My dad told me, when you get a cabin in the mountains

the trick is to stay busy

chop your wood

wash your clothes

fix the leaks in the roof

and prepare for something bad to happen.

One must always prepare

Otherwise, the time

and loneliness

will make you insane.

He dreamed of living in the wilderness for a season

His brother did it—and if it didn’t make him strange—there are no strangers in the world

He plays the piano like a concert pianist, and fixes fences along the roadside

His accent—is backwoods, Idaho—He lives in Jordan Valley

Population—nothing, and he still managed to get married

My dad found a wife who leaves him alone, until he wants company

I guess I come from a family of strange values…

The dream is isolation

But I have my own philosophy.

The whole point of being alone is to test your spirit

staying busy, and not risking insanity, is amateurish

You can’t live in total isolation the same way that you live in society

You must be comfortable lying-in bed for 2 or 3 days without eating

Fasting, clears up the mind and allows you to ingest philosophy

If you don’t know yourself, or God

before you go into the mountains

you will be confronted

There is nothing more exciting

than realizing

you were busy before

but now, you’re not

and all that matters is the life force within you

growing

totally alive and self-reliant

In a world that makes you believe you need to have knowledge

conveniences

and entertainment

You can bask in your own thoughts

in your own company

in simplicity

Being rejected by society

is not the same thing as throwing yourself away

If you find yourself killing time

surviving the work day

just trying to make it until 5

How can you call 90 days alone, a waste of time?

It is heaven on earth

It’s when you get closest to God

Every agnostic should make the journey into isolation

and if God doesn’t show up

then grow a pair

and become an atheist.