I could and I might...

you might not have guessed it - 

but I have given it serious thought...

gold

I know it was real - because I can still feel...
her kiss on my lips...
and a child's curiosity
in her fingertips.

I smell her perfume on my body
and I see her eyes everywhere
the moonlight glows...
and her kisses and caresses
left traces of gold...

The Modern World Detox Week-End

Inspired by Simon's post: De-Programming Modernism at The Iron Legion

 1.  Turn of your cell phone and keep away from your computer.  No television and no radio stations that play modern music.

 2.  Eat only non processed foods - that is, if it wasn’t around before the 19th century, don’t eat it.

 3.  Exercise - calisthenics, lifting - I don’t have weights... I lift milk jugs filled with water and a back pack filled with books or rocks... but I lift.  The milk gallons are off-balance so it makes you focus on how you hold them and strengthens your grip and the form of your arms.  Do push ups and crunches.  And walk - early in the morning and in the evening as the sun sits.

 4.  Start carrying a pocket knife - a Swiss Army knife or a pocket multi-tool... a single blade or a multi blade like a Boker... but start carrying a knife and use it every chance you can - to slice your fruit and for repairs... use it and learn the feel of it in your hand and... its textures and form and  weight... it is your steel... your blade... your sword.  It is very hard to find a man of my generation who does not carry a pocket knife... when did that stop?

 5.  Plant something... vegetables or a fruit tree or a nut tree or  some herbs... whatever, if you want to plant roses then do so... it would be best if it was something you could eat but plant something and tend your garden and watch it grow... this will give you responsibility if you need it... especially if you are planting food... nature will do most of the work but you do have to tend to your garden and keep pests away and give it water... use your instincts and logic and common sense - it is in you... bring it out.

 6.  Build something.  Get some wood and build a shelf... a desk... a chair... a table - a table is simply a door with legs... you will not look it up on the internet... again, use your instinct, a ruler, a pencil, and your tools.  Create with your hands and take your time... visualize it and give form to your vision... keep the vision of what you are building in your head and put your spirit into it... it could be a simple wooden spoon or a bird house... it can be something as simple as making a book...

 7.  Write... everything - in your new journal that you fashioned together... random thoughts, ideas, lists, sketches, maps... the blue prints for your rebel fortress... the cipher poem to get to your buried treasure...

 8.  Find an old timer and make friends... ask question and learn... don’t let the knowledge of the last generations fade.

 9.  Find men - look for others of like mind and spirit and form a gang... a tribe... a brotherhood and form a bond and when the time has come seal that bond with ritualistic ceremony - like the bonds of blood brothers you made when you were a boy... what you didn’t do that?

10. Go into the woods alone and with your tribe... learn to survive... learn to just be alone and commune with your thoughts, with your soul... with nature and with God... learn your plants and weeds... the trees... the sounds and the smells... learn to make a fire - I don’t know how to make a fire out of nature... I carry a tin with fire making tools - fire-striker, matches, lighter and tinder...

Learn to hunt... with a bow and arrow - long bow, not your modern mechanical stuff... fashion a spear and fish with it... when you are not hunting for your food then play with the creatures in the woods - chase the rabbit and the deer... feed the birds and the geese... make your rituals in the wild - chant and pray and dance around the fire... make your rituals around the hunt and give thanks for your food... make a ritual before your hunt and after... make rituals around the fire - tell stories and create myth... even if your are just by your self... give yourself a tribal name - you have no name until the tribe gives you a name...

11. Find a church... if you are not ready to go to mass... just find a church... the older the better... and sit there in silence... take in the smells and the echoes... and whisper gently your conversation with God... this will center you - I don’t know why or how it works... but being in an empty old church... for a just a little while does do something spiritual to you.

12. Spend time with your family - many people these days do not get along with their family - but they are your family... they are your clan... you don’t have to say much... just be around them and get them used to the idea... of you being around them... perhaps you can convince your brother to go out into the wild with you... let them know that (even if they are jerks) you got their back... gather your family for a Sunday lunch or dinner... begin or restore your family traditions... in my opinion there is not much point of having a family if there are no traditions to gather for... and tradition is what we are trying to save and restore.

'Camp fire'

Winslow Homer

related posts: 

Scouts of the Legion

How I Rebel Against The Modern World

The Hunt Has Begun

Dash Deringer - Solitary Nature Boy

Scouts of the Legion

When I was a boy my older brother Johnny was a Boy Scout when he was a teenager - he went camping and hiking and wore that awesome green uniform and had a sash covered in accomplishment badges... and he was just cool... and I wanted to do all that  and learn all that camping and wilderness stuff... I wanted to learn to be an Indian... and live in the woods in a tee-pee... I thought that was what scouting was... and I wanted to be just a little bit like Johnny back then as well... but I was too young to be a Boy Scout - for boys my age we had to first be Cub Scouts - and our uniform was blue... not quite as cool... The biggest reason I wanted to become a scout was because I wanted to learn useful manly stuff - I was curious and longed for adventure... see, there was no park in our neighborhood and like all the other boys, dad worked all the time... my step father was always on the road - he was a truck driver and had his own company... and I wanted some sort of bonding with other kids that I could have something in common with outside of school - I was not much into sports as a boy, mostly because no one encouraged that in me... I was in the track team in elementary school and ran in the track team when my family lived in Odessa for my junior high... but left track behind when we returned to El Paso... track and field sports are mostly a solo effort , other than the relay team... you are competing as an individual with others... and scouting, of course, had sporting competitions back then... and  I wanted encouragement for something... from someone - back then... and I thought I would find it in scouting... so I joined... along with all the boys from the neighborhood - seriously... all the boys from the neighborhood made up our troop... we were now a unified gang dressed in blue ready to take on the woods...

Yeah... that didn’t happen... we never went on a camping trip... the mothers we were trying to get away from to become men were the mothers that were running the troop... (long sigh here...) My mother mostly... she was one of  the ‘den mothers’ - there were no male scout leaders for us... no ‘den fathers’ - there was one kids dad who would come to teach us some things but he was an ex-marine and thought we were marines and treated us like we were in boot camp... other fathers would come to teach us different skills like wood carving and leather working... but we had no regular guy there for us... we were boys looking for male leadership because our own fathers were busy putting food on the table and keeping the lights on... the women didn’t know anything that they weren’t reading from a manual... it was not what we thought... not want we were looking for and not what we wanted... many of the boys became disillusioned and came to the group meeting less and less until the troop was disbanded for lack of members participating... including me...

I would be twenty one years old when I would go on the camping trip that got be interested in the scouting life again - that trip I took with Jerry and his cousin... when I cut my hand open... we didn’t know what we were doing really - a herd of cattle came through camp... some creature ate our food... it was cold and uncomfortable... and I slit the palm of my hand open... I loved it... the others... not so much and before the second night they packed it in and we left... but I had that bug in me... and I wanted more... and whenever I could... I would go hiking in the mountains or in the valley or go into New Mexico and go on a scout just be my self... no one knew and I didn’t care that I didn’t know what I was doing... I was going to learn what I could on my own - as everything else in my life... I was finally going on those adventures I dreamed of as a boy - and for me the adventure is always not knowing what is going to happen... so, since I was twenty one I have secretly gone on scouts - camping trips on my own... whenever I have the opportunity... and I have learned the most important thing in life from it - trust my instincts... trust the voice inside of me... Confidence comes from success - it comes form accomplishing something... the more you accomplish the more successful you will become and that gives you more confidence to accomplish more... it’s a continuous circle that you don’t want to break once it starts - but it does break from time to time...  Listening to that voice inside of me and trusting my instinct would take another ten years before I applied it to everything else in my life.

Through my scouting life I have learned to keep it simple.  I have learned to be a minimalist... I have learned to do without - which came in handy when I had absolutely nothing...  I have learned to endure and have learned just how much I can endure... and I have learned to pick myself up when there is no one else to help me up and I have learned to push myself - to get to my destination... I have learned to enjoy the journey... and  to take my time... I have learned patience... I have learned to humble myself before my creator... I have learned gratitude - I am still learning the hunt, but for everything I have caught in the wild I have humbled myself and given thanks to God and offered up a prayer for the rabbit or fish I was to make a meal of - the way the Indians before me did... I have learned to be frugal and thrifty... I have learned how to be creative (in more ways than artistic)... and I have learned to be brave... and I have learned to trust in nature... nature knows what she is doing... God taught her... I have learned that there is an answer... it is just waiting to be discovered.

I was a supporter of the Boy Scouts of America up until the point when they changed their policy on homosexuals... on principle I had to pull my support and backing... for the scouts were there to teach the young men to be morally straight and this new policy goes against that teaching... I do not know what the Boy Scouts stand for now days... but I know what it was when I was a boy... when I wanted so much to be one of them... but I know... that to save it... as the rest of the chaos... it must return to what it was...

If this legion we are building ever decides to implement a program for boys - a program that will instill in them the foundations of ethics and principles and strong morals... a program that will instill in them the virtues of a simple life based on a chivalric code... and that will help boys enter into man hood with ritualistic ceremony and give them rites of passage into an eternal brotherhood... If this legion begins a program for boys that will teach them to honor and cherish the traditions of their people... their culture and faith... I will support such a program and protect it... for the future needs the kinds of men that scouting can produce... if this legion starts such a group and picks up where the Scouts left off and can return it to what it was... I know those boys that participate will become great leaders - if not, great followers... but they most certainly need to learn to be boys... and be as boys must be - curious and adventurous and free.

The Boy Scout Oath:

On my honor, I will do my best
To do my duty to God and my country and to obey the Scout Law;
To help other people at all times;
To keep myself physically strong, mentally awake and morally straight. 

A  Boy Scout Is:

 Trustworthy

Loyal

Helpful

Friendly

Courteous

Kind

Obedient

Cheerful

Thrifty

Brave

Clean

Clever

Reverent

The Boy Scout Moto:

Be Prepared

The Boy Scout Slogan:

Do a Good Turn Daily