The Moneyless Man Mark Boyle is an interesting story I found of a British guy that pretty much said ‘forget all of this, I’m out’.
Boyle left behind massive earning potential in favor of following Gandhi‘s motto of “Be the change you wish to see in the world”.
He left any money he had behind, bought an RV, and started living in the woods.
Doesn’t use money to buy anything, just fends for himself.
There are a couple of interesting articles about his story, particularly The Guardian’s take on how he gets food:
When I began living without money 18 months ago, the most common question people asked me was “How on earth are you going to eat?”. An understandable remark, but an insight into the burgeoning degrees of separation between the stomach and the soil.
For most of us, food comes in plastic packets from the supermarket. A friend, who runs tours of an organic farm for school children, gives much anecdotal evidence of this. One week, while pointing to a rosemary bush, he asked the kids if anyone knew what it was. After 20 seconds, one 12-year-old raised his hand and proclaimed it to be “corned beef”. Worse still, none of the others laughed.
The answer to this FAQ is in the query itself – I eat from the earth. Food is free, and indiscriminately so. The apple tree doesn’t ask if you’ve got enough cash when you go to pick its fruit; it just gives to whoever wants an apple. We are the only species, out of millions on the planet, that is deluded enough to think that it needs money to eat. And what’s worse, I often observe people walking straight past free food on their way to buy it from all over the world via the supermarket.
And yet another interesting take about the length of his little trial experiment from OrganicCollege:
As well as each-other, Mark believed that money distorts our relationship with the natural world. This gave him the impetus to embark on a social experiment to live without money for a year. Before doing so, he purchased a bike, a solar panel for his caravan and made himself a wood-burning stove. Mark closed all of his bank accounts so as to rid himself of a safety net. This way, he could truly get the benefits from his experiment by living every day moment-to-moment, day-to-day.
The year-long experiment turned into three years. During this time Mark grew his own vegetables and foraged for food in cities by raiding skips outside large supermarkets. He used his bike for transport and accepted lifts from people, but only if they were going that way already. Wood was collected to fire the stove and a compost toilet was used outside. Newspapers were donated for toilet paper and Mark shared a very funny story with us about having an unusual opportunity of “wiping my bum with an article of myself in the paper. I looked down and saw a photo of me, to my surprise. Not many people can say they’ve done this!”
One thing of interest that I have found, however, is that I don’t think this guy is doing it forever.
His website is here. I believe it is managed by other people besides him. Either way, he actually sells speaking engagements and books on it.
So it’s likely the guy is going to venture back into civilization at some point.
Regardless on the reasoning behind being “The Moneyless Man”, it’s still a neat little trial.
It definitely takes some mad skills to make it on your own, especially in a cold climate like Britain.
His talks on YouTube reminded me of some articles I wrote awhile back, like:
- Essential Tips For Building A Temporary Survival Shelter
- Prepping: A Simple Guide To Storing Water – Emergency Preparedness
- Prepping: An In-Depth Guide for Beginners
Either way, if you’re into this kind of stuff it’s a cool story to listen too.
I attached a good primer video below, and if you want to see his website click this link.
