Comments on: Ben Short – An Uncomplicated Life

By: Richard Gander

Richard Gander — Mon, 12 Oct 2015 17:39:11 +0000

Inspiring article Ben. Keep well, and stay true to yourself. All the very best, Rich

By: Hohb

Hohb — Fri, 28 Aug 2015 18:17:46 +0000

Best. Charcoal. Ever.

Your brave decision to leave the rat race for the good life directly led to perfectly cooked sausages and steak on my BBQ while camping with my family.

Happy kids. Happy daddy. Happy mummy.

Thank you.

By: Simon. Smith

Simon. Smith — Fri, 16 May 2014 15:42:50 +0000

I can see both sides, and both are equally valid. I do spend a lot of time outdoors whenever possible, and do feel something of a ‘purging’ or ‘casting off’ off my day-to-day life when out there as Ben suggests. Like Naomi though, I spend my working life indoors, but don’t let this hamper my connection to the outside world. There is definitely a way of balancing the two, as illustrated by Esther Woolfson’s book Field Notes from a Hidden City.

By: Plethi Project

Plethi Project — Sat, 05 Apr 2014 11:01:10 +0000

The systems we live in are complicated and they make the option of on-off binary decisions difficult to achieve.

I liked the way this piece (and Naomi’s comment) showed how you can change from a complicated emotionally impoverishing life to a complex enriching one. I liked the way this piece (and Naomi’s comment) proposed a release from the alienation and anomie that is sometimes the result of Modernity and Post Modernity.

There any many roads to authenticity (being who you are) and what this piece (and Naomi’s comment) say is ‘be in the world’ in ways that make sense to you.

By: Naomi Racz

Naomi Racz — Sat, 05 Apr 2014 09:08:17 +0000

Hhm. I can’t help but take question with the notion that working in front of a computer is necessarily somehow less ‘honest’ or ‘meaningful’ than being a charcoal burner (or presumably other outdoor jobs). Of course, I can think of many jobs that involve working in front of a computer for ‘dishonest’ companies! But I spend my working days in front of a computer, working for an environmental organisation, and I don’t see what I do as less valuable or honest. You also don’t need to work outdoors all day to, for instance, notice the first signs of Spring or the changing of the seasons. It is possible to live in a large city, as I do, and do a desk job and still feel connected to nature. Perhaps not quite in the same scale as someone who lives in their car in a coppice (and has a pet wood mouse up their sleeve!). But it is still enough to bring that sense of stillness into my life. ‘Nature’ is there to be seen, even in a large city, it’s a question of making the effort to notice it.