My Goodness! I finally saw Surfwise, a documentary about the Paskowitz family! A basic rundown is that an esteemed doctor decided to do things his own way. He found a woman who would live the kind of life that he wanted and set out on a 25 year adventure of traveling around, having children and living a life in an alternative way. It really is an interesting story.

I understand the idea of removing yourself from regular society to avoid its nasty influences, as it seems to be a theme amongst the counter culture for quite some time. I understand the idea that we should go back to being a bit more primative than we are now, especially with what we consume in our bodies, not to mention the wanton consuption of capitalism. I understand the idea of procreating so that you send more seeds out into the world that are a bit more like you and a bit less like others, hopefully in turn spurring some change along the course of life.

The vagabond lifestyle full of freedom and liberty is very attractive on so many levels. Definitely as an individual, even as a couple I can imagine. However throwing a kid into the mix really does turn it a little sideways, let alone adding in 9 kids… there is definitely a reason that they had all boys up until number 8. One of the kids said that they were either going to be a rockstar or homeless which is really rather interesting because as I percieve it is only a fine line between the two, or at least there used to be before music became so commercial… and funny thing I actually saw the Black Flys play when I was in my teenage years.

Their lifestyle definitely set them apart from everyone else. Not having the opportunity of a formal education in our society would have a dramatic effect on anyone and it seemed to be commonly expressed through their interviews… except the one guy who was very jim morrison-ish who said he was going to keep the dream alive. That is fantastic but what about that oldest guy, he was fucking crazy. seriously, when he was singing that song that he wrote for his dad and in a matter of minutes he had worked himself up into quite a sweat and tears even, my god. there is a lot of angst and frustration still lingering. Also, that same guy, “the captain” is the one who injected business into the Paskowitz family’s life even though he said that he was in line with his fathers ideas… it just goes to show that everyone, no matter where they are will always percieve one thing a little different than the other.

Going off the grid has definite appeal, but I think if there is one thing that became so apparent to me is that if you do, you will end up falling so far behind what else is going on in the world. Which may be alright, if you decided to never return, but things will continue to evolve no matter what… It is about the consciousness that we must have in our daily lives that will propel us into that next level. Any extreme either way is extreme and in some fashion does cut you off or away from the rest.

It then also made sense to me why we have gone this route of processed easy accessible food, and lines of credit so that everyone in the pack can keep up (unfortunately lead by corporations with dollar signs in their eyes). Why make things harder than they have to be when there is another way of doing things? Sure you can regress because you find that it is more rewarding or beneficial to do so, but I think the key idea that I got was that we just need to have a sense of freedom and general moderation to enjoy what is out there in our daily lives. Those kids are products of something that they didn’t choose, like all children are… someone mentioned recently how childhood is an affliction that everyone suffers from… and they just had it a little different and how many adults can look towards that and fantasize how wonderful it would be to leave it all behind, live in volunatry poverty for the sake of freedom and just be. Children aren’t quite that way and we are really only this way as adults because our lives weren’t really like that growing up… is it a case of the grass is always greener?

Sex every night. That is definitely a luxury that should not be overlooked. I did like his idea of having sex with 100 women and finding his mate that way. That when he learned to “eat pussy” his life changed!!! WOO HOO! That the most important aspects were to be a good husband, a good father and of course a great lover (I wrote this down last night!). About keeping the passion alive… and being sexual. I was particularly fascinated with his idea that it is due to lack of sexual expression that we then become more pornographic in our society… that was an interesting viewpoint… and I might just have to agree… However, on tv kids programs here it is more common than not to see a bikini wearing hot brazilian babe dancing for no apparent reason… I haven’t really been exposed to porn here, but I can definitely say that there are A LOT of transvestites and one of the largest gay parades in the world held here in São Paulo every year… there might be some correlation to that as well…