I am trying hard to be a primitive.

We come into this world with nothing, and we leave with the same. No one more than me fell for the dream. The large detached house, the his and hers Mercs on the drive, and the matching Rolex watches. Country club memberships and antique Georgian furniture. That cost me close on forty years of my working life. A few years ago, while lying on an operating table, in a catheterization laboratory, about to undergo heart stents, I had a moment of clarity. Who gives a shit ! I had said goodbye to my wife, the odds of checking out were slim, but a possibility, but it focused my attention. If I got through this in one piece, a drastic change in lifestyle was going to take place. I am a very fortunate man, my Wife would follow me into hell without a question. We dumped it all, and decided to get as close as possible to the life of a primitive.

OK we have a roof over our heads (a small flat/apartment) the cars have gone and have been replaced with Vauxhall (GM) and Honda,  but we live comparatively free. We work around three months of the year, in work we love (we are photographers) I gave up my beloved golf due to a chronic hand condition, I learned a long time ago, as one door closes, another opens. I took up fishing, and I love it. On warm or dry days I catch fish on a beautiful lake, with my ever loyal Wife on the landing net.

Some time ago I read a great book, Nutrition and Physical Degeneration by Weston A Price. This is another book that can be read free of charge at the link. As an appetiser some words below from this great book. A long read, but well worth the effort. This  book chronicles our journey into the abyss we find ourselves today.

"The culture and civilisation of the White man are essentially material; his measure of success is, "How much property have I acquired for myself?" The culture of the Red man is fundamentally spiritual; his measure of success is, "How much service have I rendered to my people?"  Ernest Thompson Seton

The faith of the primitive in the all-pervading power of which he is a part includes a belief in immortality. He lives in communion with the great unseen Spirit, of which he is a part, always in humility and reverence.

Elizabeth Odell in the following lines seems to express the spirit of the primitives.

Flat outstretched upon a mound
Of earth I lie; I press my ear
Against its surface and I hear
Far off and deep, the measured sound
Of heart that beats within the ground.
And with it pounds in harmony
The swift, familiar heart in me.
They pulse as one, together swell,
Together fall; I cannot tell
My sound from earth's, for I am part
Of rhythmic, universal heart.

OK I am out of here for a few days, hope to do some fishing on the South Coast, warm, it ain’t.

Eddie

The book can be read free of charge  here.