To me, primitive living is the result of a long-term survival situation. It's not a choice to do one or the other, one leads to the other.
As stated by
The Architect, we all have "levels of survival we are prepared to
accept."
Primitive living is what you resort to in order to continue surviving. The more "primitive" your lifestyle is, IMO, the longer you last. It's all
about what level of survival you're willing to put up with. I can drink up all my bottled water now or I can setup rain barrels and start collecting
my own, and save the bottled water for when I REALLY need it.
I've always been amused by people using the term "simple living" to describe a self-sufficient lifestyle, going back to the "old ways," learning
to live with less, etc. In my opinion, the lifestyle we live NOW is simple.
Sure, our jobs may be complex, our "extracurricular activities" may be complex, but the part of daily routine required to survive, meaning obtaining
food, water and (comfortable) shelter, is about as simple as it gets.
Today:
...if we're cold, we turn a plastic dial to make it warmer
...if we're hot, we turn the same dial to make it cooler
...if we need to go somewhere 10 miles away, we get in a car and arrive in 15 minutes
...if we're hungry, we pop something frozen into the microwave and eat 3 minutes later
...if we're thirsty, we spin a handle and get a drink
Can't get much more simple than that! Imagine the complexities involved in all the above scenarios in a "survival" situation, and tell me which is
simpler!
