Written by Troy Boylan
As a real nature lover, in my early adult years I idealized a primitive wilderness survival hermitage above all else as the most appealing alternative to this destructive modern age.
Image Credit: Erol Otus
The more I learned about survival, the more I learned about ecology, particularly about ethnobotany (wise plant and people interactions). I realized that the immense knowledge of plants is largely indigenous, and subsequently the more I learned about plants, the more I learned about the value of community. Survival skills lead to living skills, and as subsequence became consequence, I discovered the value of interpersonal relationships because of this understanding.
CURRENT SUBJECTIVE ASSESSMENT STATUS, VILLAGER #0
Character Name: Troy Boylan
Confirmed Aliases: TBoan, Troylan, Trol, the Trowie, and a myriad of others, common and lesser known, legendary and mythological, esoteric and otherwise, veritable multitudes of secret ancestral cognomens and cognomia, references and titles, κτλ.
Species (likely): Homo sapiens sylvaticus.
Tattoos: None; only scars. My story is told by my scars… scars on my flesh, in my mind, they are my very soul.
Last Known Location: in or near redwood or other woodland, grassland, badland, and/or riparian, wetland or aquatic habitat.
Fave Noms: Cooks with fire!
Academia: Interdisciplinary Studies: Ethnobotany BS; Anthropology BA.
Official Title: Ecoculture Village Archon (Founder, President, & CEO).
Collaborative Intent: Imperare [‘to command,’ from in- ‘toward’ + parare ‘prepare, contrive’]; thus, work{love-in-action}ing toward creating a culture of ecological and economic innovation and stability by way of effective study (-logy) and management (-nomy) of eco (from Greek οἶκος)… ecoculture.
Quote: Two things I think are worth anything at all… all things wilderness and ecoculture… and well, RPGs… and skateboarding!
So, what’s up!?
A great deal of my connection with nature and spiritual enlightenment has always been about benefiting others passively; but soon after realizing that a great deal of life’s value is in making the world a better place actively as well, I decided to discover what I realistically could about contributing to stopping the advancement of urbanizaton into the wild places.
I began searching for viable alternatives to the complete apanthropinization1 I had previously embraced as my greatest lifelong challenge and yearning.
This, then, would seem to be the primitive starting-point of which we are in search. Man in his earliest human condition, as he first evolved from the undifferentiated anthropoidal stage, must have possessed certain vague elements of aesthetic feeling: but they can have been exerted or risen into conscious prominence only, it would seem, in the relation of primaeval courtship and wedlock. He must have been already endowed with a sense of beauty in form and symmetry, a sense which, in spite of its wide expansion and generalisation in subsequent ages, still attaches itself above every other object, even with Hellenic or modern sculptors, to the human face and figure. He must also have been sensible to the beauty of colour and lustre, rendered faintly conscious in the case of flowers, fruits, and feathers, but probably attaining its fullest measure only in the eyes, hair, teeth, lips, and glossy black complexion of his early mates. And he must have been moved, as Mr. Darwin argues, by musical tones and combinations, though chiefly in the form of human song or rhythm alone. In short, the primitive human conception of beauty must, I believe, have been purely anthropinistic — must have gathered mainly around the personality of man or woman; and all its subsequent history must be that of an apanthropinisation (I apologise for the ugly but convenient word), a gradual regression or concentric widening of æsthetic feeling around this fixed point which remains to the very last its natural centre. By the common consent of poets, painters, sculptors, and the world at large, the standard of beauty for mankind is still to be found in the features and figure of a lovely woman.
The meaning of the word ‘apanthropinization’ has evolved quite a bit; Oxford English Dictionary [2nd Ed.; 1989] 2: “The broadening of the ambit of one’s preoccupations and concerns away from a narrow focus on those things most palpably human and most closely pertinent to humanity.”
The meaning for the word ‘apanthropinization’ I had originally intended here is something along the lines of “wilderness hermitage”… as I have believed since I was 12 years old is most suitably pictorally represented above by the Erol Otus drawing from Dungeon Module B2 The Keep on the Borderlands by Gary Gygax.
Seemingly on the fringe in most everything I do, I have always sought a deepening relationship with nature. Of sorts, I have been and am many things anachron(ist)ic, dissonant, eclectic, and enigmatic… (bear with me, there’s a method to my madness) an anarchist, an athlete, an artist, a drifter, a druid, a farmer, a fighter, a friend, a genius, a hermit, a hero, a listener, a mage, a mediator, a mentor, a monk, a musician, a mystic, an outlaw, a philosopher, a poet, a prophet, a punk, a ranger, a rebel, a runner, a sage, a scholar, a scoundrel, a seer, a shaman, a shapeshifter, a skater, a sorcerer, a suburbanite, a survivor, a thinker, a wanderer, a witch, a wizard; there are so many names for nature lover and other things oft resorted to in desperation, or purely of heartfelt anti-establishmentarianism, a desire for perilousness, the subconscious need to evolve beyond self-righteousness, and even just because… but for me, now it all comes down to this… truly caring about the land and each other.
Reminds me of this song, from David Lee Roth’s Eat ‘Em and Smile solo album:
Or perhaps you prefer the original, from Frank Sinatra’s That’s Life album:
BOY AT ONE WITH THE LAND = HUMAN [> humility + man]
Such is my honor pledge; as in my years of reflecting upon who I am and what I can do with this life, I realize I am bound to having one; in respect of my Dad, since he adopted me. I bring honor to our name, whereas most in their taking for granted their very existences have refused to. My Dad once told me when I asked… our last name means ‘the boys at one with the land’, and he raised me… to always have an ear to the ground, so to speak and for lack of a more appropriate phrase. Our surname is of two combined origins, Erse and Ænglish, which mix quite nicely, especially for me since genetically I am of both ancestries, whereas they all teach that they are only Irish. From the Gaellic (Irish) Huí Baoigheallain, gheall means ‘pledge’, and from the Norse and Anglo-Saxon boia (derived from the pre 5th century Germanic personal name Boio, which is thought by most scholars to be of uncertain origin but which I have found druidic reference to), meaning ‘boy or servant’ + lund or lundr, meaning ‘a grove or copse of trees’. I believe it is druidic in origin… the legendary and revered prehistoric Anglo-Celtic class of advisers, bards, healers, historians, judges, poets, priests, sages, seers, soothsayers, sorcerers, stargazers, and teachers who protected both nature and man. I feel it is more my name than theirs even though it is mine by way of adoption because I am the only one for whom its meaning… means anything. It is thus part of my living destiny and ties in with my birth name (the connected meanings and significance of which I will not go into at this time… suffice it to say that I believe I have purpose) that my surname is an apt de(s)criptor for me; even since I was a small child I was different in that I was true to the name and the name true to me… even though none of the others in my family I have ever met ever seemed to acknowledge the name for what it really is. I bring honor to the name as I am bound to serve as ‘boy at one with the land’, and because I believe all things are interconnected, with nature being specifically so, thus, I must serve all that lives naturally on and in the land, water, and sky.
My first and middle name together mean ‘curly haired warrior, defender and protector of mankind’, and so I am also honored to learn compassion and concern for my fellow humans as well, and to contribute to an increase in their survivability, as well as admonish the errors of their ways for their and my own good.
There is only the fool’s folly in doing things contrary to the way nature works. Intelligence relies on understanding nature’s laws. The more biodiversity we have, the more intelligence we have. Moreover, this planet Earth is home to each, and we are each in this life together, from the very greatest to the very small, that love may guide us all.
How might all such wonderful things as these be accomplished? The answer is much simpler than it at first might seem.
I found the teachings of Bill Mollison and many others, and I thought of permaculture as the harmonious bridge connecting the wilderness and the modern age.
I have a few of Mollison’s books, including the ones shown below, and although they are mostly out of print, they are excellent resources… well worth the cost if you can find them:
Permaculture: A Designers’ Manual
Introduction To Permaculture (2nd Revised Edition, 2002)
Permaculture Two: Practical Design for Town and Country in Permanent Agriculture
After having read some of David Holmgren’s ‘Permaculture: Principles and Pathways Beyond Sustainability‘, I was impressed with how deep it goes into the philosophy behind permaculture. It is unlike the other books mentioned here for this reason… it does not focus on techniques… it gets quite heavy in its instead focusing mainly on having the wisdom to see our world for what it really and truly is, and not for what artificialities can be wrung from it.
Sepp Holzer’s ‘Permaculture: A Practical Guide to Small-Scale, Integrative Farming and Gardening‘ is a newer book that I have yet to purchase, but I know from having seen his videos that it will be well worth the price.
Holzer’s dvd includes 3 videos… ‘Farming with Nature’, ‘Aquaculture’, and ‘Terraces and Raised Beds’, and is an excellent inspiration and informative look at his steep mountain farming techniques, providing more evidence that any parcel of land can be productive and yielding life.
In his video, ‘Greening the Desert’, the permaculturalist Geoff Lawton states,
I believe this is true… and so should you if you don’t already. Geoff Lawton’s ‘Greening the Desert’ is the inspiration for Project Culberson.
ECOCULTURE = ECO(LOGY) + CULTURE
I love semantics and I place a great deal of emphasis on words and their meanings. I am a big believer in scientific words being as indicative of their meanings as possible so that people unfamiliar with the topic can easily determine at a glance what it is most specifically about without further explanation. The word ‘permaculture’ is obviously made of two words put together. When I first started learning about permaculture, I learned that it means ‘permanent agriculture’, which for me just doesn’t quite cut it; agriculture can be permanent in the same sense that eternal is not forever but rather an indeterminable as opposed to an indeterminate amount of time… I am a stickler for semantics, so I want the word to be undeniably indicative of its truest most high meaning. “Permanent agriculture” can also thought of very unecologically and it is being done all over the globe. Is the unecological monoculture of crops the world over not permanent in some sense? It is… and I know that most people interested in permaculture already know these things, but as I said, why combine words that result in a word needing its meaning further explained so as to differentiate between it and something else that could very well have the same name… and probably does in many people’s minds? Creating a self evident word from two descriptors is what compound words are all about, right? So, the philosophy that there can be ‘permanence in culture itself… IF we do things according to how nature works in a state of mature harmony’ has just never been imparted to my ears by the word (‘permanent’ + ‘agriculture’) or (‘permanent’ + ‘culture’) for that matter. As I said before, permanent can mean different things to different people. When I think of the way humans should live… my ideal is only as far removed from wilderness as is our wise and kind use of our opposable thumbs… in mature harmony with nature we all thrive… opposable thumbs running rampant with fear, loneliness, confusion, complacency, guilt, envy, revenge, and despair is nothing more than people afraid to face the failure inherent to learning how to do things right… and equals nothing more than death and destruction, as we are all… all too aware of, whether we realize it or not. And since nature is a word, sadly, that some have tried to argue includes everything (in the same sad way that the word God has been casually and ignorantly thought of)… even those things that are not reaching toward mature ecological harmony… and then it occured to me; there is no question what ecosystem means, likewise ecology… and for me, this whole philosophy and dream of living in mature harmony with each other and at one with the ecosystem deserves a word that tells exactly what it is, even at a glance, without a doubt. As I began toying with the idea of Ecoculture Village in 2007, before I had a name for the organization I realized, since I had zero funding and almost zero personal budget, that I needed a website (doesn’t cost much) to serve as a solid foundation to build the organization around. My first instinct was to come up with a name that incorporated the name ‘permaculture’ in it, as “everybody” knows what that is. But so as not to have to initially compete for page rankings with the many permaculture sites already out there, and also to bring forth a new perspective concerning the philosophy of the meanings of words… I decided my strategy would be to come up with a unique name with just as much meaning and insight but self evidently, and then further define and promote it. I needed to keep my niche name simple and it had to easily capture the interest of people who like ecological sustainability, organic gardening, permaculture, self sufficiency, survival, etc.
Soon after, I coined a term for my own use (I’m sure a few people had been using it before me) that for me took the next step for the reasons already mentioned and because, unlike ‘permaculture’, it doesn’t constantly remind me of my Mom (God bless her soul as she has always been a subtle user of reverse psychology to teach what is right in life whether she ever realized it or not) excitedly declaring her new hairstyle… “I got a perm! How do you like it? Isn’t it just great?”
Enter, ecoculture.
The word ‘ecoculture’ can most easily be broken down as a noun… to mean ‘ecological culture’, which immediately brings to mind traditional culture’s, past and present, of people who lived, or who are living, at one with the ecology; but also as a verb… to mean ‘to culture ecologically’, which not only implies the cultivating or farming of food, medicine, and utility species within an ecological framework, but also the human transmission of human lifeways from one generation to the next in an ecological framework as well. Ecoculture emphasizes ecology as the basis for all life, and is the ecoculturalist’s foundation for land use design and community values interpolation. Ecoculture is my main strategy, and for the purposes of Ecoculture Village’s mission statement, I define it as the demonstration, documentation, and dissemination of subsistence-level¹∙¹ self-sufficiency and ecologically sustainable¹∙² design and principles, and ethical intentional community practices.
¹∙¹ Subsistence-level, being understood as logically conceivable, here refers to all necessities inherent to whole being or real existence and is intuitively supportive of healthy individual and group human evolving.
¹∙² Ecologically sustainable here refers to the provision that all human activities be in the very least compatible with the healthy functioning of the natural world, and at most be somehow enhancing to it; and providing for that, that all human activities can be continued indefinitely.
So, while perhaps best stated by William Shakespeare it is true that “a rose by any other name would be as sweet”, I am advancing ‘ecoculture’. I see it for myself as a psychological and semantic sort of ‘eagle leaving the nest’, so to speak.
RELEVANT PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT
Philippines, 1998; {two month experience as} camera assistant, pupil, and studio manager of Anthony Collins during his making of “Bendum: In the Heart of Mindanao”; “This documentary is about the homeland and daily life of an indigenous tribal community in the tropical uplands of central Mindanao, Philippines. In this small village called Bendum, the local community has successfully struggled, after decades of commercialized logging and deforestation, to gain control over their ancestral lands. Suitable for teaching Anthropology, Globalization, Environmental Studies, Economics and Asian Studies.”; https://www.der.org/films/bendum.html… (or rent or purchase here: Bendum: In The Heart of Mindanao).
My time in Mindanao inspired me to study anthropology, appropriate technology, environmental science, and ethnobotany at Humboldt State University… from where I graduated in 2005 with a Bachelor of Science degree in Interdisciplinary Studies: Ethnobotany; and Bachelor of Arts degree in Anthropology.
You can visit my other websites via:
TBoanProds.com
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