A Suelo Life?
After reading, viewing, and pondering the Suelo- Modern Transcendentalist Article, Suelo's Website and Suelo's Blog Link, what are you drawn to acknowledge or critique regarding his
"Transcendental" perspective on life and the way he tries to "live
deliberately?" Please argue using quotations and other evidence to
support your claims. This blog response is due on August 30th by 2:30p.m.
posted by Greg T at Sunday, August 27, 2017
32 Comments:
I admire his ability to fully step away from society and realize what is truly important in life. He is not worried about situations or things that control most of our everyday lives. Life tends to be planned out; go to school, college, get a good job, get married, and have a family. Suelo avoids the typical life plans and makes his own plan. He takes advantage of materials that some of us may throw out and consider useless. He proves that money cannot by happiness and and living in the present can bring bliss. Only having the bare essentials can still help you to have a happy life. I do not believe that such extreme measures need to be taken. Simply living on what you need, setting priorities in life, and living in the present can aid someone to have a happier life than someone who is so worried about society and the typical path of life. Being confident in your decisions and not depending on others for your well being can bring a positive, happy life.
This man is somewhat of a hypocrite. He lives a money-less life by mooching off people and places who do. Without vigorous corporate waste, caused by competition and capitalism, he wouldn't be able to survive. When he complains about how money isn't natural, he ignores the fact that money and trade are parts of every intelligent society on earth, human or otherwise. People cannot expect a modern life without commodity. People may be entitled because of the massive convince of modern life, but society without it would be a wasteland. He only lives so well because what he is actually doing is making a protest of human waste. It has nothing to do with moneylessness. If it did, he would create and grow all of the things that he uses, not scavenge for them. Getting the products of consumerism for free isn't a protest of consumerism.
I think it’s cool that Mr. Suelo is living a happy life off of no money. It’s interesting to read that he enjoys his life by living with no money and no house. He’s been doing this for nine plus years and he lives perfectly fine. He proves to us that you can live life with the bare minimum and still live happily. The only issue with that is that it would be hard to get the right nutrition for your body. It would be hard to find the right nutrition in those trash cans or in the forest. Other than the fact that he lives in a cave, and gets his food and clothes from other people, for the most part he seems to be living his own happy life. I think another big issue would be trying to live in Colorado while in the winter times. He says he goes to the west coast, but getting there would be the hard part. In conclusion, I think that it’s cool that he said he could live life with no money, and he was able to prove to his family and friends that he could.
After reading the article on Daniel Suelo I am conflicted by many of his beliefs. Suelo is a very interesting man and he has many strong and different beliefs. I agree with his idea regarding the more money we have the more money we want and in turn we think spending this money to buy something bigger or better will make us happier. Especially in today’s society it is this competition of who has the newest and best things and it has become very materialistic. However, I admire Suelo’s ambition to give up money and live off the land but I don’t believe that it is very practical in the present time. I think that Suelo is trying to live in a past era, but that is exactly it. We have evolved from the past that is why we are not the same as we were 1,000 years ago. With technology advancing and living in the United States with a democracy, there is a need for money and a need for participation in today’s society. I also agree with people saying “He (Suelo) heard people call him a mooch, a leech or sponge off society.” I know that he goes through dumpsters to find trashed food or clothing but guess what … Whether or not those items are thrown out, they were bought by functioning members of society. It is a hard topic to argue because I understand that he wants to live his life the way that he wants but at the same time there are people working hard to keep society moving well and if everyone just decided to not work and mooch off other people then our society would be a mess.
Suelo is painting himself to be much better than he really is. He preaches the ideas of money being inherently corrupt, such as when the Denver Post author recalls him saying, “The addiction to money fuels corruption... and he refuses to support a corrupt system.” I believe this to be a radical statement with no substance. There isn’t anything inherently corrupt about using a currency, and it seems to be more of a fantasy for him that it is. He is also nowhere near self reliant, but instead a scavenger, dependent on the excess of the nearby town to feed and clothe him. When people “call him a mooch, a leech or sponge off society,” as noted in the Denver times, they are absolutely correct. The cedar tea and wild cactus could not sustain him if the nearby towns were to reject him. Though he understands this, he seems to ignore it when presenting his philosophy. Overall, I think in order to remove his contradictory status but still detaching himself from normal society, he should practice what he preaches; living without money while producing his own stuff.
I applaud him for stepping away from society, but he is still depending on people with money. For example he takes trash from supermarkets and when he was in Alaska he hitched hiked across the state. He is still dependent on people with money, this doesn't support his fight against a money free society. I do agree that he shows money doesn't buy happiness, through his money less lifestyle. In the packet it said that they had never seen a happier person, which just goes to prove that money doesn’t buy happiness.
Suelo's way of life makes me ask a lot of questions. I think what he is doing is trying to show everyone that we don't need the simple luxury that we use everyday. At the same time people call him "a mooch or sponge of society" makes me wonder really why he is doing it. If all these luxuries are available why live without them? Because he is doing it for the lord. He says "you cannot serve money and the lord at the same time." I believe that he is mooching of society people are working for these things and he is just giving them without much work. He says he's happy with his way of life, is he really happy or just trying to stay positive because of his beliefs?
In my opinion, I believe that Suelo´s way of life is both admirable and selfish. His ability to fully remove himself from the society he lives in is truly incredible. I admire Suelo's grit to fully follow through with his morals, such as not allowing money to buy happiness and not letting others' opinions define who he is as a human being. He says, "The addiction to money fuels corruption." I think that this statement is valid in the context of the world and a good understanding to grasp. On the other hand, I believe that Suelo's way of living is quite unrealistic and foolish. It is not realistic for a man to do nothing in a day but ponder his thoughts in the woods. I also believe that he has chosen to live in a very selfish way. The only thing he is currently doing in his life is living for himself and not helping, supporting, loving, or giving anything to anyone else. In my opinion, I think that completely eliminating yourself from the world is not a healthy lifestyle. When he says, "It would be like going back to slavery," he puts this scenario way out of context. It is unacceptable to jokingly use slavery in such a shallow situation. In conclusion, I believe that you can truly be happy in areas of life while being surrounded by other people without having to throw everyone and everything out.
In a world where materialistic items are often the things that drive our want to succeed and make a living, it's admirable to see someone like Suelo branch away from that type of world and create a new one for himself. Our world today is competitive and the fear of falling behind or lacking of certain things drives us to make money and fuel our financial stability. Even if his lifestyle is not for everyone, Suelo shows how it is possible to live a happy and substantial life without pouring all of our money and time into materialistic objects. He says in an interview, “an addiction to money fuels corruption.” I don’t think he is stating that using money is corrupt, but when you become addicted to the power that money makes you feel, it becomes corrupt. When you start to only accomplish the bare minimum to get a paycheck at the end of the week, you're completely losing the passion and hard work that comes with it. Money should be valued and appreciated, but its quantity should not determine your worth. If you're not content with the way you are approaching or handling your life, you are encouraged to change something. Suelo is an amazing representation of the motivation and courage that goes into doing something that is challenging and scary to better your life. Many will argue that he takes things from people who have put their hard earned money into them. Yet, as stated in an article by Slate, “Items discarded in the trash are often classified as abandoned property—meaning the owner has relinquished his claim to the items and doesn't intend to resume ownership” (Lapidos). Therefore, he has the right to use something that someone has thrown away, instead of allowing it to go into a wasteland somewhere. I mean, would you get mad if the water bottles you threw away were then made into a bag? Personally, I can’t imagine leaving everything you have and making a new life for yourself. We all approach difficult situations differently, whether you make a promise that you won’t buy junk food, get more exercise, save money, etc. If it makes you happier, go for it. The mind is more powerful than you think, even the smallest things can change your life.
Lapidos, Juliet. “Once You Put Something in the Garbage, Do You Still Own It?” Slate Magazine, 13 May 2009, www.slate.com/articles/news_and_politics/explainer/2009/05/hands_off_my_garbage.html.
Daniel Suelo has made a pretty good life for himself with his lifestyle of not using money to provide himself. This whole explanation is that money is evil and that he likes to help people is great but he also does something that is extremely selfish. In the article he talks about how he doesn't like to be given anything for his help, “If they insist on giving him money, he gives it away immediately.” that is extremely inconsiderate because that person gave him money that he didn’t really want and basically threw it away instead of re-gifting it back to them. It is good that he isn’t just helping himself with this lifestyle and that he finds time to help this friends and family.
I really admire how Suelos noticed the things he didn’t like in society and did something about it. It didn’t matter if it was against society's normalcy Suelo still stood up for what he thought was right. One interesting concept he stood up for was how he doesn’t think money or things are necessary. Going through life people work so hard to earn money to buy things. Some things are useful but others things just get in the way of our happiness. It’s interesting that in the article A Simple Life says that Suelo is “‘...truly the happiest person I have met. He is so deeply peaceful, it’s contagious,’ says Damian Nash, Suelos college roommate and a high school teacher in Moab” This just goes to prove that the happiest people are the ones who don’t worry about having things. It’s inspiring how much of his worry went away from going against the social norms. Suelos example of living in a cave is a bit extreme but I believe people should stand up for what they believe is right too.
I think that Daniel Suelo's life can be considered good and bad. His beliefs seem to be good in the fact that he is "living without money" (Jason Blevins) I think that money is the root of all evil so I think it's great that he doesn't believe in money. Money makes people go crazy and almost every single person in the world relies on money. The article states that "he is living proof that money can't buy happiness" many people believe that money is the only way to be happy however I believe it is not. Daniel Suelo is supposedly the "happiest person I have me. He is so deeply peaceful, its contagious, says Damien Nash" this quote proves that it matters more about what you believe rather than what you have. One thing that I don't agree with is how he refuses to sleep inside, there is a certain point when enough is enough. You can still be thankful and use the bare minimum and live under shelter, he is a little extreme. Overall, I believe that Suelo's morals and intentions are very good and he is living proof that one can live without many things.
I think Daniel Suelo's lifestyle is kind of hypocritical. He refuses to use money based on the idea that it is immoral. "Using Money leaves you tainted or Immoral." (Friend of Suelo). But Society is run by money, it practically makes the world move. Suelo also depends on Society for his living. He has clothes from Society, previously made and Purchased via money. He eats food from trash, that society had thrown away. For someone who had turned away from society, Suelo still depends on it.
I think that Daniel Suelo's life still is very interesting. Because he doesn't want to use money but he will use things that others have spent money on. But at the same time he reuses things that otherwise wouls be left behind to rot and go to waste. It seems like people like him help use things that are wasted. But his life style is also still hypocritical to a point.
I think that if Suelo truly wanted to live without the help of society, he would make his own clothes and hunt and find his own food. He does depend on these things produced by society to survive which is hypocritical of what he says about society. Although he is somewhat hypocritical, I still respect the way he lives his life because he doesn't rely on society as much as most Americans.
I believe that Suelo's choice of lifestyle is both impractical and unnecessary, as it does not get his message across, whatever that message be. Suelo claims that he is living a money-less life, but that is only true in the sense that he is not using any of his own money. Most of Suelo's diet and clothing consists of leftovers from grocery stores or restaurants that he finds in dumpsters. In doing this, he is using the money that someone else paid to gather those ingredients, and the money paid by customers for those meals that they did not finish. He is living a life full of money, but none of his own. I believe that if he were to grow his own food, make his own clothes, and not associate himself with society whatsoever, then his argument would hold some value. But since he is living off of the money and products of others, he is hypocritical, and a leech on the belly of society.
I believe Daniel Suelo's life is very interesting. He throws away everything he has and travels by himself, not fueled by the need for money or food or whatever the case may be. He is independent in his own way, and he travels in search of himself, not a better house or a better car. He believed the only thing that could improve our quality of life is finding yourself, and going on a long, beautiful adventure to do so.
I think Suelo is a bit of a hypocrite. He embraces not depending on anyone, not depending on money, or working for a living, and yet his main source of materials is the trash of others. He eats well, due to a purchase of too much food. His clothes come from styles that didn't sell fast enough. The only thing that he does that embraces his non-monetary ideals is live in a cave. Overall, I think his cause is could, but the action he is taking is not enough to prove he believes in these values.
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I think that the results that Suelo has gotten from his idea of living without money are incredible. He has learned how to find true happiness for himself through the beauty of nature, but at the same time, he has also made it harder to live a relaxing life. In the article, the author described how he found nutritious food, by saying that he found "wild onions, watercress, prickly pear fruit, serviceberries, globe mallow and pine nuts that grow near his home add fresh-grown flair to the trash-bin-derived dishes he cooks over fire-branded coffee cans molded into stoves. He occasionally cooks roadkill gathered around Moab, and says he has never fallen ill from spoiled food." This would take a lot longer than what we have to do to get food. Even though it does sound interesting and different, I still don't feel it would be a very easy life.
I have problems with the way that Suelo lives and acts like he isn't piggy-backing off of the benefits of society but acting aloof as if he is living completely on his own devices. His devices were all provided by society as a whole, the only way for him to have survived is to use knowledge gained by the billions of people before him. The knowledge that allows a human to survive alone is unique and for us to survive everyone before him taught him how to live. Knowledge of scavenging in the forests is something that isn't discover-able in one lifetime. It is money using society that taught him how to survive without money. If society didn't exist Suelo would have to wear rough, painful, self-made clothing. His quality of life is so immensely high because he doesn't have to do everything himself.
Suelo's life is very inspiring. The fact that he chooses to live without money, living from place to place, eating trash, and so on. Nowadays, our society often takes advantage of money and possessions. Suelo knows that and because of that, he chooses to live a life that doesn't take advantage of possessions. He proves that you don't need a bunch of money to be happy, that you can have practically nothing but still be happy. I think that statement is so true and the fact that Suelo promotes that is so influential. It is almost impossible to find someone that would do that. We also focus so much on possessions and our 'wants' more than our 'needs'. You need very little to survive in life, yet you can still be happy, and that is a very valuable life lesson that Suelo teaches in his article.
Suelo has a life that I can agree with, but also disagree. He says he wants to live off his own and doesn't like to get things that are "unimportant", yet he will take the clothes and other things that society doesn't want. Even though its not handed to him physically, its still handed to him by the society that he says does too much. Without society, his life would be more rough than how he is living now.
The perspective of Suelo targets the idea that embracing nature results in a simple life with less distractions. I like how his thoughts are unique and most people in the modern world do not have that type of compassion towards the natural aspects of our reality. I agree that money is just a piece of paper but when he says it is an illusion in his blog I think that money can actually be a tool to help grow ones self through ideologies such as his. People do get too attached to modern day materialism so I can understand where he is coming from. I think that it is beautiful that he has the connection with nature so much that he does what many people are too afraid to do.
After researching Suelos lifestyle, it is clear to see how he is different from the rest of the world. Suelo doesn’t live with anything. No house, no money, nothing. For a majority of us, that is a nightmare. Suelo seems to believe that he doesn’t need anything to live a happy life. Which does and does not make sense. It makes sense because he is right, we don’t need a new house or whatever to make us happy. But unfortunately we do, because a most people would not live in a cave. Overall, I understand what Suelo is trying to say but it is not reality. Even though I would never live Suelos lifestyle, it really makes you think how much we waste and how much we could save if we try.
I disagree with Suelo's lifestyle because I'm a strong believer in advancing and allowing society to change and mold into the technology it has. It's entirely up to the person how they want to live their lives but it's very important to recognize the good in every lifestyle, even the society he sees no good in. The reality is that every lifestyle has pros and cons and if someone wants to be stuck in the past sort of life than so be it. Also, it's not a shame to have more than enough. I think having more than enough is perfect. It's so much better to have stuff to throw away than to be scraping scraps out of the garbage. We do a good job of sharing though, too. I hear stories all the time about people raising money for other people who aren't as fortunate as us. I just don't think Suelo's life is practical so I would never live it. I'm going to advance and keep up with the times.
I believe that they way that Suelo lives is both inspiring and questionable. The fact that he has created his own well being and happiness in something other than money is amazing. Also that he cares for himself and is still healthy without needing to buy food or hot water. He uses the little of the land and grows his own food. I do think though that he doesn't agree with the way society is but without it being the way it is, he would not be able to survive without all of the stuff we throw out. If everyone in society were to live like he did we would have no waste to go through to live off. There are some things with the way he lives that do seem hypocritical but I admire the way that he took a charge and was able to completely change his life
While I believe that the way Suelo lives is admirable in some aspects, some of Suelo's stances I do not agree with. I do believe that it's good to be self-reliant, however, I also think that allowing yourself to use modern conveniences has its benefits. Overall, I think that Suelo is able to show us as a society that, while we need some technological advances such as modern medicine and modern forms of communication, we don't necessarily need to spend so much time and energy on superfluous conveniences in order to be happy.
I was drawn to the the idea of "living deliberately". I personally find a deep connection with the idea of "...freely giving & freely taking, giving, expecting nothing in return, forgiving all debts, owing nobody a thing, living beyond payback of either evil-for-evil or good-for-good, living and walking without guilt." (1st FAQ, Living Without Money website) While personally I don't plan on leaving everything I own and following this sort of lifestyle, I do find that staying true to yourself is something truly valuable and hard to do in this day and age. I find that being yourself is an insanely hard thing to do with how much the world around us influences our day to day lives. We're very driven to the idea of money meaning success, and it often prevents people from doing certain things due to financial restrictions. One example, is the idea that artists don't make very much money. While from firsthand experience I know this to be relatively true, I do know that art I find art to be the best way for me to express emotion and thought. I don't make money of course, but because it's something I love, it provides a help money can't always provide. I think that's a strong lesson that Suelo portrays with his lifestyle,
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After reading, watching, and learning about Suelo and his lifestyle, I am left with some critiques and admiration about his life. First of all, I think it is really inspiring to see proof that money doesn't buy happiness. One of his friends said that, “He is truly the happiest person I have met, He is so deeply peaceful, it's contagious.” I think as a high school student, it is especially stressful because I have to start thinking about my future and that includes thinking about MONEY. Money just adds a lot of stress and I envy Suelo's stress-free life. But I think it takes a certain type of person to live like him. I also really like how he is so confident. In the interview about him Suelo said that he gets a lot of hate or critique from society but it doesn't bother him much anymore. He says, “He has stopped worrying about what people think of him,” which is really hard to do. Now as amazing and inspiring as Suelo is, I still have a couple critiques/questions about his lifestyle; I feel like being a “wanderer” is a lonely and occasionally uncomfortable thing to do. Suelo lives in caves which doesn’t sound very comfortable to me and he really doesn’t have a stable place to call “home”. He must have a lot of faith because if I were in his position, I would always be worried about wild animals or natural disasters or storms. Overall, Suelo is very inspirational and I really enjoyed learning about him.
After reading and listening to him I think I would be terrified to live like him. I know I would be physically able to live like him however I do not think I could be able to cope mentally with what he does and to live secluded like him.
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