All my life I have yearned for true reclusion,Days on end sought wonders beyond this world:Here old peasants enter their fields at dawn,And mountain monks return to their temples at night.Clear sounds come from pine-shaded springs,Mossy walls filled with ancient truths.I will lodge on this mountain forever,I and the world are done with each other.Meng Hao-jan
In a world that equates a quality life with extreme busyness, the relentless pursuit of more money and stuff, and a full social calendar, it is odd to suggest anything else, like a quiet, simple and minimal life.
A life lived outside of the noisy and frenetic city.
Where one works only enough to satisfy basic needs and intellectual curiosity, without the craving for more.
A life where one might not read the latest news, rarely travel far from home, never go out for entertainment, and instead spend a lot of time in nature.
It seems odd to suggest only staying in touch with a few friends and family members, instead of planning one's whole life around such things.
Not going to the gym, but taking one's exercise by going for long walks.
Eschewing restaurants and take out and eating simple foods grown and made by your own hands.
Seldom buying anything, and working at minimizing possessions instead of the more mainstream pursuit of maximizing them.
Disregarding most of popular culture, and not knowing the latest shows and movies.
Striving to be in bed by 8:30 every night, and up by 5:00 every morning.
To argue this in today's modern, technological maelstrom of mayhem may seem like insanity to a regular member of such a society.
But I have always yearned for more reclusion, and the more I get, the happier I am.
I am done with this modern age. I find it distasteful and unhealthy.
And I don't think that's crazy.
Rather, a yearning for more solitude seems to me to be a rational reaction to a sick and ailing world.
Reclusion is the antidote.
It's self-preservation.
There are wonders aplenty to be had here.
"I really am a recluse. I just enjoy watching the wind blow through the trees. In America someone who sits around and does that is at the bottom of the ladder, but in Japan, say, someone who goes up into the mountains is accorded great respect. I guess I am somewhere in between. I enjoy reclusion: it clears my mind."— Robert M. Pirsig
