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Going Alone: Be safe... But not too safe
This book is for those who, when they were young, preferred gazing out the school bus window rather than socializing; looking past the landscape sliding by, to an unseen horizon where thoughts moved quietly from one disconnected moment to the next. This book is for those who would go alone to such a place in the mind, to walk peacefully through an unmarked landscape as real as thought, and as distant as imagination. It’s been forty years since my mind began to wander alone in this way, and I’ve been there and back now many times. This book is the result of my effort, and a catalog of the useful things I’ve found while far away where relevance hardly matters. I’d like to show you the way, and share what’s not out there, and talk about alternatives which make sense given the facts of the world. This book is for those who would go alone, who will step where there are no trails or footprints, who will risk everything to gain very little of real or apparent value, and who will at last reckon peace through the development, satisfaction and livelihood of a well-lived life.
239 pages, Kindle Edition
Published November 8, 2017
14 people are currently reading
7 people want to read
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May 19, 2020
A beautiful, honest book. Best to quote from the author himself:
"When I talk about going alone some may think I'm referring to hiking and camping all by one's self. That's partially right. But mostly I'm referring to a mental endeavor to seek after and develop life principles without the reinforcing comfort of authority, dogma or consensus. This doesn't require thinking up ideas oneself, but instead using reason to discern if a proposition is true, and fits with the reality of the world around us. That's going alone. It's only coincidence that being alone in very wild places is an excellent forum for rendering truth from abundance of comforting propositions and stories we tell one another to keep back the dark. When you're alone in the dark there is nowhere the truth can hide."
For those younger and more athletic than I am, the author give lots of practical advice on hiking and camping in the desert, from the best equipment to the best time of year, etc. He also quotes Emerson: "the wise man stays at home."
"When I talk about going alone some may think I'm referring to hiking and camping all by one's self. That's partially right. But mostly I'm referring to a mental endeavor to seek after and develop life principles without the reinforcing comfort of authority, dogma or consensus. This doesn't require thinking up ideas oneself, but instead using reason to discern if a proposition is true, and fits with the reality of the world around us. That's going alone. It's only coincidence that being alone in very wild places is an excellent forum for rendering truth from abundance of comforting propositions and stories we tell one another to keep back the dark. When you're alone in the dark there is nowhere the truth can hide."
For those younger and more athletic than I am, the author give lots of practical advice on hiking and camping in the desert, from the best equipment to the best time of year, etc. He also quotes Emerson: "the wise man stays at home."
Displaying 1 of 1 review