What is a techno monk. Hell, I have no idea, I am making this up as I go. It was a term that came up in a hallway conversation at work as I began preparing for the largest change in my life since I graduated high school and left for college. Many of you can think back across the time-frame of your lives and remember milestones. Maybe a new job, graduating from college, getting married, whatever it is, you know what I am talking about. Things that would be a line item in your obituary.
I will get around to posting something about my rationale for moving 7 hours north of where I was living at some point but until that happens, I want to explain why I re-branded the blog and what I feel a techno monk is as well as why I think I am one. For a while I was calling myself a Neo-Luddite technologist. A Luddite is someone that shuns technology, because I enjoyed the oxymoron. I am a technology worker who finds balance in simplicity and doing things that hard way. After attending the Lake Superior Traditional Ways Gathering. I discovered that I was not alone. There were many more like me, and that was amazing to find a community that felt the same way.
I cannot fix the world and it has taken me a while to figure that out. I can fix small parts of it but I can’t fix the whole thing. When I realized that I was essentially powerless to control many things that affect me it was a crushing moment. I think some people turn to religion at this point to deal with their insignificance, religion is not really for me, well organized religion anyways. However, many of the monastic values are for me. Self improvement, hard work, meditation and self exploration are outlets for me to express myself and deal with my insignificance. I feel that everyone needs to find value and meaning or their mind will be completely crushed. They turn to drugs, sex, gambling, or something to fill the vacancy that meaning brings to life. I find meaning in creating, building, hacking, making, and divorcing myself from parts of society I feel are frivolous or wasteful.
As I relocate and start a new life I begin the techno monk stage of my life. There is a list of things I will accomplish as a techno monk.
- Upcycle, Make, Build, or Repair before buying new.
- Learn more skills, for the above items such as timber framing, construction.
- Reduce my impact by simplifying, localizing, and concentrating on what and how I do things.
- Learn how to be a telecommuter, and excel.
- Share my life with others looking to follow a similar path.
- Improve my relationships with my wife, friends, and neighbors.
- Become a bad-ass banjo player.
- Grow more of my own food.
- Raise animals for food and eat them.
- Forage more wild food, live off of what others waste or don’t notice.
- Quit using tobacco.
- Treat my body and fitness as a skill and continually improve it.
- Continue eliminating procrastination.
- Never be afraid to fail, and fail often.
- Continue to push myself out of my comfort zone. I must not become a hermit.
- Learn to like flying in planes.
- Release an iPhone app.
- Live up to my own expectations for myself.
I am sure I could actually keep going for a while but this is what I could think of off the top of my head. These are big goals, some of them not very concrete. I will have to break some of these down into more manageable parts and they will probably become recurring themes here.
I welcome you all and myself, to the era of Techno Monk. A period of intense reconstruction, techno music, outdoor activity, self exploration, blogging, sharing and growth.
-TM