Category Archives: Intellectual

The area of self-reliance covering our mental resiliency, discipline, and ability to broaden your perspective.

Diogenes and self-reliance

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The story is told of Alexander the Great visiting Diogenes and finding the philosopher laying in the sun. Alexander approached him and asked him if he could anything for him. Diogenes replied, “Yes, stand a little out of my sun.”

Kyle Eschenroeder examines this exchange in more detail and analyzes what Diogenes tells us about self-reliance in his article, “A Man’s Guide to Self-Reliance” from The Art of Manliness website.

Diogenes’ simple, ascetic lifestyle may seem to exemplify self-reliance, but these externals are not its essence.

Rather, self-reliance is a mindset, an approach to life that can be adopted whether you live in a wilderness cabin or a “little box” in the suburbs. Self-reliance is about living a life in which you make decisions and opinions with primary respect to your own experience of the world. You trust yourself. You’re true to yourself.

This doesn’t mean living in a void, it just means that we’re conscious about our relationship to the world and other people. It’s not rejecting external advice outright, but trusting ourselves enough to sift through which advice is worthy. We’re aware of the agendas of others, and don’t let them sway us from our self-determined path. Self-reliance doesn’t necessarily mean rejecting all established customs and values, it just means experimenting with them so we know if they work for us. It’s putting stock in our inner wisdom.

There’s a lot to unpack in this, but the last paragraph is especially of interest to me, especially these two lines: “It’s not rejecting external advice outright, but trusting ourselves enough to sift through which advice is worthy. We’re aware of the agendas of others, and don’t let them sway us from our self-determined path.” Put simply, we need to think for ourselves.

Far too often these days we are expected to buy into an ideology and follow it to the exclusion of all else. If we relate with an identity group we must think a certain way to remain in step with our fellows. Our news media, where once they would simply report the facts and let us decide what those facts mean, increasingly tells us what to think of those facts as well. Anyone who disagrees needs to be beaten down. We get our information from headlines and proceed as if we know and understand not just the details, but the nuance.

But how can we? Why should we? Why should we blindly accept another person’s “truth?”

The short answer is, “We shouldn’t.” We need to question, to seek to see as broad a perspective as we can, to measure what we’re being told against what we have learned through our own experience. We need to seek to verify, not just accept. We have far too many examples of history where terrible wrongs were committed under the cover of “I was just following orders,” or “It didn’t want to go against the crowd.” If we are to be judged and sentenced we should at least be so for our own beliefs, not for someone else’s.

Intellectual self-reliance is not an easy path. The world is a complex place, and it takes time and effort to sort through that complexity. But while we need to question, we can’t afford to continually question everything. We need some solid ground to stand on before we can move forward. We should be willing to adjust as we discover new information and encounter new perspectives, but be prepared to stand firm on our own foundation when a choice must be made.

Perhaps most importantly, even when we come to reject a particular philosophy or ideology, we need to resist the easy temptation of “that which we cannot believe we must despise, must hate.” We can oppose, but even when our own thinking in solid we can still learn much about ourselves and our beliefs through associations with those with whom we disagree. Someone with whom we can disagree, yet still respect and listen to, is invaluable in this world. It’s far too easy these days to dismiss anyone who thinks differently, but such intellectual reactionism is as wrong and dangerous as those who follow the herd. From Eschenroeder again:

In fact, there may never have been a time when developing this type of self-reliance has been more important. We’re over-politicized and polarized. Advertisements are creeping further and further into our content, making them less obvious. The Internet has given us two or two-thousand sides to every story. Social media feeds allow our peers to weigh in on our every decision. The comment section of a blog post allows us to see what other people thought of an article before we’ve formed our own opinion. It’s increasingly difficult to live a life that is inner-directed rather than other-directed.

In order to operate effectively in this kind of autonomy-sapping environment, developing a strong sense of self-reliance is crucial.

To be truly self-reliant may mean we not only stand firm, but that we stand apart. To follow the crowd too closely, however well-intentioned, is to invite disaster. As anyone in a mob or riot or Black-Friday frenzy understands, if you stand in the middle of any crowd it can be extremely difficult to escape before they run headlong off the cliff. Keep an intellectual distance, and trust in yourself to decide what is best for you.

Emotional self-reliance

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When most people think of self-reliance, when they think of it at all, they tend to think of emergency preparedness, homesteading, or living off the grid. True self-reliance, however, encompasses much more than just the external factors in our lives. It’s as much an internal state of being as an accumulation of physical resources.

This was reinforced for me by an article co-authored by Trudi Griffin, LPC, MS on “4 Ways to Be Self Reliant.” I’ll probably revisit this article more than a few times; there’s a lot there, and it covers a lot of ground. The article begins, however, with emotional self-reliance, or avoiding relational dependency:

Although being in a committed, bonded relationship can enrich your life, feeling unable to function without another person could lead to a problem like Relational Dependency.[1] Relational Dependency is a progressive disorder, meaning that the relationship may start off healthy but one person becomes gradually more controlling of or dependent upon the other, which can lead to an unhealthy relationship. Furthermore, self-actualization is needed for personal growth and is thought to be an essential need that motivates our behavior.[2] In general, those who are independent and self-reliant typically survive and function better in society than those who are dependent on others for happiness and sustainability. Taking control of basic tasks and life skills will not only help you stay in control of your own life but will ultimately contribute to making you a happier person.

Some of the steps Griffin recommends:

  • Assume responsibility for your life: This I took as meaning taking control of the little things in daily life, such as cleaning up after yourself, paying your bills on time, getting to appointments on time, etc. It begins with the realization that no one else is responsible for your success or failure. It’s up to you to take care of yourself and your environment.
  • Be informed: “Information is power, so having information will give you the power to make your own decisions and assert your independence,” Griffin tells us. To do that she recommends a rounded approach to keeping up on what is going on in your neighborhood, your job, your town and so on, up to the level of world events. The more your know the more influence you can exert on the world around you.
  • Know where you are going: Decide what you want. Develop a plan. Break that plan down into goals. Seek guidance where needed. But if you don’t know where you’re going with your life the world will always step in to offer alternative options–most of which will not ultimately benefit you.
  • Make your own decisions: All of the above work together to help you make your own decisions–and make better decisions when you make them. It’s okay to consider the needs of others, or to seek their advice, but take the final responsibility for your decision and do what is best for you. Letting others make decisions for you is to give up your independence.

There is more–much more–to this article. I suggest you read the entire thing…or hang around. I’ll more than likely come back to it again.

The lure of "bulk"

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As a general rule, buying bulk is a good way to save money. But one has to be careful. Take for example my recent toilet paper shopping for my business. We have a regular catalog for a business supplies, so I first looked there. We could buy TP by the case, getting a case of 96 rolls for about $50. Sounds good.

But then I compared it with our household brand. We get that stuff in packs of 24 rolls for about $4.80. That’s about 20 cents compared to about 50 cents in the bulk case. Not so great. But then I remembered that there are different sizes of rolls. I quickly checked the stuff we use at home, and it worked out to 88 square feet per roll. Armed with that information I checked the bulk stuff again. They didn’t give any figures on square footage.

Comparing apples and oranges–the bane of bargain shopping.

Fortunately they did list sheets per roll, and so did our household brand. It turns out the bulk stuff has about 500 sheets per roll, whereas the household stuff only has about 175. Simple math reveals that with the bulk stuff you’re paying about .112 cents per sheet, where the household TP comes in at .114 cents per sheet. Woo. Big difference. You’re not really saving much going bulk in this case.

Now the supply catalog gives even bigger discounts the more cases you buy, but we’re a small business. It’ll probably take us a year to use up the entire case. It’s worth it to always have some on hand–we can’t exactly close the shop while we run to the store for more TP–but really, it’s not that much of a savings.

Far too often that’s how it is buying bulk. Rather than really providing savings, they will mask information to make it only look like you’re getting more for your money. They make it as hard to compare with the “regular” quantities as they can. You may save some money, but you have to buy a lot before you really start to see any significant savings.

Do your homework and your math. There are real deals out there. But now that bulk is big business, it’s still very much “Let the buyer beware.”

Online task lists

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I end up carrying around several notebooks with me at any given time, mainly because I grab whatever is near when I plan, and end up with task lists spread between several notebooks. I’ve been thinking that it’s time to consolidate somehow, and have been wondering if there isn’t some free tool out there to help me.

Today I did some checking (I finally looked at one of my task lists) online and ended up trying out two task list services. The first was Keeyoo. It’s okay, but not very feature-rich. For example, I didn’t see any obvious way to reorder my task categories, so they would always be in the same order I thought of them. Not necessarily a big problem, but I could see it making it harder for me to use the system down the road.

It also didn’t anticipate how I think. For example, if I created a task for which there was no appropriate category I’d have to leave the task uncategorized while I go create a category for it. I’d then have to go back and assign that category to that task. A lot of trouble, really, at least in the setting-up phase.

Pretty soon I found myself wanting to go try something else before I put too much more work into getting my task list on Keeyoo, just in case there was something better. There was. Its’ called Toodledo. This one is also free, but includes some premium features that you have to pay for. But right away I could see this one was much better thought through. Their task entry window has a “enter multiple tasks” setting where you can create multiple tasks in one go, so long as they are uncategorized or in a single category. Just enter a new task on each line in the window. Very slick.

Even better, I quickly found that when creating a task, if the category (they call them folders) you need doesn’t exist you can create one right then and there before you complete creating the task. Perfect. And whereas Keeyoo lumped all tasks into a single list, or required you to click a tab off to the side, Toodledoo can group tasks in the main list, and order them any way you want. You can also change the order of your folders to either a custom order or simply alphabetical.

Another biggie is the ability to create “contexts”. A context is just that–the context in which you will do that task. Is it something you can only do in front of your computer, or is it something outside in the yard? Do you need to be near a phone, or is it an errand that needs to be done while you’re away from home? You decide, and you can group your lists by context to help you remember more easily to do things when you’re in that context.

Hands down, Toodledoo is the better system. It does a lot, and yet I can already see myself using the paid features, like the ability to create chains of tasks in a common goal or project. The remaining question is whether or not I’ll use it any more or more effectively than I do my paper system. I find myself frequently at a computer, so the ability to have my list anywhere I am is great. But it may not be so great if I forget to add items that come up while I’m somewhere else, say in the car, out in the garden, or at church–or my personal font of inspiration, the shower.

Yes, it appears to sync to mobile devices quite easily. No, I don’t have one, and don’t really want one yet.

So anyway, wish me luck. I’m going to try Toodledoo for awhile and see how well it works for me. If I remember I’ll report back in a month or so.

The case for DIY

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And speaking of Self Reliance Exchange, there’s another excellent article there about gaining the knowledge to do many things yourself. The writer (DDFD) uses the example of his car, and how you can learn a lot about your car and how it works just doing some of the basic maintenance. He still leaves some of the more specialized tasks to professionals for safety reasons, but there are many maintenance tasks that can be done yourself.

This article hit home a bit for me, as this is one area I’ve given myself a pass on. While I know I could learn car maintenance, I’ve avoided it by promising that I’ll just learn some skills that mechanics need so I can barter. But DDFD’s argument that you can learn a lot about your car by working on it makes sense. I really should do more of that.

It’s not easy. I like my mechanic. I want to make sure he’s still around when I need him. But would it kill me (or him) if I did a few of things things myself at least a time or two? Probably not.

 

The cost of "free"

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My sister, over at Knot in the Rope, has a post on how misleading many “free” can be. Very few things are really free.

What is the mentality of “free”? It’s the belief that “free” means there is NO cost!  Take the lunches I mentioned:  sure, they’re not asking the kids who come to hand over some cash to get lunch, but that food doesn’t just materialize out of nowhere and the people there cooking and serving aren’t just doing it out of the goodness of their hearts.  SOMEONE is paying for this program — in this case the federal government, which translates to the taxpayers!

Read the whole thing.

 

On marketing, consumerism, and self-reliance

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Rhonda Hetzel at Down To Earth Forum has an interesting essay examining the idea that unwarranted concern over food safety has made us all dependent on pre-packaged foods. I think there is something to that.

For one thing, marketing has long focused on showing how a product fills your needs, and they’re not above creating a need where there is none, even if it means scaring you to death. I remember a friend of mine years ago trying to sell me on a vitamin program based on this apocalyptic presentation that did its best to convince us that we would all die terrible, awful deaths without their vitamins. I didn’t buy it, or the vitamins.

For another, though it may have gotten its start in marketing, the anti-germ crusade has taken on a life of its own. We are so concerned about germs that we are using stronger and stronger products whose only real effect is to force-evolve more potent germs while simultaneously weakening our own natural defenses.

Now, I’m not an un-hygenic person, but I often observed at work how many people would take their paper towel they had just dried their hands on and use it to open the door out of the restroom so they wouldn’t have to expose themselves to the germs on the door handle. I don’t know if this helped them any, but I suspect all it did was make the door handle moist, thus extending the life expectancy of any germs that were there. In any case, I didn’t do that, and I was, if not sick less often, not sick any more frequently than they were.

At the same company we had executives who would spend months at a time at our India office, living amid conditions that would make most of us shudder. Invariably they would all get terribly sick within a few weeks of arriving there. Yet they all observed that the Indians themselves were very seldom sick–and they (the executives) seldom got sick again.

Now I’m not recommending we all start living in squalor or abandon basic hygiene in order to start building up immunity to common germs, but I do think we could relax a bit and not insist on surgical-theater cleanliness for every room in our house.

What are your thoughts?

 

British journalist becomes a mechanic for a day

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Iain Hollingshead, writing for the Telegraph, decides to test out the theories in a book by Matthew Crawford on the benefits of working with one’s hands. He decides to help his favorite mechanic services his Alpha Romeo:

I have a minor triumph of my own when, after an hour of gentle, blokey ribbing for knowing nothing about cars, I mend a fiddly rear numberplate light. As we celebrate with a mug of builder’s tea, I’m surprised by how pathetically, disproportionately happy I feel. Then I remember Crawford’s words: “The satisfactions of manifesting oneself concretely in the world through manual competence have been known to make a man quiet and easy. They seem to relieve him of the need to offer chattering interpretations of himself to vindicate his worth. He can simply point: the building stands, the car now runs, the lights are on. Boasting is what a boy does, because he has no real effect in the world.”

 

Self reliance means skills, not just tools

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Melanie Williams at Where Simplicity Leads has some excellent thoughts on the difference between tools and skills in self reliance:

When I was just getting serious about simple living a few years ago I read an article about self-reliance which really stuck with me. The author said that the biggest mistake people make when starting out is thinking that in order to become self-reliant they have to go out and buy a bunch of stuff. I remember thinking that was kind of funny–what kind of self-reliance is that? Self-reliance is really more about skill-building than it is about tool-getting, but in the early stages it’s easy to believe all you need are the right tools (or at least to believe that the right tools will get you a very long way).

Tools of course are important, and when we’re first adopting a simpler and more resilient lifestyle it might become very obvious, very quickly that all the tools and gadgets and gizmos we’ve acquired over the years are precisely all the wrong tools and gadgets and gizmos needed for self-reliance. Riding lawn mowers, microwave ovens, GPS navigation, bread machines, rototillers, dishwashers…not so important. Root cellars, chicken coops, grain mills, spades, shovels, buckets, jars…very important tools.

Read the whole thing. And not just because she uses the same blog template I used to! 😉