Newsgroups: misc.survivalism Subject: Re: What do YOU consider a "survivalist" to be? / What traits are considered to be important? From: Geri Guidetti Date: 31 Mar 1996 01:40:23 GMT Dave Hoots wrote: >I agree with "mindset" as the #1 trait that sets the survivalist >apart from "everyone else". But what elements constitute >this mindset? >To me, this mindset is synonymous with the concept of >self-reliance. It also incorporates self-responsibility. > >I think my sig line, from Robert Heinlein, typifies the >survivalist mindset -- comments, anyone? > > >Dave Hoots > > >*********************************************************** >hoots_dave@tandem.com > >"A human being should be able to change a diaper, plan an invasion, > butcher a hog, conn a ship, design a building, write a sonnet, balence > accounts, build a wall, set a bone, comfort the dying, take orders, give > orders, cooperate, act alone, solve equations, analyze a new problem, > pitch manure, program a computer, cook a tasty meal, fight efficiently, > die gallantly. Specialization is for insects." > > Robert A. Heinlein > > >Couldn't agree with you or Heinlein more, Dave. A survivalist -- I prefer survivor, myself-- is one who is multi-skilled, multi-lea= rned, often by a great deal of effort, because few are born gifted in all areas essential for survival. Within one's ability to lear= n,it should be learned -- and taught -- just for having had the privilege of living. My God, life is so short, and there is so much = out there to be experienced, enjoyed and learned -- even mastered-- that it would be so sad to die without being able to say that yo= u took the best that life offered you, made the best of it, learned to provide for yourself and others and even had the insight to r= ecognize that you will have left the Earth a bit better than when you found it for your efforts. It is in that process of learning, = broadly, that the probability of survival is greatly enhanced. In fact, the probability of survival of great numbers of people is gr= eatly enhanced by your efforts. IMHO, this provision for self and others does not translate into greed and high living. Quite the co= ntrary; it is about getting back down into the dirt and growing your food, looking up at the night sky in awe of the Wisdom that gui= des its physics, and reminding yourself that to survive is to be an integral part of that whole Grand Design. To limit one's definition of survival to preserving an individual or family from all of the very real and, sometimes,imagined threats that exist around us,deprives us of the opportunity to advance-- to evolve-- and, in a real way, to REGRESS to become the more self-reliant,more spiritually tuned-in, more noble creatures we are meant and physiologically endowed to be. Self-reliance isn't only about buying cans of dehydrated foods to prepare for the inevitable droughts and famines ahead. It is knowing how to rebuild a shattered, devastated earth to grow your own food, make your own clothes, your own bread, your own medicine--without electicity, Tide,TV or computers (Ugh!). I can't help but believe that if we all grew and helped others grow in this way, the underlying causes of the psychoses which now pervade our societies would be merely occasional aberrancies rather than the growing norm.The reason so many of us are so d.....ed fat, tired, bored, scared, stressed, spiritless, etc etc etc is because we aren't really surviving as the human body and mind were meant to survive. We are merely ENDURING! Sorry...must be the brain damage...Love and peace to all, Geri Guidetti, The Ark Institute. >