A few have kindly hinted that the “Ballet of Bluffs is far too long and epic for what it’s worth IN THE AGE OF THE TWITTEROLOGIST… I unfortunately agree. In response the comic version will be out soon to save your time and attention span. Here are three sample scenes without text:
Coming soon (courtesy Malvina Wan & Claudio Albarran & Ibby ) don’t bite your tongue:
Conclusion regarding crossing Europe on foot (4th June 2011 – 6th Feb 2013)
(For details of the trip skip over this post and reference “Meandering through trip details section … or jump out the side window of your house and run!!)
Foreword.
Below is the conclusion to my walk which took place from 4th June 2011 until 6th Febuary 2013. I left the house without money, and refused to accept it for the duration of the trip, living the entire experience moneyless. I departed on foot from Oslo, Norway, and finished in Cantabria, Spain, after 3000km of walking over a variety of terrain. I didn’t use transport to go south, with the exception of police vans and two mandatory ferries, which I used to enter and exit Denmark. Passage on the ferries was given to me as a gift from the crew. All other rivers and waterways that crossed my path I swam through.
Although I initially left with intent to wander for a few weeks, later on in the voyage my goal was to reach Africa without ID. However, it was unfortunately cut short.
My older sister passed away so I wanted to be around my immediate family. I went to the consulate and told them my story and I instantly had an emergency passport allowing me to return to Australia the conventional way. I had burnt my previous passport in a symbolic action.
If I was to look at things objectively, I could criticise myself for betrayal of beliefs for acquiring new documentation. Corruption is often justified by putting yourself and loved ones first. We are humans, so sometimes rationality gives way to feelings. We are humans, so thankfully we are passionate and emotional beings, and rationality can give way to intense emotions.
The workers at the consulate were extremely sympathetic. One let me know that, even though he worked in the bureaucratic sphere, he had a lot of respect for how I was trying to live my life. I’m quite sure I had even more respect for him and his ability to step out of his uniform at times when decisions should be governed by the heart reigning over the shirt. Even though my dealing with the workers at the consulate was extremely humane, it must be remembered that if the consulate as a structure was not there in the first place, there would have been no need for me to go there.
Now with greater clarity than ever I feel the mortality of us as humans, even though in this day and age we act as if we will live to ten thousand years. Through my experience, I would not trade one and a half years of walking with almost complete material detachment for one hundred years of mundane life in a highly specialised routine.
For further details on the specifics of the walk, scroll down on this page and read the bold section titled “Meandering through trip details”. This conclusion will shed light on my findings throughout the voyage. It is written over four chapters.
Part one:
The apolitical – The divorce from any theatrically contrived mirages to allow allegiance to the real system, humanity.
The idea that some humans are born inherently “good” and others “evil” is not only ridiculous, it is a dull and colourless superstition. If you are old fashioned enough to cripple your existence by believing in Foo-Floo-Flahdo, at least try to catch warlocks in a butterfly net and freeze them in dry ice, that way, in the worst case scenario, you will grant the world some comical value to muse over.
I can’t deny that I’ve walked under countless ladders and smashed many mirrors in this terrestrial existence, not because I’m deliberately destructive, or wish to temp fate, but merely because clumsiness is a by-product of daydreaming.
The orders for my punishment, the standard retribution for this clumsiness, may well be written on some ridiculously oversized stone somewhere in the universe, in a font that’s only ever used on cards to invite loose acquaintances to temporary arranged marriages strictly for visa purposes. But no one has ever advised me that I’ve been sentenced to a millennium of purgatory, juggling super-heated devil faecal matter on my forehead, nor have I received oral acupunctural treatment from vampires, in fact so far I’ve paid no exaggerated out worldly prices for my blunders.
I’ve walked way too far whilst having far too much fun fighting baseless superstitions, so if I do have an astrological debt to account for, it will be paid at the end of life and forgotten now. Why would you not enjoy a meal while it’s hot? I’m not rejecting with belittlement the possibility that I may get re-incarnated as a aquaphobic, sun loving desert cactus pinned down to the Marianna trench on the bottom of the Pacific ocean, but so what? If that’s the case I’m already seven-eights of the way down there and enjoying the rip laden voyage. But it would probably be best to flap away from this string of thoughts here because to elaborate further would remove the gravity from this conclusion which is apparently non-fiction.
Just as freezing warlocks in dry ice is fast becoming an old-fashioned practise, the idea that some humans are innately “good” and others are “evil” is just as naïve. However, for the sake of exercising our imagination, let’s accept this absurd notion as a truth. Let’s tweak it a little though, and begin to imagine a world where all humans are inherently ”good”… (Not in a conservative fundamentalist religious sense though, who would want to live in a planet of 7.1 billion brainwashed splintered carcasses doomed to perish as sexually frustrated virgins who constantly issue shrill mating calls out to an imaginary being that has been absent for centuries because he has pilfered recreational leave with impunity as he is the boss, and an untrustworthy one at that. ) “Good”, as indescript as four letters can be, could be used to define a human who was born with a pre-developed empathy for others.
Let’s beam into an abstract world where the absurd idea that humans are born either “good” or “evil” holds true. But, due to a spate of lucky tickets being drawn from the barrel, everyone’s born “good”. Furthermore everyone knows that everyone is born “good”.
Historians generally have a great ability to expose the skeletons of society, don’t they? It seems appropriate that we pick up this transmittion in the world where all humans are born “good”, in the midst of a history class.
The history professor’s rant:
“You’ve just arrived here in time for the bi-annual history lesson. We still occasionally give history classes here on our planet because we believe that they are of some value. But, yes, of course we store all the books in the fiction section of our libraries as it is understood that it is impossible to recount the events of the past accurately.
Firstly, the minor reason why we regard history as fiction, is that all eye-witnesses interpret the events from the lenses of their own eyes which have been distorted by their past experiences. This can have a drastic effect on the purity of the “facts” regarding commonly referenced ancient scenarios. Of course these authorised “facts” can be recited to impress potential mates in pub quizzes. (Even though I’m not sure which part of your potential mates would be invigorated by the knowledge that fourty-seven middle-aged Vikings ran around a tree seven thousand years ago for ten minutes non-stop, chanting while attempting to eradicate a plague of artic mites with an aggressive and festering advanced form of tinea.)
Secondly, and more importantly, history books are written as propaganda for those who commissioned the books. They are written either for, or by, those who wish to promote their own cause. Which however worthy to its promoter the cause is, the value of the cause to humanity, is again, optically enlarged due to the accumulation of dust from the past clinging to the lenses which its promoter uses to visualise life, and hence history books are generally no more truthful than sexied-up adult fairy tales.
If the author wants to sling-mud at a group of people or a philosophy to coronate his own ideas, facts will be highlighted in the historical account that will achieve this. If the author wishes to purify and mystify a character to galvanise her own attributes, she will find a way to omit “irrelevancies”. But although the study of anything theoretical is limited, it can also be instructive. Concepts can still be learnt by the study of history. By acknowledging the fictional facet of history, and possessing a will to see deeper past the “facts” of the events or judgments of characters involved, one may gain a lot of valuable insights analysing the motivations behind these events which are falsely portrayed as turning points in the path of humanity.
Now this little planet of perfection, which everybody who crosses it seems to love, yet nobody selfishly calls it their own, has a peculiar history which I’m willing to share with you. I’m going teach you about a period where everyone considered others “evil” and untrustworthy. I’m also going to focus on the symptoms of social decay that occurred during that era. Strangely though everyone is ”good” now, although back then people were genetically similar to today, so can you tell me what triggered the switch? As I’ve stated previously, buckle into the presentation but remember that all professors use facts to illustrate their illusions.”
A historical account reminiscing on the ancient decay period in the world where everyone is now “good”.
Prof:
“Let me describe the period of total decay, blotch by blotch. This description of the era was passed down orally from generation to generation. That is the most accurate way of transmitting knowledge from the past, as you can transmit cherished feelings with it. But in this case I’m not too convinced. Even though I completely trust my grandfather’s recollection of this wall of far-fetched facts as his memory has always been sharp and bordering on perfect, I don’t trust his grandfather’s recollection of the time period as my great-great grandfather actually lived within the epoch of total decay and everyone’s memory was lazy and under-exercised back then, because they always plugged their neurons into an electrical socket and switched them on. The inhabitants of the period fell victim to the wasteland of technology, as a physiotherapist will tell you, whatever part of you you don’t move will not move. Generations of bodies went on hold because objects were doing everything for humans. One can either evolve objects around them or their inner-self.
Another reason why my account may not be entirely accurate is that there are only a few records from the period that were fossilised, and they are too illogical to make heads or tail of. The fossilised records seem to be what was most important to the citizens back then. Those fossils are pretty much all rectangular sheets with random numbers on them. One for example, has “first division winning tattslotto ticket” scribbled on its frame. We don’t exactly know who or what that indicates. The other has “shares” marked on it, and next to it “That I will not be sharing with anyone”. There are others as well, but they are all indecipherable, written from total confusion. The regression into the bog of total decay was gradual but noticeable. It’s also evident that people struggled to stimulate themselves in the period directly proceeding the period of total decay.”
Prof. coughs, then clears his throat on his sleeve.
“Just before I continue I have to let you know that I’m not religious nor an atheist because I feel I’m too limited to make up my mind on anything one hundred percent. But I embrace the fact that my capacities are capped and don’t feel the need to know every miniscule fact surrounding existence, I’d prefer to just enjoy the feeling of it. Make sure you’re aware that I don’t mean to be insolent towards any relious belief. In fact the opposite, the base information in all of them that I’ve read up on is pure beauty, and more power to those who understand it. At the same time science doesn’t explain anything regarding the origins of the universe or life. From a biological perspective, it is possible to explain the evolution of an amoeba to a majestic sperm whale, but it is impossible to create life from the inanimate. It is also possible to propel objects through space and use our knowledge of physics to fiddle with the universe in all kinds of ways that seem remarkable, but if the universe exists and time is linear, then physics refutes itself because you can’t create something out of nothing… hmm … unless we don’t fully understand the dimension of time … maybe that’s why we are so fearful of birth and death … anyway I’m going to head back to the story.”
Prof. hides his sleave behind his back and continues the spiel:
“Proceeding the period of total decay, roughly a few thousand years before, what seemed like what was most dear to people was also found fossilised on the planet. They were these strange colossus volumes of text without sequence that formed tedious books. Parts of them filled with valid philosophy and other parts strewn with disjointed facts of no relevance. Lists of names, dates, and ages, the kind of babble that could frustrate a trained monk into jumping out of his cave and head-butting a tree trunk.
The books embellished much of what they had to say and it was impossible to read them back to front without dropping dead three times of boredom. But to their credit, in their own retro method, at least they aspired to get a peaceful point out. In each part of the world they seemed to cling to a specific edition of these books. In some of the twisted fables, giants would throw mountains at each other to set the scene. In others, fed-up activists who lost the ability to laugh, became indifferent to the world, and seeing through the lies let themselves be nailed to wood attempting to prove a point. Who knows if these stories are true or false, but their authors definitely had much deeper and varied lives than in the later period of total decay where they could only print out numbers on a page… apparently the rumour goes that at the end of the period of total decay humans became so socially challenged within their cocoons that they didn’t even count to ten, and used ones and zeros to attempt to express themselves, but that’s just hearsay.
As during the total decay period the citizens didn’t know that everyone else was innately “good”, they shut themselves in their houses suspicious of others. They judged the unknown or uncategorisable, as negative, without bothering to make its acquaintance. They started cordoning off the zones they lived in and prohibited others who co-inhabited the land to enter thus introducing the flawed concept of private property. Anyone with a little foresight could have seen that private property is a ridiculous idea that runs against the intrinsic characteristic of the human as a social being. Have you ever witnessed individual birds place cages around themselves whilst they fly in flocks over mountains, or fish swim upstream with headphones in their ears and a balaclava and sunnies sewn in to their faces so avoid socialisation with the rest of the school? In the period of total decay private property completely mined community and co-operation. It also created crime, as those who were sidelined as they had their material possessions taken away from them, and possessed less abilities than the others to sneakily and legally acquire, had to become vicious to survive. We know now from the current golden age, that if there are no locks on doors people can take and bring what they want, and if you fall short you just ask a neighbour as she in turn may just ask her neighbour. Of course nobody could steal anything, (even though nobody wants to steal anything,) as nobody could hide anything, because everywhere is everybody’s. Everyone shares everything so everyone owns everything. It’s odd, back then they took away all the possessions then blamed the petty thieves for trying to live. Then they constructed these kennels and locked the poor “criminals” (who were people whose abilities were demolished by society to begin with) inside the bars and fed them bones. After this process the captives were completely demoralised and bred a further hatred for life and their surroundings. They became harder and more destructive when they were freed. Those taking the moral highground would say, from beneath their false hair and hammers (they carried tools to work although they’d never did a day of manual labour in their life), you are lucky to get four hundred and fifty years jail as our system is now humane, previously we would have put you to death. There was an element of truth to these tirades, the system was better where they didn’t hang people, but only marginally. In those times people were still superficial enough and confused enough to crave blood, punishment, and revenge, without reaching down to examine the roots of the problem.
Afterall, those who created the laws, were still sentencing people to death on the antipodes of the planet. Before even having walked anywhere near the land, they’d find a way to possess it, taking it away from those who actually lived on it, which means by definition they cut off their food supply and hence the option of self-sustainability, then as the workers had lost all other options of survival, they could be worked to bare bones.”
A student is getting a little restless, but pretends to be shooing away a fly as to not offend a teacher who he seems to have a lot of respect for. He interjects with a question:
“Why couldn’t the slaves escape?”
Professor:
“They couldn’t escape because the slave drivers drew up these lines all around the planet that they called borders which hemmed them in. Borders are the global extension of the ridiculous notion of private property. They played off working class slaves from one area against slaves from another, they used the media and repetitive catchy songs to fortify the lust for an imaginary lifestyle. The dull were usually convinced that the competition was between those who came from different corners of the planet, when in fact this was all theatre to allow governments around the world to cement their power. All the governments around the world were pretty much working together and for each other rather than for their citizens. Often the politicians started out as friendly and kind people with a will to improve the political structure of the world. However they’d been hijacked by the tumour of power, and preferred to consolidate their positions and titles, so they would spend all their energy trying to maintain their power by supressing their citizens, even if non-intentionally. Only those tuned in, noticed that almost all those who worked in government, no matter where on the planet, were filthy rich in a material sense, and dirt poor in the ability to live life, which means finding one’s true self and having empathy for others, by not placing cages around yourself through fear.
In fact those in government had no real power. A human life is microscopic in the grand scheme of things, and it is there to be lived. A life is there to be enjoyed, and in fact this is true power. A government official couldn’t leave home and walk on the street without a thousand body guards, he in fact had very little true power himself at all, a vagrant who could sleep out all over the planet had much more scope and real experience. A political “elite” could kill whoever he wanted, but he couldn’t live freely like them. The central error that mal-navigated the world into those times of confusion was that everyone started to worship those who were sapped of true confidence and neglected their talents, choosing to live in prison (just like the political figures), hence everyone ended up building prisons for themselves to live in by choice.
Aside from the basic rights someone born on a planet should have to stroll all over it without being hindered by mafia patrolling imaginary lines, borders introduced a whole range of secondary environmental problems to the planet. The whole place turned into a wasteland in that dreadful era of total decay. You see a government could mine the surface off another place on the planet, and reduce it to rot, sucking all the minerals out of it, by using its local labour forces to do the government’s work for it, producing products which would be imported to the rich who lived in the less environmentally effected regions of the planet. Inadvertently, it was those who lived in the regions of fortified paradise who were destroying the environment as they were consuming all of the materials, and dredging the rest of the planet. If there were no borders, citizens could have moved away from the places that were environmentally trashed. A feedback loop would have been started when refugees rocked up on the doorsteps, and people would have been more considerate with what they consumed and where they razed the planet as they would more directly feel the consequences. The government members in poorer places that had been trashed didn’t care too much. They helped catalise the signatures for the business contracts and got great favours themselves, their kids often went to schools in other parts of the world that were fortresses and hadn’t been trashed so badly.
There was some kind of unsubstantiated rumour going around that humans ended up so confused and idiotic due to the same principles that led to the creation of private property and borders, that at the end of the period of total decay humans were building weapons that could wipe out entire corners of the planet with one flick of the switch. At the same time, these bombs would create so much radiation that eventually it would also float back and maim those who launched them, ridiculous eh?”
A student laughs, not in an insolent manner, but more in disbelief.
Prof:
“Are you still thinking about the birds migrating in self-made cages? It’s not that farfetched.
Those humans who were lucky enough to be born with healthy strong bodies became so afraid of using their limbs that they hid away in mobile steel cages that transported them from one place to another, successfully avoiding all human contact. They lurched in cowardice from one hiding place to the next, avoiding the sun. As these cages moved from place to place they released poisonous gases that choked those who existed outside of the cages, but again, eventually the gasses floated back to choke the drivers. Not only did the cage-dwellers wish to inflict harm on others, they also had a suicide wish. The more insecure the drivers of these cages were, the more aggressively they moved from one place to the other. Unfortunately many of these drivers could see nothing positive in themselves, as they preferred to listen to propaganda sources rather than see their inner brilliance, so they began to define themselves by their steel cage.
Some people played this really bad practical joke on the living-dead populous, and introduced these colourful notes and metal pieces. They called these random objects currency, and used them as a placebo drug for opiates with long term mind numbing side-effects.
They instructed everyone to revere them, and sacrifice their life to them, in some kind of wacko religious rituals. The people, being so desperate, dedicated their whole life to chasing these objects even if it meant throwing two feet in their own graves. They regarded these notes and metal coins with more importance than their neighbours, friends, even sometimes family members and life-long partners. The citizens became so pathetic that they ended up choosing their life-long partners on the amount of colourful notes they had access to.”
We cut the prof. off a little because he started assuming a posture that indicated that his tireless rant would continue indefinitely.
“Prof. to be honest, we’re not sure that either your current world of perfection where everyone sees each other as “good”, or your accounts of the past where everyone saw each other as “evil” are realistic. You told us at the commencement of the lesson that history is a faculty of fictional bluff, so we probably continually live in a world that lies somewhere in between. We’re off now, have fun!”
Prof:
“No problem, enjoy the trip back, by the way the lesson costs you $4.80 per head…”
Us (whoever that is):
“huh?”
Prof:
“Just joking!”
Us:
“Very funny.”
Prof.
“Just remember, that where we live the incentive to be a productive member of the community is not money, nor prestige, it’s simply the love for other humans. If you receive love your whole life, then you will find it’s your duty to cultivate it, and you will work to do so. You will work in whichever area you believe change needs to happen. Replace love with false incentives, and people will chase the incentives not the love. Honestly, where do you think all these crappy pseudo-inventions, like the atom bomb or the mouse trap, originated from in the era of total decay? They were born out a blinding lust for the wrong incentives not out of love, and love for the society and work.”
Us:
“OK thanks heaps Romeo, heard enough, no disrespect but gotta fly, thanks prof”!
… …. …… ………………………………
How is this utopia/distopia relevant to my walk?
It is important to note that the next paragraph I talk only through my experiences as a male. To be more specific a male of Kenyan and Italian descent who is thirty-one years old, Australian born, and known as Ibby. In other words only one person falls into that category and I talk for him. I am in no position to represent anyone else, nor interpret the world through anyone else’s eyes that aren’t optically distorted by the lenses that cover my pupils made up by the dust from interactions in my past.
Whilst travelling moneyless, before explaining to people what I did, I often asked them two questions. Would it be possible to live without accepting money, and will generations to come exist in a world without money, not centered on trade. Ninety-five percent of people said it was probably impossible to exist without any money of your own for any extended period of time, and also it was probably impossible to arrive at a free world. Already having lived moneyless for over a year, I knew that at least the answer to the first question was completely false!
My experience is that people are not as bad as their reputation. It is true that I developed a whole set of different skills that I previously didn’t possess, allowing me to live more effectively off the land. The kind of skills that are being lost every generation due to specialisation, which generally forces a human to sacrifice a whole heap of general attributes and abilities to become a one-functioned tool. But it also must be added that I had countless social interactions in between my wandering through uninhabited nature zones. In reality, the average distance covered within the one and a half years was well under 10 km, or two hours brisk walk per day. In fact, even though I spent time as a hermit, I interacted with many more strangers, in a range of more diverse circumstances than I have previously in any of the other years of my life, where there was always some form of sedentary routine.
People were generally decent, and wishing to be of assistance. People were kind even though I was completely moneyless, so their incentive was not to acquire more materials through me. For the first thousand kilometres I had no blog nor proof of what I was doing and I received just as much trust. Therefore it’s false to assume that my internet presence persuaded people to be kinder. Also, at the end of the trip walking through Basque country in Spain, directly after appearing on news broadcast over the T.V. people were recognising me in every village I walked into
but still it didn’t allow me access to further kindness. In fact, although ninety-nine percent of people everyone were respectful, potentially the interactions became artificial so it was probably detrimental to the walk. Although it effectively propagated the message and gave it more legitimacy. even though an implicit character reference should be irrelevant because people should concentrate on the ideas, and give no judgement to an authour who they do not know in person. Whilst I was walking through the Northern, more wealthier countries in Europe people were advising me not to go to Spain and depicted to me that the crisis was so severe there, that if I had of believed the rumours, I would have thought that people had begun to eat each other in salted and dried sausages.
The opposite was in fact true. The poorer the country, the more selfless and community oriented the people were. The less fear they had in their hearts, and the more they wished to assist others. Similarly, the poorer the cross-section of community I walked through, the kinder the people were, and the more their life goals were oriented around nurturing their communities rather than beefing up their bank accounts. In general, the less people had access to financial wealth, the more fun, carefree and human they were. The richer the person was that I talked to, the more disbelief they had that someone could exist without money and transport. Although the relatively rich and the relatively poor of a country are in essence the same, there is not one socio-economic group who is better or worse than the other, as I’ve previously stated the concept of “good” and “evil” is simply superstition, the more wealthy the person, the more addicted and reliant the person is to money. Addiction to money is no different to someone who experiences addiction to drugs, they can’t believe that there is a deeper meaning to life and they become consumed by their vice. If in fact people could experience the good in people, then they would understand that they didn’t need to be so protective, as it is the propagation of the attitude of individualism that also spreads social problems today.
I took away money and borders from my life for a short period in time and I developed into a happier and more socially constructive person, so did those around me. These findings can be projected onto a macro level, to get rid of these man-made social problems we must just get rid of money (or on a deeper level the stingy necessity to trade for everything), and borders between people (not just on a political level but also within the societies we consider our own). What we have been raised to believe prevents social illnesses is in fact what generates them. There will be no chaos that follows if finance disappeared overnight, this is a myth propagated by the government to justify their job.
The only violence I experienced on my walk was in the hands of the authourities, incarcerating me in immigration detention and lock up. I walked through all kinds of no-go zones in cities and country towns. I talked to a man to told me he was a nazi, I laughed at him amicably and changed the conversation talking about my voyage. He was very interested as he was a nature lover, and he ended up buying me a felafel after an hour or so (yes, in an immigrant’s store). I told him whilst eating that he needs to wake-up from his nightmare, as luckily for him he wasn’t a Nazi. I asked him why he would need to define himself by a philosophy that was out-dated over half a century ago. He told me that he mistook me for an “immigrant” I thought that I was going to rob him, and he knows now I’m a good man. I subtly let him know that as he was six-foot eight and one hundred and ten kilograms, and he had hunting rifles in his car, he obviously wasn’t using the intelligence that he was blessed with.
Only through acceptance you can teach people the errors of their ways. If I harboured hatred toward those who called themselves Nazis, and physically attacked this man or shut-out conversation with him, he would have possibly hated foreigners for the remainder of his life, or until someone else showed him empathy and lifted his key. If I hadn’t spent the time to talk to him and realised that he was attracted to these philosophies due to his inexperience and lack of self-confidence, I wouldn’t have understood him.
An extremely important point that can be taken from this trip is that it is not poverty that creates crime. It is the difference in wealth that creates crime. Places with the highest disparity in wealth always have the highest amount of criminals. If you enter with wealth, you are more likely to get robbed than if you enter with your truths. If you enter seeing others as ugly and you as beautiful, yourself as intelligent and the rest as ignorant, you will created a disparity and you will most likely sideline yourself as well and be granted a superficial overview of your social settings.
Through these findings it is clearly evident that the way to correct problems and contribute to the shift towards a greater cohesiveness on the planet is simply to take away inequalities. Destroy false structures based on punishment. Encourage education as the solution. A true education which is not academic but rather human based. The education that the “wealthy” would benefit from. The education that many of the “poor” and “poorly” educated have already mastered. The education not currently on the curriculum at schools or universities which suck the fangs of businessmen who in turn do those establishments favours.
If there is a winner, somewhere there lies a loser. If there is a surplus, a little further up the road you will encounter a deficit. Patriotism is a self-contradictory term. The only true patriots are those who pledge allegiance to the nation of humanity, as it is the only nation that will provide benefits to our whole forthcoming line of descendants.
Coming up soon…
Part 2: The art of slow walking
Part 3: Nature, the greening of the nails.
Part 4: Modernity? The internet, the current generation and the Tetris tree-houses.
(The world swings back into the past, but taking with it a few luxurious benefits from the present!)
*** Please note:
The rest of the book that I wrote on the move – “The ballet of Bluffs” – remains below without further moderation. I hope to be able to return to Spain without using planes (and moneyless) and continue the voyage on foot to Africa under the same conditions -Enjoy the read!
Al menos algo por los que leen Castellano y Euskarra, que encontre en esta etapa del viaje. Gracias por la amistad Prefiero escribir algo … Pero como manejo los dos idiomas ahora, si lo lees vas a llorar!
Hice una radio entrevista en (casi) Castellano con Roge Blasco, aqui esta el enlace:
Empire: With your much appreciated consent, we´ve decided to privatise your hair.
Human: My hair?
Empire: Yes, you see it´s a fantastic invention that hasn´t yet been patented. We believe unselfishly that other´s should also have the opportunity to exploit it.
Human: But I really like my hair
Empire: If we don´t privatise it, someone else with bad intentions will. It´s the lesser of two evils … see!
Human: How does that work.
Empire: It´s called Trickle-down economics. In your town, we will install a very hairy man that resembles a bear! And thus eventually, through moulting and balding, everyone will have unlimited access to hair!
Human: Well I prefer my own hair to the bear´s, but I guess whatever you believe is for my benefit is for the benefit of all involved. Just give me a little notice if you decide to privitise the air, this way I can prepare to move planets.
Empire: We´re also sniffing out options on how we can best privatise the air.
Human: eh?
Empire: Great, now I get to explain my plan with a little more flare. We firstly hike up the price of “public transport” to 5000 times the average annual wage. This is forces everyone into cars, tractors, helicopters and other vehicles that will create an environmental tear.
Human: wot?
Empire: You really don´t understand much about the realm of finance do you? It´s the principle of supply and demand. Once there is little remaining air, the resource will become a precious commodity available for sale thus boosting our economy and shares!
The day politics ceases to flagrantly promote racism will be the day that borders cease to exist. The moment when we are all capable of seeing past the mirage, and acknowledge that our true power climaxes when we strive to control ourselves and nobody else, will be the instant that politics and trade vanish altogether.
Profession: Teacher/Student (Without the need to be institutionalised to practise or learn … and more of a student than a teacher)
A hypothetical scenario to ponder over…
If
A) The definition of work is: A socially constructive activity that secures the resources that are vital to your survival.
and B) You existed in a society of scarce and rapidly depleting resources, in which the only employer was a temporarily delusional but well-meaning machine who planned to throw to waste what remained for the “benefit” of all.
Then the only possible route to work would be to stall the process by going on strike!
What I´ve found my good friend:
I and everyone else have the need to justify our crazy daily habits. But when we see through of the socially constructed ghosts that have been manufactured to keep the daily rituals which we perform logical to us, we find everyone is good … all these evil vampires thrown upon us by the media, only exist in our heads and nowhere else.
Not talking to strangers, hoarding big bank accounts to protect you, and worshiping the flag etc. are just forms of contemporary witchcraft which bluff us by preying on our paranoia. Laugh at them, but at the same time try to educate yourself and those around you to pave a brighter path to true power.
………………………..
There was a kind article written about my voyage in Shareable magazine by Maria Grausaskas on 14th jan. It went a little haywire on social media and had over 900 shares on Facebook in the first week.
There was also a discussion about the walk in Basque on the radio. I don´t understand much, except that Basque has a beautiful tone to it, and all the people I´ve met around the little towns have been super friendly. The mountainous natural landscape is also as amazing to walk through as the modern history of resistance (against hegemonoic forces) that took place within it. But, I´m not entirely sure what the Columbian passport is doing in the frame? Maybe the radio station discovered my real identity Eskarrigasko!
I super appreciative of those who have written articles about the walk, the blog content, or even better … issues relating to immigration detention, especially in languages other than English. It´s good to offer people a chance to read in their native tongues. If you have written an article can you let me know so I can add it to the press page of the blog when I get a little more internet. It will sit alongside the articles in Dutch and Faroese, Thanks also for sharing this page, I hope to be able to provide interesting and informative material in the future.
Please note; The walking is on hold.
I flew back to Australia to attend the funeral of a family member, so the walking trip is now on hold.
I walked from Oslo “Norway” to Guemes, Cantabria “Spain”.
But I still dream of one day continuing from the same place I stopped, and finishing with an artistic illegal crossing to Africa …
I believe that there are many interesting positive conclusions to be drawn from this experiment that I will summarise at a later date. The walk has been benevolently described in a fairfax column as “original ” http://www.theage.com.au/travel/blogs/the-backpacker/ten-things-hardcore-backpackers-dont-know-20130205-2dv13.html, but luckily everyone’s life is original, and thanks to that, I’m very appreciative to those that taught me over the last year and a half.
I’m around Australia at the moment and planning a moneyless walk from Melbourne to Canberra to show support for flag change. It would be very satisfying to witness the removal of the Union Jack, and live in a country that has outlived it’s racist history. Remember when the English arrived they did not value the Indigenous Australians, and claimed the continent under ’terra nullius’ implying nobody previously existed there. It is important to honour everyone in this thriving multicultural country, not just one of many waves of immigration.
TAKE A MEANDER THROUGH THE TRIP DETAILS
Walked over “Norway” and “Sweden” and swum through all intersecting rivers. Maybe about 600km not including forest wandering episodes.
(yeah, yeah it was summertime then)
Arrived at Helsingborg and took a boat 5km to “Denmark”. This was one of the two times I took transport to move south (other than generous rides in police vans). The captain allowed me free entry after he almost choked with laughter. The cooks even offered me a plate of leftovers.
I definitely would have prefered to build my own boat or refine my swimming skills but there are too many ferries these days interfering with the currents.
Walked through “Germany” and “Holland” including a scenic detour over the 40km dike in the north-western corner.
I then got imprisoned in “Belgium” for not carrying identity.
If you read on in this blog you will see the proof that I put myself in the closed detention center to renovate it.
The proof comes from the toilet seat!
“Under a government which imprisons unjustly, the true place for a just man* is also prison” – Henry David Thoreau, Civil Disobedience, 1849
(This quote uses the word “man” instead of person, so you may as well burn it. What an ignorant dickhead he was. However, what it does show by the use of horrible language which was then accepted as the norm, is the progression in society. Bare in mind Thoreau was a progressive thinker in the US at that time.)
For me the inhumane conditions of the cell were no big deal as I was extremely psychologically prepared after having walked through nature for the past year. The guards on the other hand were not psychologically prepared for me to enter the prison as they knew I was there because they were doing the wrong thing. They felt uncomfortable. They also knew that formal punishment was not a threat to me as I used the isolation cells as meditation centers. I was struck with disappointment at the mistreatment of people who had committed no crime other than being born in a different place on earth.
In the end strangly enough it was the Belgium government who committed a crime by breaking national law and releasing me. The law states that I´m fully within my rights to stay in the prison until identified, and I never formally was!
I would appreciate if you read more about the system of immigration detention in “Belgium”. This is pretty much standard all around the world. There is an underground site that I recommend: www.gettingthevoiceout.org
The fault is inherent in the system, as governments are constructed on an electoral system that encourages candidates to spend all their time trying to harness popularity, so those who really need to be helped, the people with no voice, get trampled on.
After being released I had to take time to meditate over my next step. I rode a train without a ticket out of “Belgium” to “Luxembourg”. I stayed for about a month and wrote an except for a philosophical magazine and did a radio interview. For the duration of the stay (and the whole trip to date) I´ve still boycotted money. I then returned to the point in “Belgium” where I stopped the walk and recommenced.
I walked through the whole of “France” north to south, enjoying a luxury pit stop in Paris for four months (all the while still cashless). I´ve recently entered Basque country on the Iberian peninsula.
I´ve now walked from the northern most European country to the Southern most, but the trip is not finished. If I successfully walk through “Spain” I intend to find a way to enter Africa without papers or money.
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“Yeah, yeah make sure you get a meal, but whatever you do never strive for perfection. The amateur lives a wide range of experiences but still never forgets who he is. The proffesional´s heart and mind got hijacked and hacked out by computers a long time ago. But still just keep kicking up a fuss and have a good time.” – A sober old man I met on a park bench (looked like Yoda with the dress sense of Darth Vadar)
…… …. …. …………… ……… …………….. …….
What did the establishment do to those who first suggested the world was round??
absolutely nothing!
It was in fact those who followed the establishment blindly without the ability to consider different, new, and ever emerging schools of thought that got worked up and reacted violently to the progressive hypothesis.
It is possible that there was never any new thoughts and ideas, just the re-emerging and rounding off of ancient wisdom that is forever getting buried amongst shiny and fluffy things … Shiny and fluffy is not necessarily bad either, everything has its place thankfully!
What has been constant throughout time is that there have always been a small percentage that have suggested that the world is round, going against the razor´s edge, working for future generations with visions that can only be interpreted by those who have not had their creativity shaved by the carrots and whips of the illusion of hierarchy. These people whether vocal or not, can read with clarity what the majority may consider as dreams. Even today there exist those that declare that the world is not flat. This I promise They can see that society has continually progressed — and will always progress — back round in a circle until politics is dismantled in entirety.
“Fascism” and “anarchy” are mere abstractions of reality. They are terms of no coherent meaning. They are both only printed on paper to show each other up as circus.
However, what some particle physicists acknowledge as truth is when matter collides with anti-matter they both annihilate each other — and light is produced … it is this light, that is worth harnessing and releasing.
Just a few footnotes!
Throughout the roughly 3000km walk I have boycotted money entirely (that means I left the house with 0 kroners and haven’t accepted one over the past years and a half).
And … This Christmas , we shaved the ol’ mans beard off, warmed things up by burning a fire at the bottom of our chimney – and incinerate him if he tries to break and enter, and showed our children this video instead of rotting their brains and teeth with sugar and cheap whistles. If you want to teach them bluff and fairy tales, at least tune them in to someone who can back it up (er … until shoulder pain kicks in).
This is a nicely written up synopsis of moneyless life by Finnish hitchhiking guru and authour Tomi Astikainen, check it out. ———– NO SERIOUSLY CHECK IT OUT, ITS STRAIGHT FORWARD, he´s even omitted the slight-of-hand fifty-two card deck stage one novice card tricks. He also has a few books and the key to an explosive adventure attached.
The intersection between the playground and the jungle. You only begin to travel when you detach yourself from what you believe are the objects, people or concepts, that you believe are essential for travel.
I guess I could´ve kept my passport in its case, nice and dry, and below one hundred degrees celsius … but to carry it I would have had to teach myself to carry more unjustified prejudice which would have been even more difficult. To retain both my passport and frame of mind would be like entering a forested area to enjoy and examine wild grasses whilst lugging around a cement mixer just in case.
This is now the time and place to read (and follow instructions if you dare) through the treasure map to a world where time doesn·t exist!!!!!!!!
Firstly, apologies for boring you with the uncreative web address name “Ibby walks”. The address was initially made because I created this page to swap toddlers photos with my mum when I was homesick overseas. Then I realised I had many mothers that were looking at the page simultaneously…
Or not ..
Or something like that …
So I guess I should now start to tidy up my webshite now?
Or not! The universe is the antithesis or order, so to try to clean it up by imposing my will on it would be a touch arrogant don’t you think.
So I try to act locally with the people around me. Which means away from this voodoo gadget. Here you will get a glimpse for a split microsecond through the end of the Hubble telescope (if you’re lucky) at how rich life is without money (a money filled life is one of permanently scamming people for a bargain) or transport (the vehicle for those who cannot live in the present.
Gandhi on singularity:
“If you wish for computers to sap your last drops of humanness and completely annihilate life forces, then be the change and keep licking this screen.”
(The aboves a misquote by the way. The gist is more or less right but he added in swear words repetitively and intermittently as he was reincarnated into a more modern setting when the discussion took place …
but the details are not important)
This a page, that has not been well maintained with age.
Better than than just find my personal page on facebook if you´re going to use the beast in anyway “Ibby E Okinyi”, add me, and throw me a comment here or there.
I receive all messages but I go through periods of little internet access , so I’ll get back to you when I can. I’m always ten minutes early for all appointments (that way I have an excuse to leave them before they’re finished).
Do you understand my drif – ting?
Okay put it this way, I leave massive holes in my text like this …
So you have the time between sentences to jump out the side window of your house and run.
Or be polite and hand the keys over to your house mate with a hug and softly close the door after you
or if you’re a chicken, make a coffee and have a wank.
Merci à mes nouveaux amis français que j’ai rencontrés au cours des 6 derniers mois.Vous êtes très apprécié! Malhereusment mon français est toujours la merde, est encore la merde, et je préfère vous écrire la poésie avec le pie, mais de toute façon ici, c’est un article pour vous
Hi, thanks for coming! My names Ibby … and I do nothing.
That’s why you may get something out of this website (especially if you study the spelling and grammatical errors )
Hi, thanks for nothing, my names Ibby … and I try to do nothing because generally nothing is a lot less destructive than something.
I’m sitting here eagerly awaiting a massive world-wide economic crash … In fact, I’ve already invested all my cash on it. Let’s hope the worldwide economic “catastrophic” crash makes haste and beats the death knell of the atomic free-for all crash, the final whip of the UV lash, or the total human personality crash, where we all assume the characteristics of a flat screen.
The only beef I’ve got with the flat screen personality crash (or whatever you want to label it) is that I never really owned cutting edge technology so if we all start to morph into these gadgets, I won’t exactly know or understand how to conduct myself without freaking people out. Is that being self-centered? Or should I learn to light up when someone plugs a live 240 volt cable into my ass and stares at me with an open mouth for 10 hours a day? It just doesn’t feel natural to try to get used to it, sorry if I’m old-fashioned can’t help it.
…
and you?
Hmmm, if I was crouched over in the middle of that arid postapocalyptic desert with radioactive vultures munching away at what remained of my right testicle, at least spare me the pain of seeing someone wave a mortgage at me trying to get hold of my left one. …
Please … Don’t take both of them, at least leave me half of one … or at the very least the quantity required to help me to piss the little water I may find in the bottom of whatever iPipes are lying around … If your cojones are required to assist in that anatomical process of urination. If not, then whatever, forget what I’m talking about and charge me.
Don’t be lame, if we want to accelerate progress why not directly nuke the arctic?
And If you do so, do it with one of those silent bombs so at least I can finish my dreams and enjoy the last three minutes of my life. See I’d probably be sleeping in a tent and if I got woken I’d wake to a meal of plastic melting into my mouth and up my nose, and to walk all over the world and wind up in Maccas for my last meal would kind of make me think I took the wrong choice way back at school when the careers councilor took me into her office. I may start to feel helpless or scalpless or something like this.
Just shut-up and do your dirty work if you really have to do it. But let me stay oblivious in peace, or at least without cheap melted cheese.
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Poets whose prose make more sense than their lifestyle, are professional liars who are so good at their job, that they’ve already convinced themselves that they’re telling the truth. They can be at any stage softly encouraged to come out from behind their shield of possessions, fire their reputation, and live in life itself.
I’ve currently been living without money for over a year and a half whilst walking 2500km (at a really slow average pace of 4km per day). The blog was initially built to show artistic solidarity with those who showed me solidarity on the way.
Now the blog is marketed as a free-for-all circus which is also an exaggeration, as the website does nothing unless you switch off your computer and jump out the side window of your house and run.
The header entries are to be read first … Whilst you’re opening the window …
On the right panel you’ll find a collection of short essays or poems, and on this page you’re reading a few different videos, music and an overview of some free family activities like burning down passports to get granted a free visa to immigration detention centers.
……………………………………… ………………………………. ……………………..
End Chapter I
End Chapter II
End Chapter III
End Chapter IV
End Roman numerals
Whilst walking along the Loire river I stumbled into a small town called Blois. I was kind of in a hurry to migrate south 300Km to beat the snow this winter … but then my ears dragged me into a trance, then under a saxophone and into a jam session. We had such a fun time that we decided to make an album one song a day…
One song a day makes this music tribal music not stereo music. Music from one of those tribes that you think doesn’t exist because its members run so fast that you can’t see them or feel them. You know what I mean?
What do you mean you know what I mean? How can you know what I’m talking about if you can’t see it or feel it. If you know what I mean … then I guess I don’t really know what you mean …
I got a great review for the album by the way “Ibby this is a fantastically high-tech production, your voice sounds like Pavarotti through a serious distortion pedal. Anyone who doesn’t appreciate it lives in a cave and is mal-adjusted to technology”
(that review was from my mum by the way, the one who I swap toddler photos with … don’t tell anyone)
Put on your judges wigs and let’s get off to the more serious business.
… AND HE JUMPED OUT
THE SIDE WINDOW OF HIS HOUSE AND RAN !!! !!!
…
(On the 4th of June, 2012, I celebrated the 1 year anniversary of my divorce with money, she took my entire estate, BUT … … … … … I fought successfully to regain full custody over my mind)
by Ibby & Okinyi, professional trader of the elementary building blocks of every human construction,
the items more vital than water…
Thoughts.
cough cough cough …
If I claimed I presented you this website in a minimal layout to avoid showering you in gimmicks, I’d be deceiving you. And maybe it’s not that I’m too lazy or incompetant to make it look better either. You see … back in the stone age all web sites looked like this, so I could possibly be trying my best to mimic the ancient formula to give this work a little historic value … Besides … The only way to read the essays is to turn off the computer, and jump out the side window of your house and run …
and then tell me where it is.
.
The army of the future marched into countries with stealth, ‘brutelessly’ colonising them. They had no need for violent force or suppression of information, as they knew that love and logic would eventually permeate in all directions irrepressibly.
In each region of conquest, instead of planting a flag (an archaic object designed to magnify differences between people), they planted a pair of well-worn socks. Resisters would smell the essence of what all humans are really constituted of.
Or something like that.
.
This book is being written whilst the author walks over a continent on a quest to further understand reality.
The experiment observed the following rules :
The use of transport is forbidden: (This would take me out of the where I am, contrary to the objectives of the experiment)
These days on occasion I may take a little transport if there is an exceptional reason, but I make sure it takes me back to the same place it picked me up. Cars are one of the most offensive objects on our horizon that regularly fuck with our visionary abilities. We all continually move forward as one mass, gathering energy and radiance.
The use of money is STRICTLY forbidden: An unnecessary distraction for a strong human in its prime, an object not worth its weight
*** The use of alcohol, tobacco and drugs prohibited: Today I explore this reality, not that one
*** (This rule was held for a year, whilst walking Paris to Oslo, it’s been dropped for the second rotation around the sun, to keep myself flexible , otherwise the experiment would have been too easy)
I have promoted myself, I am now boss over myself (and boss over no one else). (Whilst curable starvation exists on this planet in such prevalence, I have no regard for the corrupt ineffective laws of the land which prevent the transition to a more just structure of resource distribution. National law will be over-ridden by the laws designed by my own morality.)
I am now going deeper
(after exhausting my quota of power words: forbidden, STRICTLY,prohibited, boss, deeper, left is the remainder of the text which comes friendlier to the
eyes )
;
;
;
;
;
;
;
Other than all the many obvious ethical reasons why one would wish to boycott money
and national ID.
Trolling for laughs is just as valid as any other in this society where the media tries to
manipulate us
into assuming the personality of dried prunes
Just because you run the media and your lust for money has fossilised you … you wish
to drag all the suckers
down with you into the bog of scummy objects? … What if I want to be a healthy carrot
not a packaged up
dried date?
then, I guess I should …
D O I T N O W !!
Belleville, Paris, June 2012… … ??? … The center and intricate right panel (and all that looks the best to the eye) courtesy of artist from L.A., alien specialist (and fun person) B.B. Bastidas currently doing two gallery exhibitions in Paris. So don’t be just unjust, show off your tonsils or at least your molars, have a laugh. Get down there! Now !!
(then) GET UP!!!
“If you arrive at the end of the universe, and find yourself separated from Utopia by an
“unshatterable” transparent barrier,throw yourself at it with all your weight.
If you work at it your whole life and only manage to chip it, not only will your children inherit your attitude, but you’ve come a chip closer to the paradise that the children of your children’s children’s children will inherit.”
(happy new year !!)
IIIB7v
31/12/2011 (11.59pm) -Inside Merksplas center for illegals.
Accepting all 2D friend requests. I hope I am humanly enough to do the same in 3D life as well. All very welcome to raise points and awareness on relevant issues on the profile.
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EXTRA EXTRA !!!!! SWIMMING AGAINST THE CURRENT!!!
Simon, an inspiring friend of mine (and friend of this rich planet), is about to attempt to paddle from Valparaiso to Costa Rica to try to raise awareness about the huge problem of plastic in our Oceans.
He’s previously crossed the Baltic from Sweden to Finland in a kayak, and traveled Australia on a natural diet which included a healthy share of roadkill. Follow his trip at www.isladebasura.com ,and also find videos and information on the biggest environmental problem our oceans are facing at the moment.
Good luck Simon !
Also another interesting adventure:
Harald’s eco adventure:
He’ll be walking, peddling and hitch-hiking from the most Western point of Eurasia to the most Southern, from Portugal to Singapore. During the journey he’ll look into ecological problems and the impact of global warming on mountains and the people who live there.
Welcome!! from 21st September (the day this book migrated here)
24,766 visitors .......................................................... have come to relax here :) ... yet I only eat 4 times a day. Is the FBI (Financial Ban self-Imposed) really a parasitic entity which digs into the vertebrate of society and sucks? Or am I deluded in believing that my cousins, those who humbly accept the dole whilst channelling their efforts into producing everlasting art, are the heroes and the life givers of our monotonic age (monotonic means one tonic water by the way ) ? CONTINUE TO YELL AT THE STARS SO ART RAINS DOWN ON THE UNIVERSE!
Prefiero escribir algo … Pero como manejo los dos idiomas ahora, si lo lees vas a llorar!
