing the same big city politics that caused the skyrocketing crime rates.

You can ask the people who are now starting small family farms and homesteads, and it's almost a universal answer among them. They are going to a lower crime area, even if that means more work for them. The second biggest reason is food cost, and the potential of scarcity due to supply chain issues. We all saw what happened during COVID, and what is happening now with the soaring egg prices. Then we also have to look at the third biggest reason, the price of rent, the cost of utilities, and transportation costs. In short, living down by the river in a van or a camper, has gained a lot of appeal to a whole lot of people.

The Religious Aspect.

Is there a deeper reason? There is another big group who are giving a completely different answer. The cabin in the woods meme might have had a spiritual root, and for some of these people they didn't even know why they felt the way they did. They simply said something like “The mountains were calling me,” or even “There was something pulling me,” and they had no way to explain what or why.

Above is an excerpt from Havamal, and I believe that this set of stanzas explains that feeling. First, to own something that they can't be evicted from, should another Covid type of emergency happen again, or something with similar effects. The other point made in these stanzas, is that if you have even a small amount of food being grown on your land, you won't ever have to beg or barter for a meal. Are some of these people having big religious revelations without even realizing it? The call to a “Pagan” lifestyle without understanding exactly what it is that's happening to them, is seeming more and more to be the likely answer.

Understand that when I say “Pagan” it is being used above in both its literal, and in a religious context. Pagan by its literal definition simply means people of the country, or people of the hills. The rural lifestyle if you will. It's religious implications believe it or not are less esoteric to most people, who seem to understand that it simply means polytheism. Then there are the morons who think paganism and satanism are somehow linked. For the sake of clarity, they aren't linked in any way. Needless to say, a force greater than them is pulling them into the forest and mountains.

Have you had this calling?

If so, just know that you aren't alone.