Post-industrial Buddhism is what it is. Yeah like it'd be great to do that in a cave or forest or open prairie but who the fuck can afford those things?
Abandoned buildings are free as long as you don't fuck with the native inhabitants' meth.
this post was submitted on 14 Mar 2025
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I would just worry of asbestos or heavy metal contamination in the buildings, especially if I'm sleeping on or near the floor
All the good caves are taken.
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who the fuck can afford those things?
Anybody? Where do you live that hanging out in the forest costs money?
Transportation to and from the forest isn't free.
Also some places have laws against camping on public land to discourage homelessness and these would likely fall afoul of those.
I promose you those places also have laws against camping on private property in an abandoned building.
Yes, but not as many people go to abandoned buildings so you're less likely to be seen by others and reported.
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Uh... that isn't normal.
Honey, there hasn't been an ounce of "normal" anywhere since at least 2001.
*in america...
Supply of "normal" is increasingly limited outside of it, too.
oof, never thought I'd see the baseline for "normal" set to after covid.
Jeez. I totally meant to type 2001, not 2021.
I bet his friend is never worried about stupid shit.
I'd be worried about rats nibbling my nutsack while I sleep on the floor of an abandoned factory.
That is a basic survival worry. I tend to believe that humans faced with real survival issues are less negatively impacted than those who have material worries.
My stress about work is killing me.
My stress about not freezing to death leads me to do things like chopping wood, lighting fires, and maintaining my chimney. Which are all good things.
My wife doesn’t love multi day backpacking. But she loves the glimpse of how I am and how we are - during that time.
Our priorities - Stay warm, stay dry, fetch and purify water, hike the right distances to get out with food in hand, packing and unpacking our gear, avoid dangerous wildlife, cook, sleep.
When every day that’s your goal state it’s super simple - stress is actually just a response to things that might kill you again. And not 20 steps away from it. “I might perform poorly, my clothes might not be appropriate for the job, I’m running 3 minutes behind - which may cost me my job, which could be long term, and financially we won’t recover, and then we might lose the house or starve”. Up against “I need water and dry clothes”.
Chop wood, carry water.
Indeed, the majority of us aren't made to worry about arbitrary problems that are beyond our control constantly more than trivial and survival related problems.
He can afford to disappear for a week every month?
That's what I'm saying!
Yeah, sign me up! Not for the starvation thing, the money thing.
Weird only to a mind that's used to being constantly bombarded with low quality entertainment, lulled into comfortable numbness with mostly unnecessary material goods. While this is overly extreme (and potentially hazardous... though that being 4chan it's probably exaggerated, if even true), most people would do well to take periods of disconnecting entirely and have minimal entertainment available. Zen Buddhist retreats are great by my experience. Yoga Retreats are nice but you need to weed out the ones that are really just masturbatory Wellness holidays for rich white women. Vipassana retreats are probably good too tho I personally haven't been to one of those. But just starting meditation would be great. https://www.wakingup.com/ is a low bar access point with guided meditations but also a lot of great philosophical discussions from several different branches of thought (notably Stoicism and Buddhism but others too). And you can get it for free (request scholarship) if the price seems steep.
Shout-out to my man Sam.
I know a lot of people here hate him for his political takes, but his meditation app can be divorced from his podcast career. His science based approach to meditation, with no spiritual conflation is so refreshing.
I've had so many life changing realizations about my own mind thanks to him. His efforts to emphasise the outcomes of compassion and stoicism in the face of hostility have changed my outlook on engaging with abrasive people, and is one of the most important lessons I've learnt in a long time.
Furthermore, the realization that free will is an illusion helps to change how you view people who annoy you. They're victims of their own minds, and slaves to every prior cause in their life. Forgiveness and tolerance are both rational, and impossible perspectives to deny, once you can see it clearly.
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Umm, hello, is this the Based department? I'd like to report someone...
This is a bit intense but praxticrs like this have been used not only by the Buddhists but also the internet's favourite emperor Marcus Aurelius for example. It seems to be really good for you. For a more feasible exercise just tape a square onto the floor and only leave that box for hygiene, work, food and walks. You sleep in the box you meditate in the box and you exercise in the box.
That square is my bed and my therapist was concerned when I said I didn’t leave it.
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Sounds like buddism to me
Fake: Anon has friends
Gay: Imaginary friend is a guy
Open and shut case.
Bake em away, toys.
but in this crazy crazy world, is normal so good?
As a practicing Buddist, I do this often. Smoke enough weed, and an empty shack becomes a temple of delight.
Doesn't the meditation bring on is own kind of high after a while?
Pot works better
Sure it's not normal. He's chosen the Hermit path. Fair play to him.
Desire is the root of all suffering, suffering can cease when attachment to desire is extinguished.
My initial reaction, the socially acceptable one, was akin to "oh, wow, that's weird." After I gave it a minute, though... Gotta say, if I could be certain of the fact that I wouldn't be interrupted in any way and had full control over the situation... yeah, that actually sounds like a nice getaway...
Edit: or in a bunker! I would not mind not seeing the light of day (or anything else, for that matter) for a month! Would be a nice RAM purge at the very least!
Honestly, I'd bring water and food. Why starve and suffer when you can not suffer. I know, worldly attachments and shit, but I never got the part about intentionally suffering. That is just like those Christian zealots that self-flagellated for their sins, just more passive.
But other than that, it sounds like a dream vacation.
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silent hill protagonist
Anon's friend is just Batman going through his early training montage.
what part of that isnt normal? The area in which we sleep can be what ever, is it just that he is alone with his own thoughts and does minimal food (most would just do rice only during these things)?
Old factory’s a bad choice. Suspended particulate matter from industry long past can ruin your lungs. Caves can be better, if there aren't any bats or stabby bugs. As an aside, what’s the deal with humans and bats each hosting diseases that wipe the other out?
There’s likely a monastery nearby, or a field, or a forest where you can get the same experience. A tent covered with blackout curtains costs little and dampens what little sound and light you’ll find.
Agreed. Besides industrial waste, old factories often have motion-detector silent alarms. If not, they may have squatters who may or may not be cool with intruders. If not, if you have some kind of medical emergency it might be months before you are found.
Comment-OP, minimal food's not really necessary - one of the things about Gautama Buddha is that he gave up mortifying the flesh. And you definitely shouldn't dehydrate yourself bc that can cause organ damage.
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It's normal. Anon is just detached from reality.
"All of humanity’s problems stem from man’s inability to sit quietly in a room alone.” -- Blaise Pascal
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just like me fr
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