| To live like the amish people
Posted: 12/30/2006 5:52:27 PM | I have tough about a thing. I'm sick of computers, tv and the addiction of mobilephone. I want to try something different for a while. And I tought about the amish people. I want to live like them for a while. Do the things they do and just find my self in a way.
But the thing is that they are really christian. And i dont know if I want to have that seriously christian thing over my head every day. I am a christian catholic, but it isent something that is dead serious for me.
So what can I do. Is there any people like the amish out there wich is not so christian about themselfs? | |
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| To live like the amish people
Posted: 12/30/2006 6:47:03 PM | What a question for an Internet message board! You're talking to people who like their computers, including some who are more comfortable typing messages to total stangers than they are in talking to their neighbors.
The Amish have more technology than people think. I was surprised when I moved here to Amish country how different things are from the popular myth. Not that there isn't still a lot of truth to the popular myth.
But there's a lot to be said for a simpler life. | |
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yna6
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Joined: 5/2/2004
Msg: 3 | |
| To live like the amish people
Posted: 12/30/2006 6:54:05 PM | Very simple to "live simply". You cut the cell phone off, and shove it into a seldom used drawer. You disconnect the puter, pack it away in a box. Get a radio...a BIG one...not a stereo...some old radio that still works. then, try canning food. make a few pies, or whatever. Try making candles. Take an evening, use those candles, and sit in the livingroom, listening to radio shows. Yes...they still have them! Check the local listings.
Even starting out slowly...just leave the technology along for a few days...fill the time with something else.
have fun. | |
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| To live like the amish people
Posted: 12/30/2006 6:58:05 PM | | I don't know if there are any specific groups but you could move to the country and just don't have all of the luxeries. Tend your garden, make your own clothes and bread and such. Buy a horse and use it for travel. Just think Little House on the Prarie. | |
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| To live like the amish people
Posted: 12/30/2006 7:02:45 PM | If you dont like my question, then dont bother answering. I want to try something new in my life. And i said 'to live LIKE them, not WITH them'.
And I was wondering if there where a group of that kind wich wasent that christian in their belif. But to live like that i need peple wich are like me around me. It would just be sad sitting in my apartment alone and not do anything, cause as we all now, people sit on the internet almost constantly! And im sick of it. | |
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| To live like the amish people
Posted: 12/30/2006 7:04:19 PM | My understanding of the Amish lifestyle is that they cut out anything that will put distance between them and their family and distance between
them and God.
This is why you might see an Amish farmer driving a pick up truck, but at home he has no radio or television to get between he and God or he and his Family.
The Amish are a great example of a simpler life but I think it's a little too extreme for what you seek.
I'd say almost all minimalists are held together by some core set of values. If you don't settle for a simple life in a hippie commune, then you might have to join a cult or something.
Introspection is very grounding and you might be able to achieve that in other ways than walking around barefoot for a month. Maybe enrolling in an interesting course at your local community college would be a good fit for you. | |
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| To live like the amish people
Posted: 12/30/2006 7:33:09 PM | You might want to try a simple lifestyle as Taoists and Buddhists live. Simple clothing. Simple household items. Clean diet of whole foods, without reliance on drugs or alcohol, quality rest, meditation and introspection. Meditative walks and care/reverence for the body and mind. Strive for internal silence, to oppose the busy mind jangling of the hyped mind - a byproduct of most modern lifestyles. I use regular exercise (aerobic and anaerobic training) coupled with regular guided systematic movement (pilates, yoga and tai chi) to stretch and massage the central nervous system for internal health and to promote improve balance and connective tissue suppleness.
But most of all, like the Amish, the lifestyle fosters a sense of greater community and ease with your family, friends, neighbors, community - online or off. You may be missing a spiritual element in your life - thats a primary feature of the Amish way of living. True for Taoist/Zen and Buddhism as well.
I don't use a cell phone, I don't watch TV. I use the computer for work, for learning, I try to be helpful here, share a little of my knowledge assets.
I find opportunities to do 'good' each day. I try to be upbeat and positive-minded. I read, and have craft-work to feed my creative side. I use music for theraputic calming and focusing of the mind, and for appreciation of an artform - it's never just background noise. I practice altruism. I strive not to be endlessly pessimistic and cynical. I try to see both sides of each situation, and argument, in balanced perspective.
The past is an opportunity for learning about oneself and others. The present is the point - this is where you live, not the future. Nothing is taken for granted, certainly not the future - it could end *snaps fingers* just like that. You have your plans in place and see them through - but the best laid plans of men tend to go astray as Fate and Providence shift the internal landscape of the forming future.
What you propose should go well beyond merely giving up a few conveniences. It should be the attainment of a balanced and healthy lifestyle. You do this to foster wellness and breadth of development in each area of life: physical, mental, social, spiritual.
This is about a deliberate choice in your way of living - and adopting a creed, spiritual belief that is practiced daily alongside inspection of our thoughts and actions, so that we don't fall prey to weak, mindless popular rhetoric and negative mindset.
At 24, you are coming into your own with a sense of personal identity and capacity. Yet to come, is the maturation of social and family identity and sense of duty and responsibility to others. This is an ongoing process that will take approximately 15 more years. The final product depends on your cognizance of opportunity and place in the larger perception of your Universe (and this is individualized, built upon years of experience, learning and synthesis of comprehension of 'reality'). Therefore, know that reality is plastic. Its form-able - you can move well beyond the norm in productive living just by practicing 'awareness' and avoiding self deception.
So you can take this opportunity and use to to help motivate and direct your personal evolution. Or you can play at this notion of simple living.
The former is the first steps on a lifelong path. The latter is...childs play, a parody of the rigors of simple living, but without any of internal benefits. | |
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| To live like the amish people
Posted: 12/30/2006 8:50:54 PM | I'm interested in the Amish, too, specifically in their farming practices, which I have a lot of respect for, and also in their ability to put their community first, to ask of any proposed innovation, "What will this do to our community?" They're willing to answer that question in the most practical ways, which means that there's no distinction between their economy and their religion; in their daily work they practice their faith. It really is unlike any other community or church that I've come across.
Taoism is a good suggestion. You don't have to believe anything (except perhaps in the interaction of yin and yang as the driving force of existence) or have blind faith and you don't have to take any oaths. It's wonderfully flexible; it has no real doctrine per se. | |
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| To live like the amish people
Posted: 12/30/2006 9:33:15 PM | | Simple enough. Buy some camping gear and move into a campground or private land for a while. Sleep in a tent,cook over an open fire(invest in a solar shower though)and just get back to basics for a while. | |
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| To live like the amish people
Posted: 12/30/2006 9:50:33 PM | ^^ Along the lines that TwoShadows suggests:
OP, find a member here named Montanadharma. He has lived this way for years, in a yurt, practicing survivalist living tactics. This is a special interest of his - I think he will be glad to talk to you about what is necessary to practice this rugged but independent lifestyle. | |
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| To live like the amish people
Posted: 12/30/2006 9:55:43 PM |
If you dont like my question, then dont bother answering. I want to try something new in my life. And i said 'to live LIKE them, not WITH them'.
And I was wondering if there where a group of that kind wich wasent that christian in their belif. But to live like that i need peple wich are like me around me. It would just be sad sitting in my apartment alone and not do anything, cause as we all now, people sit on the internet almost constantly! And im sick of it
Touchy, touchy. I for one was serious in my suggestion. Considered doing it myself in the past. I don't quit understand though why if you chose to live simpler you'd be sitting alone in your apartment. Actually if you gave up all of the things that are bothering you you'd have more time to go out and meet people-especially in Boston. If you're serious about it you'll find people who share your outlook. | |
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| To live like the amish people
Posted: 12/31/2006 1:29:05 AM | | Rocky, I'm with you. I was complaining to a friend of mine that 20 years ago there were dozens of restaurants open all night or at least until 4am on the weekends. Now you are hard pressed to find more than a one or two. This made no sense until it dawned on me that people do not go out like they used to. They stay at home and communicate on the puter or spend saturday nights with their x-box. Though I can find something on-line within seconds that would have taken weeks of research 20 years ago and though a cell phone would have came in real handy when I broke down in the middle of nowhere many years ago, I can't help but think of all that we have lost because of all our new toys. I don't think joining the Amish is the answer. You would be bored out of your mind before the first week ended. If you come up with any answers I would like to hear them. | |
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| To live like the amish people
Posted: 12/31/2006 1:54:30 AM | | What?!! Life without computers?? I don't think I could go a day without mine. Does that mean no electicity.....or coffee pots either??? | |
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| To live like the amish people
Posted: 12/31/2006 4:24:09 AM | I admire the Amish as well, but am not so much for the entire Christianity thing. My beliefs, those of the preChristian Anglo-Nordic folk, were, as received, more-or-less precision tuned for a rural subsistence environment. This subject has come up alot on our internet discussion groups, and a few people from one group in California were actaully giving it a go to some degree or another.
You might want to try doing a search on *intentional communities*. These have been cropping up since the 60's, and as was mentioned, usually have some religious axis that they are organized around. I mean, really, you *don't* want to bring a bunch of people that might have some major differences into the kind of commitment.
Anyway, give it a try. You might find some group that is more suited to your tastes. | |
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| To live like the amish people
Posted: 12/31/2006 5:11:56 AM | | I think there lifestyles are intersting also : When I was younger , my Dad took us to the Amish area , I like the way they dress and the fact they live on farm's { which I like } : Is there any ~ Amish on here ? , I like to learn more about it myself : | |
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| To live like the amish people
Posted: 12/31/2006 5:36:48 AM | this may come as a shock, but many amish do use cell phones. they also ride around in vans driven by 'english.'
i have some issues with individual amishmen, particularly how they treat their animals. recently, one had a horse taken from him by the spca for cruelty.
but, by and large, the community causes little harm. i like that they manage to hold on to their land amidst all the development.
if you crave a simpler lifestyle, take a look at tom brown's work. he writes about tracking, which opens doors to education in sustainable, low-impact living.
you may want to take a look at the shakers as well. again, the spirituality guides their lives, but, if you want to live close to nature, some form of spirituality will emerge for you.
i have friends who live and farm this way ~ without electricity or machinery, and i spent some time working on a farm run like this. while it's very labor-intensive, it also feels much more harmonious than the corporate methods.
good luck with it! | |
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| To live like the amish people
Posted: 12/31/2006 5:41:21 PM | | Hi there rocky I dont know if you know the forum but at homesteadingtoday.com there are many people who think like you are. you wont feel so alone in the world. And get to see that there are outhers that think like you. There are some relgouse people there. But you will see outher that are not. Lots of good folks there check it out if you have not yet. | |
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| To live like the amish people
Posted: 1/2/2007 8:01:31 AM | Lots of good answers here :)
Deleted my msn messenger today and it felt good. Will not be spending much time on the internet anymore. Just for learning and on different forum like this. Will also find me a group that I can fit in to.
Like I said about the Amish I diddnt ment to be living with them, but like them. I think the christianity they practice is to extreme for my sort.
Been reading this interesting magazine about the spritual in your self and what you can do with yourself and build up your inner spiritual body. Dont know how to explain it exactly as im a foreigner, but its a english version on bodysoulsconnection.com. And it was very interesting.
Tv and internet all day long, and drinking in the weekends without any meaning, no wonder people is getting more and more depressed. Time for changes.... | |
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| To live like the amish people
Posted: 1/2/2007 9:51:44 AM | | I'm a seasonal worker and haven't been working for the last couple months. It does get boring just sitting at the computer or watching Tv all day. About 3 times a week I get back to basics. I'm a country dweller and have a couple sections of forested land behind my house,so I strap on my snowshoes and head out. My favorite thing is to find a sheltered spot,build a fire and just enjoy nature. Maybe read a book. The only problem is that it takes a lot of wood to keep that fire going in cold weather. Consider doing something like this if you have access to wilderness areas or parks. | |
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| To live like the amish people
Posted: 1/2/2007 3:56:03 PM | " In the world I see, you are stalking elk through the damp canyon forests, that surround the ruins of rocakfeller center. You plant potato seeds in an empty golf corse. You whear leather clothes that will last you the rest of your life. You will climb the wrist thick kudzu vines that wrap the sears tower, the air is so clean, you can see tiny figures pounding corn, laying out strips of venisin, in the empty carpool lane of some abandoned super highway."
TDFC
Mass consumerism is getting out of controll. We need to stop and let the earth heal itself, because global warming is going to kill alot of people. All these power plants are pumping so much polution into the air that sometime soon, there is going to be a flood.
My prediction:
2007 Christmas...Newyork will be flooded by a tital wave.
Just a thought. | |
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| To live like the amish people
Posted: 1/2/2007 7:16:13 PM | | i was raised in the wilderness without electrcity and such my mom cooked on a wood stove etc .... iam from northern canada and there are p[eople there that still live like this ... a simple clean life i love going home and back to nature | |
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