Meet Daniel Suelo, a 48 year old Utah man who decided that he’d had enough of money and gave it all up to live in a cave.
The first thing most people would think about someone living in a cave is that they’ve fallen on hard times, but Suelo did so by choice. After graduating with a degree in anthropology in 1987, Suelo was successful in work and made good money, but decided in the fall of 2000 that something was missing.
“Why? I simply got tired of acknowledging as real this most common world-wide belief called money! I simply got tired of being unreal. Money is one of those intriguing things that becomes real because you believe it is real” Suleo writes on his blog. “Wild Nature, outside civilization, runs on gift economy: ‘freely give, freely receive.’ Thus it is balanced. World civilization runs on consciousness of credit and debt (knowledge of good & evil); thus it is imbalanced.”
Although Suelo is happy with his life, living in a cave without money isn’t for everyone…well, unless you’re very adventerous with food. “I freely take what is freely given, with no obligation on either side. I forage for wild, feral, and domestic edibles. I also freely rely on human generosity. I live on waste: dumpster-diving, trash can fishing, table-surfing, and sometimes asking people and food-service institutions for extras and throw-aways…. I also eat roadkill, if it is fresh, of course. I’ve eaten squirrel, racoon, rabbit, and deer, so far. I’ve also eaten ants, grubs, grasshopeers, crickets, termites, lizards & snakes.”
If you’ve ever thought about chucking it all in for a cave, you can follow Daniel Suelo on his blog here .
