I wonder if Robert E. Howard would have still killed himself upon hearing of his mother’s death if he had lived in a place where he had more friends and people that he felt understood him. Robert lived in Texas and in a time in place where creativity and flights of fancy were not considered in high regard. He often felt isolated and I wonder how much that contributed to what happened.
The modern world is all about atomization and isolation. Individualism it’s called. Humans going against their functioning and trying to be islands. But the fact of the matter is humans are pack animals, herd animals even, always have been and always will be. And just don’t do that good mentally, physically, spiritually when completely divorced from connections with other humans.
However it’s becoming harder and harder to find people who are like minded, especially if you’re someone who takes time to think about things, work on self-improvement, and do things beyond simply giving in to ones lowest urges on a constant basis. When you work on yourself at all you’re going to feel isolated.
So how do you find a community of individuals working to better themselves?
Community & Compromise
First off understand that you’ll never find that. Aside from monastic type orders and rare cultures like the Spartans you aren’t going to find a large group of people working hard to better themselves and become more, especially not in the modern world. Tribal societies would fit this mold simply because of survival reasons but I’m guessing you don’t want to move to a jungle somewhere. We’re looking for something that’s a little more realistic. A little easier to find.
Understand that you’ll have to compromise somewhat. No where is going to be perfect, that’s just the nature of life. Now realizing that you have to compromise you need to choose where that compromise is going to be. What’s the most important thing to you that you’ll never compromise on. I have to be around people who are X. And what’s the one thing you can’t stand and don’t want to be around I never want to be around people who are Y.
Maybe a creative place is the biggest thing for you then rural areas generally aren’t going to be as good unless you can find small bohemian town or maybe unity in the community is a big thing then you really need a small homogenous town with not a lot of people in it. And so on and so forth. Figure out what the big things are for you and where you wouldn’t mind compromising.
My Own Experience & The Danger Of Setting Down Roots
I’ve been bouncing around, a lot, more than ever have before. Bought an RV and was one of the better choices I’ve made in life. It’s allowed me some freedom and to be able to experience lots of different places and notice trends. I recently went by my “hometown” though I never really had a hometown just where have lots of family where I hadn’t been for 20 years for any lengthy period of time and noticed how it was the same and how it has changed.
Some of my family has been living in the same place for 50+ years many of them want to get out of the areas they’re in because of crime but at the same have houses that are paid off, work that is close, and with prices being what they are making it hard to move. They talk about how it was such a nice little area even 20 years ago and are confused as to how and why things changed so fast.
It made me think of the importance of mobility and, especially in the Western world, you don’t want to get stuck anywhere because things change so damn fast anymore. A nice little quiet community can turn into a hellhole really fast depending on economic downturns and other factors.
Put another way I wouldn’t count on living anywhere in the Western world for a long period of time, but I’m getting away from the point of this article.
So What To Do?
With that being said you’ll want to look for places that fit your idea of what life should be and that are relatively safe. Again compromise. Maybe moving to a downtown arts district isn’t worth the high crime. Maybe moving to the top of a mountain isn’t worth the no hospital within three hours. And so on and so forth. Or maybe it is worth it, but you have to decide that for yourself.
And the time to decide may be closing down. I just see things getting harder and harder to move in the future. Both because of governments wanting it to be harder so they have better control as well as economic changes. When it costs 50$ for a gallon of gas or 10 pound for a loaf of bread, you’re not going to be able to move or do much. I know that sounds ridiculous but when you look at the world’s financial system the only thing it is, is inevitable.
So start thinking about this now. Start looking for ways to bring more cash in, even if on a temporary basis. I’m saving right now with the hopes to visit other places and see if there’s a viable on to move too. So we’ll see. All I know is that things are changing, they’re changing fast, and you don’t want to be stuck on your own.
Not to be alarmist but something to think about anyways. One other thing is that I’d recommend travelling and seeing different places now. There are ways to do it cheap and I’d recommend doing that sooner or later. Find your place, find your people, you’ll be happier for it.
