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Episode-1274- 14 Life Rules of a Modern Survivalist

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I was going to call this show “14 Rules for Being a Modern Survivalist” but I realized that would violate my survival tenet that reads…

“Your personal philosophy is more important for you than mine! You are the master of your own life and if you don’t agree with my views, great, define, understand and implement your own. The biggest thing you can do is understand that you are in control of your life and that what you do matters. Those two factors have the greatest impact on individual survival across every demographic you can imagine.”

For me that is a deep intrinsic belief not just a tenet of modern survival philosophy.  I may come across as fully convinced in my beliefs and passionate about them to the extreme but that doesn’t mean I wish to impose them on any other person.  So I decided I would simply let you guys know today about 10 of the “rules” that I follow in my life.  Some are very old for me, they have guided me since childhood, others I have gained in recent years on my walk as a modern survivalist…

Join Me Today As I Discuss…

  • Ignore politicians, do not however ignore their actions and resulting consequences
  • Truly understand in this order absolute needs, needs, comfort items, luxuries
  • Use anything that works, as long as it is ethical and actually works
  • Solve any problem you see in your head even if you can’t implement the solution
  • Be concerned with the survival of others, not just your own survival
  • Ask what if like a child, answer that question like an adult
  • Be extremely grateful to be alive in this time in history
  • Never violate your personal moral code of ethics
  • Never be led by fear specifically fear of losing something you don’t even have yet
  • Take pride in your phyical abilities but depend on your mental abilities
  • Learn from everything you do, the good, the bad and the failures
  • Never accept that things are simply just the way they are
  • Never feel you have anything coming to you and be grateful for what does
  • Never waste a minute on the past, live in the now and in the tomorrow

Resources for today’s show…

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Comments

Episode-1274- 14 Life Rules of a Modern Survivalist — 34 Comments

  1. It was awesome to hear you on Tom Woods’ show. You should bring him on yours to go over some econ for the listeners. Maybe some biz cycle theory…

  2. I would like to be able to post your messages on facebook..I really want to get the info out to all I can..

  3. Come on Jack… you can’t cherry pick history to suit a “lesson” you want to talk about. You know better than that.

    • IDK may be he is bitching about the history segment? If so it should be noted I don’t even write the segment much less influence what happened in the 1200s. Alex does and sends them to me I just read them and extract the lessons.

      Also it could be that he is attempting to be sarcastic?

  4. Thanks for this one Jack, I needed a detox from listening to about 2.5 hours of C-Span2…

  5. Said a statement that made me pause for a second. “Have you ever seen irresponsible parents raise responsible children”. My response is “yes” but more intelligently “it depends” and “its not that simple”.

    What I have found through my observations (both personal and otherwise) is that even bad parents have good traits. I believe even the dumbest person has some positive attributes and its not always the case that the negative ones are imparted on their children.

    Children are acutely aware of things about their parents that they really think are good (and admire) and those that they say to themselves “I’ll never be like them”. What seems to be the case is the environment they then surround themselves in later in life in how the eventually react to those things. In my case, both my parents rebelled against their parents for being “too strict” and ended up being too laxadazy. One of them has/and is/ head over heels in love with modern convenience, and as a result make piss poor decisions with money (always has, always will). While I feel that early on I took on after them, my reflections have drawn me in quite the opposite direction as them. I always knew something wasn’t right, and now I know why.

    In my case I have rebelled against my parents way of approaching life (in some aspects) and reject their way of life. I consider them in some ways to be extremely irresponsible in many many things, but they certainly impacted me in ways that provided me to choose what I think is irresponsible.

    So, long story short, “it depends”.

    • Actually, you grew up responsible inspite of your parents which is different because you seen the faults and imparted onto your own path, probably more through external sources (i.e. education, etc.). Additionally you are making a bit more out of a simple analogy.

      • Right but that’s kind of my point. My dad was raised by what I would argue reasonably responsible parents (he HIGHLY disagrees, they had 7 kids at a young age then my dad had two as a lance corporal in the Marine Corps…hmm pot calling kettle black?). H rebelled against strict parents who lived off the land and parented by the “our children will figure it out” kind of way. In general that was a good way, however, he failed on the goal setting / interactivity and teaching aspects. My dad made the statement a few months ago about how he used to hate fixing cars with his dad, but then went “hmm… but I guess I do now know how to fix a car”. WELL NO SHIT SHERLOCK… (I don’t know the first thing about fixing a car, he never asked me/told me to help, nor did I have any interest).

        I do think parents impart some really nasty habits that until a child learns otherwise just never sees them. Joining the marine corps, deploying a team lead, then having my own prepping “awakening” fixed the side my parents failed on. (discipline and skills). I’m not going to beat up my parents (too much), because i’ve definitely made peace with them and my past and in general I think most parents do OK. Where I think we can all agree, is resliance for the REAL world, is extremely lacking. My parents were more than willing to sign us up for student loans, and voila here I am here today.

    • I get what you are saying because my parents specifically my mother sucked. I had grandparents that did their best and that helped but as Travis said, it is accurate to say that you and I are responsible IN SPITE OF OUR PARENTS.

    • @Jack
      Agreed. Although I’ll give some credit to my parents. Just money handling and always expecting to have whatever I want, regardless of the future cost weren’t instilled haha.

  6. It’s so frustrating to deal with the nay-sayers in all this. All people ever seem to say is, “YOUR IDEAS ARE DOOMED TO FAIL.” Then to make matters worse if you ever talk about how your homestead/business whatever went through some difficult times they latch on to it and use it to rub it in your face. “SEE? I TOLD YOU THAT YOU’D FAIL.” Then when you retort by showing them your successes they dismiss it as a fluke.

    Violence is never the solution but sometimes it’s really tempting.

  7. Wow. I’m going to have to share this episode and listen to it multiple times. I’m going to have to take extensive notes in order to be able to commit this wisdom to memory. Thank you.

  8. “Feed people with food, NOT food stamps!” Jack should make a t-shirt of it and put it in the gear shop.

  9. Jack, when you spoke about depending on the feed for the chickens and that someone built the microphone, it almost sounded like Obama’s famous “You didn’t build that”. Can you clarify the differences?

  11. Many good points, I have just recently been watching from a far a bit. Two points I would make .

    1. I do not think at all that the gate keepers are dead? Not even close. No question the internet is a good source of mass communications but there is another serious problem as well called PRAVDA. It can be used by the control freaks to mind eff the populace and they do! The internet is a two sided coin. And we certainly do have a form of PRAVDA here in the USSA. Our MSM is not any different than the PRAVDA of old Soviet politburo circa 1960s-1970s and they create the massive illusions we are all greatly affected by each minute of everyday. Obamacare is the most current and obvious example , but there are many more. We do live in many illusions created by PRAVDA that is just a fact. Gate keepers are very much alive and well !

    2. I think the physical fitness and mental capacities are every much interconnected and when all is said and done they are equal and should be thought of as equal. I even think they actually are the same thing. Physical fitness is just a higher level of health and that raises ones mental capacities. To think of them as completely separate and not equally complimentary is a mistake. It is all a sort of synergy and part of the body, mind, spirit connection. They are all equally important and interdependent.

    Not trying to be a disser, just my thoughts that I am quite sure hold water. I have spent a lot of time discussing and analyzing these very matters and consider them important issues. Many good points for people to ponder and put to practice on this pod !

    • Interesting points. My counter

      1. The gate keepers are dead, period. You can no longer stop information from getting out. Now the propagandists are alive and well and I think that is the point you are actually making.

      2. Um, Steven Hawking? How fit physically is he? There was a college football coach don’t remember his name but he was big time and remained a head coach after a stroke. They propped him up with a back board on the field, he would watch the team and his wife would read his lips and pass on his instructions. He took his team to two bowl games and won both before retiring.

      Again I am not saying physical ability isn’t important, I am saying mental ability is MORE IMPORTANT. I can break your leg, after that you won’t be running, jumping, climbing very well, your mind will still work.

      Now are mind and body one? Too a large degree yep, again I get the point you are trying to make. My point is if you rely on the phyical you are totally screwed in the end. We all grow old and we all grow weak in time.

    • I am with you on that Jack>
      2001 I was in a car crash. took me two years to read, walk, talk, feed my self. I was dead. they wanted my heart for a woman in New Jersey. My mom said “moms here” that was it, My heart started and I went into a coma for a month.

      Now look at me….BEEKEEPER teaching kids all over the world. never give up.

      I always hate when people say I can’t, when most people that are really disabled ….DO!

  14. Jack,

    I loved your point about physical ability vs. mental ability. As a blind person, I’m ALWAYS using my brain to compensate for my lack of vision. My life is a continuous exercise in problem solving whether I’m trying to figure out how to garden, shoot, or tend my chickens OR I’m trying to play a board game with my kids, teach my dog a new skill, or familiarize myself with a new environment. Our mind is our sharpest asset, definitely, and folks ought not forget that.

  15. “Never violate your personal moral code of ethics” – Agreed, but “code of ethics” will suffice. As Mollison put it, “The Ethical Basis of Permaculture”.

    During the discussion part you started using “morals” and “ethics” interchangeably. There’s a big distinction between the two. I like Doug Casey’s take on it, and since I can’t improve on what he’s said, I’ll quote:

    “Ethics deals with the essence of right and wrong. Morality is just a construct of rules. It winds up being a bunch of precepts. Some have a basis in ethics. Others are just dramatizations of people’s fears, quirks, and aberrations.

    The difference between ethics and morals is analogous to that between using a gyroscope or a radar to navigate. A gyroscope is an internal device that keeps you level and steady without reference to what’s outside. Radar would use external cues, bounced off other people to tell you which way to go. Morality tells you what to do; ethics acts as a guide to help you determine, yourself, what you should do.”

    The entire discussion is here:
    https://www.caseyresearch.com/cdd/doug-casey-ethics-part-one

  16. A lot of information getting out is largely disinformation. And that is the real important point IMO. Determining what is real and what is an illusion ? Hawking being paralyzed has nothing at all to do with my points. A very unfortunate thing for him, but he would likely be even more succinct if he had all his powers ! Hawking and many other physicists have also been proven wrong in many cases and quantum physics is rapidly changing in its old paradigms. He is not a God or infallable as many seem to think. In fact there are much smarter guys out there that simply have not received the same exposure. I am NOT saying rely on physical only. I am saying they are in fact the same thing, physical and mental capacities, and that is all about ones over all health and well being. All of your examples only mean that those guys were only dealing with half of their faculties and had great limits ? It does not prove that mental is more anything, just one piece of the pie we all have as assets and potentialities. And aging has little to do with being fit or healthy or smart or anything else actually. It is really about how you react to aging, not the simple fact that we are all aging from the second we are born ? Many people think, that because you are 40 and older you must be out of shape or not fit ? That is a very common phenom and thought process which is completely false but does not stop people from thinking such largely because they are programmed to do so. Most simply do not realize or understand their own powers in many ways ! I do not agree that at all that the gate keepers are any where near dead. Actually the bee whisperer makes my point very clearly. Ij some ways we are saying the same thing and perhaps I have simply taken it to a different level or concept ? I too had that near death and disabling thing(more than once) and that is how I learned these things ! Good on all of Ya I do think there are a lot of good points in the pod !

  18. This podcast came on the same day as I reviewed a presentation on how to present to Millennials (15-25 year olds) in business. That presentation relied heavily on group(s), after presentation connections, a little on honesty in sales, and a lot of hand held wireless collaberation today-tech. That Jack even has to go into detail on “think & reason” (espically for yourself) in this popdcast made me relize just how much the younger generation has been taught not to self-solve problems but to rely on The Google, experts and group effort to tell them what/ how to think and do. Being 62 years old I have to adjust my views and realize just how much “learn and think for yourself” has been bread out of our culture and replaced with tech and group think. Thanks Jack, your teaching is the best. I am just sad that you have to grab folks by the neck and shake well, just to get them to “oh, I never thought of that.”

    • The thing is the two worlds should be meshed and likely would organically had the system not purposely dumbed down society and ravaged the family unit.

      I use google, group think and experts all the time, hell we have a panel of experts and I go to you guys daily with do you want, or ask me about or tell me ____.

      Sadly though many (and it is important to use MANY and not imply all) of our youth have been taught to use these things as a crutch vs. a tool. Group think is aweseome it can evolve ideas and colaberations faster then anyone can imagine alone. Tied to social media, internet communications and fact checking tools (like search engines) when combined with logic and reason are very powerful.

      Sadly at a time when we should have the most educated and empowered society of all time we have one of the most ignorant and apathetic of all time.

      The key is the tools are in place and the knowledge is out there. I actually believe a new renaissance is on the horizon. The youth can only wallow in the text books of “Bitterness Studies” for so long before they start asking questions. Today, really asking real questions will lead anyone with the capacity to accumulate knowledge forward.

    • @Jack – I do not mean to denigrate tech. Hell, I am a certified Microsoft Small Business Specialist and love my tech-toys as much as anyone.

      But all the tools, group (dare I say committee?) gatherings and pretty colored pictures are no substitute for critical thinking. Which has been (IMHO on purpose along with nuclear family destruction) removed from current education and replaced with the anonymous and unaccountable “Google it”. The end product is a glassy eyed programmed robot consumer who will mentally collapse if the cell tower goes down..

      • Never said any tool should replace critical thinking. What I said was with those tools we should have the most educated population in history, we should and we don’t. You can’t blame the tools though! A shovel doesn’t dig a hole, a man digs a hole with a shovel.

  19. Regarding “Cherry Picking” history lessons for the podcast, I look over Wikipedia for the year in question to see if there is anything interesting. Usually there is not, but sometimes when I look into something banal listed there, I discover there is a lot more to the story. So I then research the event.

    A good example is “The War of the Cow”. Wikipedia had nothing but a single line mentioning a cow and a war in the Netherlands. It sounded odd. Nothing else was in Wikipedia so I looked into it elsewhere. What I found was both hilarious and deadly serious. It showed how a simple event can spin out of control quickly when someone has set up a trip wire waiting for a random event to trigger a power struggle. This one spun out of control and turned into a real war. That seemed like a great lesson to learn from history.

    On the other hand, looking for these interesting events tends to distort our view of history. There is a lot going on in the 13th century but I’m not writing a history book here and Jack is not trying to do a “Hardcore History” podcast. If you want something like that go to the Hardcore History podcast site and download Dan Carlin’s stuff. It’s really good and he takes his time on every subject… usually two to three hours. Jack is not going to take two hours to place all this history stuff into proper context and neither am I. But if you find something interesting, look it up yourself. You’ll find most of the same things I did… in context and more than you ever wanted to know… very likely.

    I do my best to be fair but if anyone disagrees with my take on history… or believes I left out some vital context or I need correcting because I totally blew it, I want to hear about it. I will NOT be offended. Really. And I especially want you to tell Jack about it so that he can correct the record.

    Or you guys can provide a history segment and send it to Jack. Make the subject line “History for Jack”. I’m not in competition with anyone. I’m too old to engage in that sort of stuff any more. I’m just trying to help out.

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