National Geographic is airing a reality TV series following several “Rewilders” as they pursue a primitive lifestyle. My hat is off to them though their path is not mine.
“Over-sentimentality, over-softness, in fact washiness and mushiness are the great dangers of this age and of this people. Unless we keep the barbarian virtues, gaining the civilized ones will be of little avail.” -Theodore Roosevelt
For all of its manifest wonders — such as communicating with you all across the world via the Internet — there’s a nagging suspicion that the hyper-civilized modern age has stolen something important from the soul of man. And from men, specifically.
Made to contend with Nature, to hunt, to count coup upon our enemies and talk story around the fire, we are, instead, regulated in countless petty ways, in word, thought and deed, subjected to constraints created to serve a society of nattering, pettifogging pearl-clutchers. For many, days are filled with work with no soul or meaning and evenings are devoted to numbing the spirit with mainlined entertainment.
Bah!
There is a movement to push back against civilization and its discontents, to reclaim manhood from the emasculating influence of a decaying society. Rewilding.
Throughout the U.S., a small but seemingly growing segment of like-minded people are choosing to opt out of civilized comfort and the conventional economy. Adherents of “Rewilding”, as the movement is called, instead live in rural areas where they seek to subsist off the land, hunting and fishing and gathering wild plants for food, and build their own dwellings from materials they find there. To varying degrees, they eschew manufactured products and modern technology as well, preferring instead to rely upon the sort of tools that they can make themselves…
…At the heart of Rewilding is a belief that a modern culture, in exchange for comfort and security, inflicts an unsustainable psychological and physical toll upon humans … and harms the environment in the process.
OK, we’ll leave aside the irony in the fact that National Geographic Channel is broadcasting a reality TV show on Rewilders. Rewilding seems to me an intriguing realization of the instinct virtually every man I know has felt on occasion: To say “fuck it” and go feral.
Portland author and neo-barbarian Jack Donovan has written a lot about the tension between masculinity and civilization, particularly in his treatise “The Way of Men.” Donovan is an interesting radical-right counter-cultural figure. He lines out a very clear understanding of what the primary masculine virtues are, and under what circumstances men who adhere to them can thrive.
Those virtues, as he defines them, are strength, courage, mastery (competence) and honor. He notes that these are not necessarily “moral” virtues. A man can be “good at being a man” and not be “a good man.” For Donovan, the basic unit of male society is the “gang,” which is borne out in prisons everywhere — and in the history of the Frontier Partisans.
Jack Donovan’s “The Way of Men” is an interesting treatise on the tension between civilization and masculinity.
Donovan, who is homosexual (and rejects “gay” culture), exalts what is essentially a violent bachelor society. I say this not to dismiss or disparage — it makes a certain kind of Spartan sense. However, it’s a Romantic construct with significant limits — and a dark side.
Donovan himself has sort of acknowledged this, and in a way that resonates with me for obvious reasons.
“A lot of people accuse me of always wanting this kind of Mad Max world where everybody’s always in complete conflict,” Jack says. “And while I think that’s a good corrective place, that would never last. Because people would band together and create societies again, because that’s what people do. I think there’s a sweet spot between how much you trade away the job of being a man and how much you keep it.
“Frontiersmen who still had wives and families and communities and law still had to protect their own land; they were involved in a lot of physical activity; they still went down to the bar and had a fight every once in a while. I think those kind of things represent that kind of sweet spot — where you have society and you do have civilization and you do have some stability, but you still [give] men…the opportunity to do what they evolved to do: to play the role of defending the perimeter.”
Now your talkin’, Jack!
There are, of course “protecting the perimeter” jobs in modern society — cops, firemen, soldiers. But not every man wants or needs to pursue one of those careers in order to tap his individual masculine virtues. For one thing, each of those careers is civil service and very bureaucratic, which doesn’t suit everyone’s temperament. Donovan argues, I think correctly, that we have outsourced too much of our individual role in establishing and defending our clan and territory. So, we seek alternatives…
Donovan’s own “sweet spot” is, apparently, neo-tribal heathenry (and fight club action) that hearkens back to Iron Age Europe. That’s a pretty direct way to retain the barbarian virtues. My sweet spot is in a different time and place — but the principal adheres, perhaps to different degree.
When I was young, I was obsessed with the Long Hunters of the Appalachian chain and the Mountain Men of the Rocky Mountains. The idea of emulating that lifestyle had a lot of appeal. You bet I dreamed of going full-Jeremiah Johnson. Those men and their stories still form an important part of my personal mythology, obviously. And I still feel the pull when I see “Rewilders” going after a mountain man lifeway.
However… I have too much of the scholar in me and — strange as it may sound — too much appreciation for the urban, to immerse myself that completely in such an alternative lifestyle. For me, the x-ring was hit plumb center by the Frontier Partisans of the turn of the 20th Century. They kept the job of being a man, in Donovan’s parlance, but they also enjoyed what is for my money the apogee of material culture — with fine firearms, steam trains, steamships, a world-wide horizon, and, not least, a timeless aesthetic. They experienced the joy and wonder — and peril — of exploring wild lands, but many among them were also bookish scholars and writers, as perfectly comfortable at a museum symposium in London or a White House dinner as they were in the back-of-beyond.
It is worth noting that thoughtful, active wilderness men of this era were every bit as anxious about the pernicious “de-wilding” effects of industrial civilization as anyone is today — as evidenced by that quote from T.R. above. That’s where the conservation movement came from, and it was the genesis of the Boy Scouts. The exemplary Frontier Partisans of the era were ambivalent outriders of empire. They played a key role in bringing industrial Western civilization to the wild lands of the world from the American West to Australia to Rhodesia. They reveled in the work, but wearied quickly of the results. They had a “sweet spot” of their own: the transition period between “savagery” and civilization. Once that transition was made, they got bored and restless — and “lit out for the territory” to seek new frontiers to conquer.
The great African hunter Frederick Courteney Selous is an exemplar of the gentleman-adventurer of that era. That same barbarian-virtues-expounding Theodore Roosevelt nailed it in a eulogy for Selous, who was felled by a sniper’s bullet in World War I:
“He led a singularly adventurous and fascinating life, with just the right alternations between the wilderness and civilization. He helped spread the borders of his people’s land. He added much to the sum of human knowledge and interest. He closed his life exactly as such a life ought to be closed, by dying in battle for his country while rendering her valiant and effective service. Who could wish a better life or a better death, or desire to leave a more honourable heritage to his family and his nation?”
F.C. Selous hit the sweet spot right in the X-ring.
Selous, the Boer Deneys Reitz, the American scout Frederick Russell Burnham — in my estimation those guys hit the mark. Just the right alternations between wilderness and civilization. These are the men I most closely identify with.
I am fortunate in that I can run the woods and mountains, shoot-and-scoot, hoist my kettlebells, practice my martial arts, chop the wood. That all keeps me centered, in touch with what man is built to do. And yet I can still hunker down with a stack of books and lose myself in the study of history — or take my lady out for an evening on the town. My “sweet spot” is surely way too civilized for Jack Donovan and his fellow tribesmen, and it is a far cry from rewilding. I offer no manifesto. I make no claims for staking out a counter-cultural alternative to the ills of modernity and decadent civilization. But I do find a way every day, to tap the reservoir of the barbarian virtues, while also cultivating the civilized arts. I like to think T.R. would approve.
Frederick Russell Burnham, center, also hit the bullseye.
Paul McNamee says
A bit more on the spiritual side of “being a man,” I discovered this a few years ago. Very interesting, I thought. I don’t know if you’ve ever seen it.
Robert Bly and Michael Meade, ON BEING A MAN
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hLSKMFb88dw&list=PLFC5FE27F651729F8
JimC says
I look forward to viewing that. Thanks for posting it.
deuce says
Right on, Jim.
As you say, full-blown rewilding isn’t for everyone. However, everyone should at least be aware of what we’ve lost and try to reclaim at least a quantum of it on a daily basis. Too many people literally “live” in their cars, cubicles and homes. No other primates worship cages. Why should we?
JimC says
Great to hear from you Deuce. I figured you’d appreciate that post — we are of the same tribe.
VBell says
I feel we had this conversation many times. We just weren’t as eloquent 25 years ago. Personally, I prefer protecting the perimeter despite the bureaucracies of the system inside the perimeter. As for your final comment, the need to have a manifesto is a need for external validation, something no man should need.
Keep filling the unforgiving minute with sixty seconds worth of distance run.
JimC says
Ah, my old friend — so good to hear from you! Love the comment on external validation. X-ring.
“Do what thy manhood bids thee do,
from none but self expect applause.
He noblest lives and noblest dies
who makes and keeps his self-made laws.”
― Richard Francis Burton
Eccentric Cowboy says
Fantastic article Jim!
I’ve found myself ruminating much as of late on the cultural and mental changes that have been brought about over the last few hundred years. With the stability of cities and civilizations we’ve robbed many of our citizens of the sense of self and independence that comes from dealing with the core elements of nature. Hunting, warfare, preparing one’s own food and building their own things, walking between entire countries on foot and horseback, all have an indescribable satisfaction. It’s rough and hard work, but it is unspeakably satisfying.
I find it sad when spots on the map get filled up. No more lost islands, no more undiscovered cities in thick jungles or mountain peaks, we scarcely even get a man eater in this country anymore. I recall Robert E. Howard discussing such things with his counterpart HP Lovecraft. One was born of nature and the other of civilization, and I find the contrast fascinating. Even Howard at the time saw the wild places shrinking and knew that the days of men grabbing a gun and simply hunting upon the open landscape were numbered.
My greatest fear is that the ways of frontiersmen, hunters and warriors might one day disappear entirely. I think my fears are unfounded though. As long as we’ve got books on the subjects in print and wild places still around, I think we’ll have men of this breed around.
JimC says
Thanks for the thoughtful comments EC. I read an interesting interview with the creators of The Walking Dead this morning (haven’t seen the show) where they talked about the underlying theme that our First World level of comfort and security has left most of us unprepared for a significant crisis or disaster that throws the fragile network upon which all that comfort and security is based into disarray. I do not fear that the ways of frontiersmen will disappear. They will become highly relevant when civilization — that whim of circumstance — breaks down, as it inevitably will in the face of environmental crisis and societal break down. I do not posit this as a “good thing” or a “bad thing.” It is simply a “thing” that will happen, probably within 50 to 75 years.
Eccentric Cowboy says
You’re most welcome Jim!
I’ve actually watched the first two seasons of The Walking Dead, and I definitely detected that theme, but also one of morality struggling against survival. An act of charity or mercy in that world might actually lead to disaster, often at the hands of not so friendly survivors. You see a noticeable turn with the protagonist who goes from being genuinely altruistic and trying to preserve the elements of civilization gradually get beaten down and becomes bitter and even bloodthirsty.
That is quite a valid point. Civilizations have a habit of breaking up and then reforming. I’m not sure to what degree they will take place in the future, but I hope they end up for the better.
Lane Batot says
Gawd; I could harangue for hours on this subject–you need to do a BOOK on this alone, J. C.–interview the remnant holdouts, record what methods/tactics/philosophies survive to keep some of the Old Ways alive! Of course yer kinda doing that with this blog…..Yeah, I have heard, tiresomely and repeatedly from urban, overly civilized types, on how I am living in a “fantasy” or “unrealistic” manner with my interests in spending as much of my time in wild places with wild critters as I can. Their idea of “reality” is living in a totally artificial, manmade(and not that such critical people could make any of those manmade things themselves, either!) climate-controlled environment where they just pay money to get others to do EVERYTHING else for them. Their entertainment is largely what I call the “pretend media”, and they spend their lives pretending to be this or that, or to like this or that. Most HAVE NO IDEA what “reality” is, because they’ve spent their entire lives in a pretend world contrived by others. That’s one thing Nature will teach you QUICKLY–what’s really real, and always has been since life began on this planet! A weed poking through a sidewalk in a city is far more in tune with reality than most of the herds of humans hurrying past it. I personally am miserable if I can’t live close to the woods and animals–animals’ examples have a way of teaching you what is really important and REAL. Working in a zoo like I do as my form of having to “walk-the-whiteman’s-road”, that almost all of us have to do to a certain degree to survive, I hear all the time from naysayers how they HATE zoos, and think they should be abolished, yet they don’t seem to realize they themselves have little more freedom and can take care of themselves LESS than most zoo animals! Living in their houses/apartments/autos/offices all their lives……….to be continued……
JimC says
I knew this one would hit you where you live, Lane. I, too, have been accused of living in a “fantasy” world. Or “living in the past.” Neither is true, but I AM fond of deploying Churchill’s rejoinder: “Why shouldn’t I live in the past? I like it better there.”
Lane Batot says
….Ha! When people talk about me living in the past(which of course I hear PLENTY too!), and wonder when I am going to join the 21st century(no cell phone, no computer, no flat screen TV, etc. etc.)–little do they realize I never actually joined the 20th very effectively! “Playing” around in the woods all the time, I also get accused of having a “Peter Pan Syndrome”. Thanks to a cooment I have utilized for myself I saw in a movie awhile back, I have the perfect response to THAT! I just tell such commenters they have a “Captain Hook Syndrome”! It can be HARDER to try and live “wild”(off the grid, as some call it now…) nowadays simply because such is NOT accepted by society at large(at least in the U. S.). Take it from me, who had “escaped” an oppressive situation in society many years ago, and was living with a wolf hybrid in a tipi deep in the big Thicket in Texas, and living happily day-to-day(mostly on squirrels!), until local Game Wardens found and confiscated my entire camp! I wasn’t really hiding at the time–such taught me well HOW to hide in the future! I was considered a “vagrant”, rather than a free, wild person! So, for that “image” sake, it is probably BEST, and SAFEST, to “pretend” to go along with civilized society to a degree, but then REVERT to the wild every frikkin’ chance you get, even if just for the weekend! Or a daily walk in some nearby remnant of forest! Or prowling about in the moonlight–something the wild critters have adapted to, to live alongside but largely unknown in even urban environments!
Lane Batot says
…..and heck, going “bush” regularly gives you a far better, more appreciative perspective regarding the wonders of the modern world! I shore like me a refrigerator, and a microwave oven! A chainsaw is miraculous! Most overly urban, overly domesticated folk are usually intolerably spoiled, taking such things for granted, and whining about everything when they don’t work perfectly every time. And purty helpless in not knowing any alternative “primitive” ways of doing things. Speaking of overly domesticated, THAT, I believe IS actually part of the problem with lots of modern human as well as animal bloodlines–I get that perspective from my constant interaction and comparisons with other animals. Though people don’t like to think of themselves utilizing the same terms as with animals, just think about it–don’t humans become domesticated too, just like the animals they purposefully breed, without Nature’s selective survival processes? How long since any of our bloodlines intersected with a truly “wild” bushman, native American, aborigine, or other somewhat more recently “domesticated”(or not!) bloodline? And just as animal bloodlines develop health and mental problems from becoming too selectively bred for things other than survival in Nature, could not THAT have a lot to do with many of our modern health and behavioral issues? I think some of us tend to be something of genetic “throwbacks” to more “primitive”(i. e. –FUNCTIONAL!) ancestors. I delved more and more into this kind of thinking running the mountains for many years with a pack of wolf hybrids(and other fully domesticated dog types). Yeah, some of us are just a bit more wolf than dog……..
JimC says
I am convinced that many of our ills — including these assaholic school shootings — are traceable to a failure to inculcate a solid masculine identity in young men. And that is directly related to a failure to retain, shape and direct the “wild” impulse.
Norm Andrews says
Sitting around talking with the younger folks, they tell me the loss of these skills is all part of some plan to control us all, like if people forget how to feed themselves they are easier to control. Not really sure if I see it that way , or if the young folks are just kicking over the traces (that’s good for young folks ) , but time will tell.
Norm.
JimC says
I am suspicious of any theory that starts with “they…” The world is not that well organized.
Lane Batot says
….that may not be a conscious, contrived “plan”, but it may well end up that way…..