Writes Donny Dust, in "A moment that changed me: I had a heart attack at 37 – so I went to live in a cave" (The Guardian).
Now, Dust has "a place," a truck, a TV, and a YouTube channel.
October 25, 2023
"I had a series of caves and each had different amenities – some were next to springs, or near better fishing, hunting and foraging."
"The 'main cave' had a bed in it – by which I mean a big pile of grass and leaves, which was comfortable. It had a bit of a skylight, so the smoke from my fire could rise through it and I could see the stars. I would jam a stick between the cave walls and dry clothes on it, and would keep an old soup can there for boiling water in. That was the cave that had the most resources, but I would move from cave to cave. I’d cache animal hides in one, and if I wanted to treat myself to something special, I’d put a jar of dried mangoes in another... I always had a notebook with me with a photo of my sons.... I missed my sons, but I also knew that this was my time to really heal and reflect...."
Writes Donny Dust, in "A moment that changed me: I had a heart attack at 37 – so I went to live in a cave" (The Guardian).
Writes Donny Dust, in "A moment that changed me: I had a heart attack at 37 – so I went to live in a cave" (The Guardian).
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21 comments:
Not to be cynical, but this reads like just another man leaving his wife and kids to "find himself." The whole "Born to Run" schtick.
That's not a cynical take because I stated "not to be cynical."
I missed my sons, but I also knew that this was my time to really heal and reflect...."
Full stop
This is yet another narcissist driveling on about yet a fairly ordinary event in the course a life on earth. I hope his sons shun him for the rest of his days
I actually knew Donny; we worked together for several years and shared an office. He was always a good guy; he worked hard and was willing to help everyone. Even at the time it seemed like the life behind a desk wasn't for him (he was a Marine human intelligence collector and later taught it). I'm not going to pass judgment on a marriage falling apart, because there's no way to fully know what happened in it. This was back in 2012, and I remember that at the time he was a vegan, and that his wife dragged him out to go door knocking for Obama. I suspect that the two were not unrelated. And if it took six months in the wilderness for him to get his mental and physical health right, and be a better father to his sons, then good for him.
I thought that when one has a brush with death, one tends to cling more strongly to that which is most important in one's life. I've never had a real brush with death, so I can't say from personal experience. But it seems to me that this guy is certainly making his priorities known.
I really hope his sons are too young to realize it.
The moment you realize, “I’m going to die” does change you. But not for long. I’m reminded of the Simpson episode where Homer thinks he’s going to die in 24 hours, determines to make every minute count including having sex with Marj one last time (he falls asleep), reading the Bible through (he listens briefly to Larry King reading it, skimming through the genealogies,) etc. etc. when he finds out the next day it was faulty info and he’s not going to die. Oh, the joy, the relief, the beginning of a new life! Homer declares, “I’m going to live every minute to the fullest!” The episode ends with him slumped semi-comatosely in a stuffed chair, mindlessly watching bowling, and eating fried pork rinds one after the other.
Come to Jesus moments are dramatic, eye-opening, and ephemeral.
Huck Finn was published in 1884. My Side of the Mountain was published in 1959. Both books were about a kid who ran away from family difficulties to live off the grid. A wonderful YouTube channel called Primitive Technology grew into an eponymous book. https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCAL3JXZSzSm8AlZyD3nQdBA
Some people need to realize they aren't the first ones to do something, and they should learn from their predecessors, fictional or otherwise.
He turned the whole wilderness thing into a living to help people connect more with the natural world. I think it's hard to describe the profound emotional life changing effect that having a severe major heart issue has on a human being. I think for those of us who have not experienced it it's also a profound and life-altering experience to take part in deployment to a combat zone in a war that ultimately turned out to be unnecessary and a giant boondoggle.
Good for him.
Batman... father.
"A moment that changed me: I had a heart attack at 37 – so I went to live in a cave"
The word "so" seems inadequate to the work it is made to do in that sentence.
My bullshit detector is buzzing
I’m more impressed by The YouTube influencer MrBeast. He’s 25 and gives always vast sums of money. He makes money by giving away money.
I'm wondering where this guy found a series of caves, convenient to running water and good hunting, that wasn't already encumbered by property rights, hunting regulations, land use rules, etc.
"Now, Dust has a place, a truck, a TV, and a YouTube channel."
So the man pretty much has a Man Cave.
This guy seems very qualified to try this sort of thing, but I've read so many stories of seemingly experienced folks who just die from whatever cause.
And 'average' people who just read a book and think they can live in the wilderness are sure to die.
My son loves MrBeast! Unlike Babish, though, I haven't gotten into his work.
This post made me think of a Monty Python skit. The characters in the skit are hermits that had taken up residence on a mountainside in various caves. Starts with a hermit out and about foraging, he runs into another hermit, and they start chatting, then a third appears and soon there are dozens of them, all talking about how crowded things had become since they all took up the hermit life.
Ann, I am surprised you did not call out the name Donny Dust! Sounds like a country western musician.
What a wanker. "I just had a brush with death, sons . . . so I'm out of here. I'll check back in a few months. Make good choices!"
"I will not go down under the ground"
My favorite quote: “I don’t judge anybody for the choices they make, but I think some people get influenced to believe in things that don’t matter.”
I was reminded of this great Iowahawk piece, College Profs Denounce Western Culture, Move to Caves:
Two years ago this month, Alan Lowenstein, associate professor of philosophy at Harvard University, came to a fateful conclusion. "I suddenly realized that the oppression of western technology extended to my own life," he explained. "That's when I got rid of my computer, threw away my Brooks Brothers suits, changed my name to Grok and moved into a cave."
Read it all, but I did love how "Grok" grows ever more desperate to break from Westrern civilisation:
After the conference, Grok vowed to eliminate the trappings of western culture in his own life. First to go were his personal computer, his BMW sedan, his fashionable Back Bay apartment, and his expensive wardrobe. They were replaced by a typewriter, a bicycle, a phone-free studio apartment and secondhand clothes.
To his chagrin, Grok eventually realized that the even the low-tech alternative technologies were also contaminated by western culture. "The wheels on the bicycle, for example," notes Grok. "Only western civilization would be as arrogant to speak of 'perfect' circles."
I can give him a dozen name of Ministers/Priests that could get his head right, 3 times a week for an hour.
I'll cut through all the hard word of self discovery
The meaning of life is being of service to others. Its definitely not isolating yourself. Selfishness is the disease, not the cure.
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