The Non-Ownership Experiment: The Final Talk in Griffith Park
The Non-Ownership Experiment: The Final Talk in Griffith Park
Transcript: The following is a transcription of 3 Months in the Non-Ownership Experiment: The Final Talk in Griffith Park, part of Robin’s talks series during his Experiment in Non-Ownership.
Introduction
Well, we’ve all been spending a little time together already, but I’ll say “Hello” to the people that are watching through the internet. We’re grateful that you’re here with us, and I‘m grateful that all of you are here to spend this last evening together in Griffith Park in this three-month experiment of non-ownership. It means a lot to be here with you and I’m grateful for you ‘seeing me’ for who I am.
Preparing for the Experiment
This is the end of the three months of the experiment that will continue in numerous ways, but this is definitely the end of a chapter and as most of you know, what led me to this point is I walked from Canada to here. It was a six-month walk and about 1,600 miles. The idea of the walk was to slow down my life, simplify, and on that walk, I got my life down to everything that I owned being on a stroller.
Giving Away Everything
I arrived here in Griffith Park on January 26th, and right here I gave away everything that I owned down to the computer that I had, down to my clothes. I already had simplified my life to the point where I didn’t have a house, didn’t have a car, I didn’t have a cell phone, didn’t have even a form of identification. When I got here, all that I had was the things that I was carrying with me, which was about 100 items; so I gave away those items, and I gave away my money, entering into an experiment of non-ownership.
What that means is that I’ve been here without owning any physical possessions or having any money, and I want to share before kind of diving in, that I feel a little bit vulnerable; it’s a little bit tender. My life is an experiment. My life is my message, and to put myself so out there and, I mean literally, I was naked here on the first night and then for the last three months I’ve been living here in this park, at the mercy of the rangers and just very open to the world around me. It’s been a real interesting experiment. But I also just want to share, it’s definitely a little bit vulnerable and a little bit tender and I like to share that so you know where I’m coming from. Some people look at me and they see me as, like, I have no feelings, being that people watch me online and it can be easy to not see someone for the full human being that they are, and so I just wanted to share that.
My Personal Exploration and Practice
This experiment of non-ownership has two parts: one is it’s my deep personal practice. I’m doing this because I want to be doing it. Whether or not anybody’s paying attention to what I’m doing, I’m doing this because this is an exploration of life as I know it. At the same time, it is a practice that’s designed to catch people’s attention. So although it’s my life, my genuine authentic life, it’s also a bit of a show. I put on a show and that’s what I’ve been doing for the last thirteen years, and the show is designed to do a few things: it’s designed to create critical thought, to get us thinking. We live in a society where we often are encouraged NOT to think deeply, NOT to critically think; and so this is designed to get us to critically think, to ask questions.
The experiment is also designed to get us to self-observe. That’s what I’m doing. I’m observing myself, and I’m inviting others to observe themselves: their actions, their thoughts, their words. How are their actions impacting the world and the people and the plants and animals? And then also, it’s designed to create conversation, to get us to start to discuss the times that we live in. Particularly, I like to create conversation around solutions: what we can do for a new way forward. And then also, it’s designed to create skills. With this self-observation, with this critical thinking, with this communication, to actually make meaningful changes in our life by building up the skills that we need in order to live the lives that we want.
I’d like to share just shortly, for me, why I decided to immerse myself in this quite unusual experiment of non-ownership. Right now, my focus is a pursuit of truth and a pursuit of integrity, and I have decided to pursue that at the absolute core of my being. And what that means is that I am willing and happy to be seen as ‘crazy.’ I am comfortable with being perceived as ‘crazy,’ perceived as ‘losing my mind’ for the sake of the pursuit of truth and integrity at the core of my being. Over the last years, my job as someone who is trying to create critical thought, self-reflection and deep change in our society is that I have to manage my image: how people perceive me, because if people just perceive me as an absolute nut, most people aren’t going to learn from me and they’re not going to change their lives. For the longest time, I have done a lot of basing my life to some degree around how I’ll be perceived: my credibility. For this, I’m just letting that all go. I’m just pursuing truth and integrity and if that results in nobody listening anymore, that’s fine. That’s where I’ve decided to go.
This is a practice in dissolving the ego. Not fully, that’s not within my skill set, but humbling myself. This has been eating most of my food from the trash and sleeping outside and having to be concerned about whether I’ll be able to, and being dependent upon other people. All of this is very, very humbling and dissolving of the ego.
This has also been a practice of surrender, letting go of attachment. Here I am just… here I am. Here I am. Letting go of so many of the attachments that I have; being in the present moment also. Here I am. I have no computer to distract myself with. I don’t have a light to read by at night. If I want to, I have to sit under these lights before I go to my bed. It’s just being in the present moment. I’ve spent a lot of time with these little gophers over the last three months, and the coyotes, and the birds, and the squirrels and the deer… and everybody who comes out; so just practicing that, just being in the true present moment.
Then, interconnectedness. We live in a society that’s very much separate, where our societal structures create a lot of separation and disconnection. I actually believe that everything is connected; I actually believe that everything IS interconnected, to the point of saying that we are each other, but I don’t FEEL that yet. Like, at the core of my being, and this is an opportunity to practice that. Just to practice that I’m a part of everything and the less that I have, the more I’m a part of everything around me. That’s part of this practice, and that includes myself. The more connected I am truly with myself, the more connected I can be with the world around me.
This is also a practice of interdependence. I’ve practiced a lot of independence, having the skills that I need to meet my needs and work with the Earth in a harmonious way. But this is a practice of interdependence; by having nothing, I’m dependent upon other people. Some people see that as a hypocrisy, but that’s the design of this. I want to be dependent on other people. I want to say I need you, and I want to learn to humbly receive. I think that’s an important thing: to be able to receive. We’re a society that teaches us that it’s great to be able to give, but to receive: you should never have to receive. I think it’s important to be able to receive humbly as well.
It’s also a practice in simple living. Just deeply simple living, and it’s also a practice in developing wholeness and completeness within. I think it’s very important that we develop that; the more whole and complete we are, the less susceptible we are to corporate agendas, the less susceptible we are to falling for our cravings and yearnings. We can find it more inside of ourselves and being here is one way to do that.
Along with that is just the practice of inner peace. The more peaceful we are, the more peace is outside of us, and existing in a joyful state. Some people look at what I do and they think it’s suffering, but we all are suffering; it’s just a matter of what we suffer for. The reality is that I am much more a practitioner of joy, living a joyful life. And in gratitude. Being grateful for what I have. Also practicing universal love. I genuinely want to love everything. And being out here at the mercy of life has been a practice. And then being of service. That’s my ultimate goal is to deeply be of service. And, I wanted to share that little bit of a baseline of why I’m doing it and sort of the depth of what I’m going for, and I won’t go into all that because I could easily talk about that for a couple hours, and I just wanted to give you a little bit of a window, but ultimately, my ultimate goal is to use my life of service: to the Earth, to humanity, to the plants and animals that we share this home with, and these are all practices: everything that I just shared, that I believe will help me on that path of living in service.
So, along that, I want to share that although in this practice I’ve gone a lot deeper, this is a practice of mine for about 13 years now. To put it simply, about 13 years ago I started to read a lot of books and watch a lot of documentaries, and just learned that the way I was living was causing an incredible amount of destruction to the Earth, to people, to the plants and animals. This has been a long journey to get to where I am: a long journey of simplifying and downsizing and practicing what I’m talking about right now. And my life is a series of experiments. And most of the experiments have start dates and end dates. This is the end date to some degree of this experiment. And at the same time, my whole entire life is an experiment. Some of them are these extreme experiments that I go into for a short period of time, others are lifelong practices. One of those, for example, would be: I’ve made a lifetime vow to earning less than the federal poverty threshold, so that’s one of my commitments to living simply for life. I just wanted to share that. My life is my message.
The Social Experiment Intentions
Then, there’s also these extreme experiments that are designed to bring us together and to think and to connect and to be, and Griffith Park has served as a place for that in two ways. There’s the physical reality that we’ve been here together. Some of you have been here: Ant, you were here on day one. I wore your shirt and your pants for about ten days. You helped tuck me into bed on that first rainy night, and Dane, you’ve been out here a few times, and Alexander, you’ve been here kind of since the beginning as well, and Jenny, you’ve been here a handful of times in the last couple of weeks and Pamela, you’ve been out here a handful of times as well; so, this has been a place where we have been able to come together to practice everything that I’ve been talking about. It’s been a real place of critical thought, of self-reflection and self-observation, of talking about solutions for a new way forward and of building those skills. And then, it also has been a place where there have been cameras, so I’m able to share this with the world. So it’s a two-part thing: a real life being here, and then being able to share through the internet as well.
I want to share that this isn’t about right or wrong. Before I start to dive into some of what I want to share, I want to share this isn’t about right or wrong. It’s not about what’s good or bad. It’s not about guilt or shame, and it’s not even about duty or obligation. This is about seeking a deeply meaningful life. And so, I invite you all to be here and just see, like, this isn’t a place where it’s about judging what’s right or wrong with this country. Instead, it’s about saying this is what we want with our lives. We’re going to work towards that. This will be my last night of seeing the rangers going by and wondering if they’re looking for me. That’s something to celebrate!
Mindfulness Exercise – No Judgements
Before moving on, I’d like to do one little thing, and that’s take a moment to be here now, so I want to do just a short, two-minute meditation of just being here inside of ourselves and just relaxing and opening our minds to explore a few things that are often so unquestioned by our society. Does anybody have a bell that they could ‘ding,’ or a dinger on their phone that could go off after two minutes? Alex? Nice. So yes. Let’s be here now, together, and move forward in the now. And, of course, everybody out there watching through the internet, I encourage you to not fast forward through these two minutes and to be here now as well.
[meditates] Just relax the mind and open it up a little bit. Let go of any judgments or criticisms or blames. Any idea of guilt or shame. Any idea of right or wrong, good or bad. [meditates] Let’s end with three deep breaths of just letting it go, letting it out. We can do that together. [deep breath] Ahh. Audibly or silently, whatever feels good. [deep breaths] Ahh. Anyone feel more here? Nice. I do. That worked wonders. Whoa. Here we are!
Truth Behind Consumer Convenience
The first thing I want to talk a little bit about is this way that we have entered into this realm of consumer living and convenience. Something that is so often just unquestioned, un-thought of. I’m sure every one of us here has thought about this some at different points, but all of us also has gotten caught up in the business of life. This is something that I’d really like to talk about because one of my main focuses is non-delusionalism. That’s another way of speaking about truth and integrity. And so, I mentioned that when I first woke up, I realized that my life was causing so much destruction. What I learned was that the food that I was eating, the car that I was driving, the gas that I was pumping into my car, the stuff that I was buying, the trash that I was creating, the money that I had invested, the money in the bank account, every swipe of the credit card was a part of systems of destruction, part of systems of exploitation and of oppression. The reality that I’ve learned is that whenever we have consumer convenience, someone is paying for it. Whether it’s people working in a factory, whether it’s people living in an environment that is being exploited, whether it’s plants and animals that live in that place, whether it’s entire ecosystems. And the deep truth behind our consumer convenience is the same as this concept of energy: it is not created nor destroyed. I have come to see that with the consumer convenience as well. Wherever that is, someone is paying for it. And so, again, not about good or bad, right or wrong, but just the foundational way that I look at the utterly complex globalized and industrial lives we live in.
Now, here in the United States we have 5% of the world’s population, but we consume 25% of the world’s resources. We tend to think the lives that we’re living are so normal, but in reality, it’s extreme. By definition, it is extreme. We are way outside of the global norm. When we realize that, we can zoom out from a deeper perspective, from a bigger perspective of our existence as humanity here on Earth.
We can question the concept of normalcy. Normal is seeing the same thing day after day, week after week, year after year. The most un-normal, unusual things, can become normalized just by seeing it over and over and over. So, stepping outside of the societal norms, it’s very important to see that; that we’ve become programmed by normalcy being what we see, but in reality, normal — there’s no such thing as ‘normal.’ Normal is just a concept within our mind.
Along those lines, we tend to, in this society go for labels. Labels such as ‘organic’ or ‘vegan’ or… I’ll just use those two as an example. When we have these labels, we use them as ‘safe zones.’ It’s like, “Well, it’s organic. So I don’t have to worry.” Or, “Well, I’m vegan, so I’m not causing destruction.” But generally, when you look behind any of these labels, what you see are incredibly intricate, interconnected systems. The Earth doesn’t compartmentalize like we do in the human mind. So breaking free from these labels is one way of having a much deeper understanding of the world.
Consumer Convenience = Happiness?
Now, all of this consumerism and convenience is supposedly supposed to make us happier and healthier. But what we’re seeing now is that, as a society, we’re living in a state of separation, of disconnection. We have more anxiety, and overwhelm, and depression and despair than most societies that have ever existed. We’re not the happiest culture, we’re not the healthiest culture, so we’re not even getting the promise of this consumer convenience.
Along that separation, my basic belief is that it’s this separation that allows us to be a part of these systems of exploitation and oppression, injustice and inequity. If we saw the truth right outside of our doors, we probably wouldn’t be able to do a lot of the things we do, but because we’re separate from it, because we’re disconnected from it, we’re able to, more or less, go about business as usual and more-or-less ignore it.
Separation: Our Greatest Threat
That’s where I think it’s really worth looking at what happens when we separate ourselves. The opposite of that, as I mentioned earlier, is interconnectedness, and we’ll come back to that a little bit.
One of the things that we see really deeply in our society today is this wealth gap. So 1% of the world’s population owns 50% of the world’s wealth. This can only happen in a society that is so deeply disconnected from one another and disconnected from the Earth. So there’s two forms of disconnection and separation that I’ve been exploring through this experiment of non-ownership that I want to touch on shortly tonight.
Ownership: The Delusion
The first is the concept of ownership. I’d like to give a couple thoughts on that. When we, say, buy some land. We sign a contract, someone signs over the land to us. You could ask the question: the Earth that is now owned… does the Earth agree to that contract? The plants and animals that are on that land… did they agree that they’re now owned by that contract? The human beings that have been displaced over generations… did they agree that you, that we, own that land? Ownership is a concept. Another way of thinking about it is: if you own land and you don’t pay taxes, who owns the land then? The bank or the government? So do we really own it? We could look at the 2008 housing market where I think about a million people in the United States lost their homes over a period of a year. They didn’t do anything differently, but all of a sudden, it’s no longer theirs. There’s so many examples where we see that ownership is a concept. You could even go so far as to say, an illusion. There’s many cultures that don’t practice the concept of ownership. There’s less and less alive today, but there have been many cultures throughout time where ownership was not something they practiced and there’s languages that don’t even have the word ‘ownership.’ So, again, it’s something worth thinking about. Questioning the unquestioned.
I think another aspect of this ‘ownership’ is to really look at what the foundation of this country is: we are a country here in the United States where our creation was, in large part, because humans believed that they could own other human beings. Seven million people were stolen away from Africa and enslaved. Some people call these people ‘slaves,’ but they’re not. They’re human beings that were enslaved. When we own something, that’s what allows us to create this separation and this exploitation. At the same time, we came onto this land… not everybody here, but our past, the people who came from Europe came onto this land and believed that they could own this land and there was massive genocide of hundreds of cultures of human people, of the Indigenous people that lived on this land before, because of the concept of ownership. A society that didn’t believe in the concept of ownership wouldn’t be able to practice that. Not only is that our past, but that is baked into our Constitution and baked into our current existence in so many ways that we don’t realize when we don’t question the foundation of our existence.
Money: The Illusion
The other one that I want to touch base on is this concept of money. Money only exists because we believe it does. Money has been in the form of gold, it’s been in the form of shells, it’s been in the form of beads. Currently it’s in the form of paper that we print, but mostly now it’s in the form of zeroes and ones on computers and the only way that it works is as long as we believe that it works. W see the illusion of money when we see billions of dollars supposedly dissolve overnight with the stock market crash, and then billions of dollars existing and going away and back and forth. Or just the concepts of deflation or inflation. It’s just a concept. As long as we believe it, it exists, and once we start to not believe it, if enough people don’t believe it, it disappears. Some people say money makes the world go ‘round, but the world has been going around for a very long time, long before the advent of money, and I have a belief that the world would continue to go around even if money no longer existed.
These are two of the main concepts that I have been questioning. By owning nothing and having no money, it’s allowed me to just go really deeply into it, and allowed me to be able to bring others into this practice, into this thought form.
Our Political Situation in 2025
Some people right now say, “Why? It’s not the time to be talking about these sorts of things.” “There’s too much… we need to focus on this particular war that’s taking place, or the current political situation.” I understand where we’re coming from. We’re in this place of chaos right now, in this place of being incredibly stirred up. But, what we’ve had is generation after generation, decade after decade, of political systems where, what happens is, when we only focus on the current crises and we don’t look at the bigger picture, we will continue going from current crises to current crises. What they want, often, is people who are in this panicked, chaotic state, because then we’re not able to be really focusing on solutions, so I just want to be tender around that.
There’s a lot going on in the world right now and it’s a very difficult time to be existing. It’s a very difficult time to be existing. It’s also just as relevant and important right now to be in this deeper state of critical questioning, and really asking about real solutions for a way forward. Really questioning the foundation of our structures. Right now we have a situation with the current president, Trump, and the current political situation where it would be labelled potentially by some as fascism, or tyranny, and I think it’s important, looking at the bigger picture, to see that whether it’s the Democratic party or the Republican party, we have, to a large degree, the same general thing happening over multiple decades.
To give a few notes on that, we don’t have a true democracy. Our country is more run by corporations than it is actually the people. A democracy means that every vote counts the same. But when corporations can spend millions of dollars buying our elections, it’s not an equal. It’s not ‘a vote is a vote.’ We also have a revolving door of people who are running corporations that are destroying the Earth, that then go in and are working for the regulatory agencies that are designed to be regulating them. Basically they moved from regulating agency to the one who’s doing the destruction and this back and forth. That happens under both parties. It’s been happening for a very long time. Another big thing is: the United States is the most successful country in the world at overthrowing democratically elected governments around the world, and that is something that we have been doing no matter who is in office for a very long time.
Another thing to note is, whether it’s Trump in office or previous politicians, Democrats, we have two million Black men behind bars. We have a ‘new Jim Crow,’ as coined by Michelle Alexander. You can read the book “The New Jim Crow,” if you want to learn about that. And so, we have been imprisoning our own people for quite some time now. Another example of that is people who are imprisoned, who many people call ‘prisoners,’ but they’re human beings who are in prison, not able to vote because they’re in prison. That’s another way of creating this separation of a group of people.
There’s a few more things that I want to introduce, a few more concepts just to discuss a little bit before moving into the solutions.
Breathing Exercise
I just want to take another moment to take a deep breath. I know that was potentially kind of a lot. I hope it doesn’t come across to anyone as judging or criticism because that’s not my intention, but I can see how that you may potentially be feeling a little overwhelmed, or doom and gloom right now. I don’t usually talk in that depth about the crises that we’re in, but I feel a desire to right now. So let’s just take three deep breaths. Relax the system a little bit. [Takes three deep breaths]
Earth Code
I want to introduce just a couple of things. I want to introduce the concept of Earth Code. How many of you have heard of the concept of Earth Code? A couple. Okay. So right now, we live a life where there’s a lot of laws. There’s a lot of codes; government codes, city codes, federal codes, laws. They’re designed to protect us, right? That’s technically what laws are supposedly to do: to protect us. We have a lot of laws that maybe protect a small group of people while doing the exact opposite; and so the concept of following Earth Code, which is what I’ve been practicing largely here in Griffith Park, is to critically question any of these laws that exist and ask, “Do they really serve us as humanity?” “Do they really serve us?” “Do they really serve the plants and animals we share this home with?” “Do they serve the Earth that we are on?” And if the answer is “no,” if the codes don’t, then instead, following Earth Code. It’s not about saying, “I want anarchy and I’m not going to follow any codes.” It’s about saying, “Does the code actually do the justice that it says, and if not, what code can I follow?” And Earth Code is one where the objective is to live in harmony with the Earth, with humanity and with our plant and animal relatives. I love the concept of Earth Code; it is a radically different way of exploring the world. It is in alignment with the concept of civil disobedience, disobeying unjust laws, and I would say encourage much more following of Earth Code. Those of you who are interested, I’m here to follow Earth Code with you.
Privilege: Exploration of
I also want to acknowledge my privilege, the concept of privilege a little bit. Some people get very triggered by acknowledging privilege. They see it as admitting to doing something wrong, or to guilt and shame. There is a lot of — in this progressive movement, like, guilt/shame. “You gotta acknowledge your privilege,” and it’s done from this place of guilt or shame, or, you’re right or what-have-you. I do it from a place of truth and integrity.
The reality is that I live as a white man, as a US American. I have so many privileges that allow me to have my basic needs for safety met. My basic needs for stability. So many of my basic needs around comfort and support are met because of the privileges that I have. Everybody here has different levels of privilege, and here in this country, in the United States, we do have a lot of people who are underprivileged. But that said, even the underprivileged people of this nation are some of the most privileged people in the entire world. It’s a whole spectrum, and, again, the reason that I acknowledge it is because it’s very poignant for being able to understand our place in society and how our being differs in the way that we are able to or have challenges interacting in the world.
To put it simply, if I was a Black man sleeping here in this park, I am certain that I would have much more trouble with authority. If I was a woman, I would have much more issues with my security and with my safety. If I was not a US American and I was here, if I was someone who was a refugee and was seeking safety, this would be a whole different scenario to be practicing this concept of non-ownership. Just to be able to live simply in some ways can be a privilege. But at the same time, it’s not a guarantee. Some people kind of overstate that, but the reality is a lot of the people who have moved us forward the most in humanity are people with less privilege, so I like to share about that as well because, again, a lot of the people who have really created the most justice in this society ARE underprivileged people who DO take the opportunity to really question and step up to society.
Getting What We Really Want
Yay, we’re getting to solutions! I want to share what I’m talking about today is not about giving up. It’s not about creating an empty space inside of us. The pursuit of non-delusionalism, the pursuit of truth and integrity is a pursuit of living a meaningful life. It is a pursuit of joy and happiness. I believe that every one of us is, at every moment, trying the best that we know how to meet a basic human need, and some of the basic human needs that I come back to is our need to belong. We all have a need to belong; a need to matter. We all have a need to matter; we’re all seeking connection; we’re all seeking community, safety and security. Every day those are basic human needs that we have. Meaning and purpose; every day we’re working to meet that basic need for meaning and purpose, happiness and health, and internal peace.
So, having these conversations is not about reducing our quality of life. It’s actually about getting to the basics of life. Really questioning our lives. Really questioning the foundation of our existence and asking, “Is this life that I’ve been living, are these concepts that I’ve been sold really giving me what I want?” And if the answer is “No,” then it’s about talking about what are different ways that we can do this.
Not, again, as a way that you’re going to create this hole inside of yourself. A lot of people think, like, “Oh, I’m going to have to give up so much if I’m going to try to live in a way that’s not causing destruction.” But it’s about shedding the extraneous, shedding what no longer serves us and moving forward into what really meets the needs that we’re trying to meet. While doing that, we all get to take responsibility for our lives. That’s what I’m talking about. Taking responsibility for our own lives and finding great, deep, meaningful joy in it.
Solutions: A Primer
I’d like to talk a bit about some of the solutions. You have different ways of solutions: some people are very focused on ‘top down,’ which would be laws, for example; other people are very ‘bottom up,’ which is ‘you,’ as an individual, are making the changes regardless of laws. My belief system is we need both. We need ‘top down,’ major change in our societal structures, in our corporations, in our government; and we need ‘bottom up.’ We need ‘us’ to be the change we wish to see in the world. I would go so far as to say, we will never have ‘top down’ if we don’t have ‘bottom up.’ We need to change our lives if we’re ever going to get what we want, is my belief system. So, these are really focused on what we can do as individuals more so. That’s more of my way of being, is to be the change I wish to see in the world, and to come together, change our societal structures through us changing them through our existence. With these, you have the choice of how far you want to go. Some of these you can keep them as relatively simple, and relatively easy, or they can be deeply radical, and a combination of the two.
I believe that true solution lies in community, so being in community will be a big part of this. I also believe that true solution lies in embracing biodiversity and diversity. Another way of saying that is the interconnectedness of everything.
Solutions: A Way Forward
Some of the solutions: big one, living in community. If you’re interested in exploring the concept of breaking free of the individualistic life that is so deeply ingrained here in Los Angeles of all places, you can explore living in community. So there’s a website: ic.org, which is the Foundation for Intentional Communities, and you can learn all about living in community. You can visit different intentional communities. Some of them even have week-long immersions. If you’re ever wanting to take a trip to the Appalachian Mountains, the Earth Haven Ecovillage has, like, you can come and immerse in living in a very deeply practiced intentional community. There’s many around California that you can explore.
There’s also the concept of Ecovillages. So these are specifically communities that are designed in living around more harmony with the Earth. You can go to the Global Ecovillage Network to learn about that. A simple way to practice living in community is just to share. The more that we share, the more we are living in community. Like, the fact that I am wearing Garrett’s clothes right now? I’m in community with Garrett. I’m more interdependent with Garrett, just by sharing. Now, you don’t have to borrow people’s clothes, but it could be you only use an electric screwdriver once in awhile, so your neighbor has one and you just go over to your neighbor’s. It gives real meaningful reasons to actually connect with each other.
Downsizing and simplifying; the less that we have, the more that we actually have to connect with others. If we have everything we need inside of our house and we get everything from the click of a button, we never really have to connect with people. We’re allowed to live in that illusion of separateness. So simplifying and downsizing helps to create that sharing. But also, simplifying and downsizing just means there’s a lot less of feeding into those systems of consumerism that we were talking about.
Just getting involved in community. You don’t have to live in community. I will share that the Los Angeles Ecovillage is a community that’s right here in L.A., and they’re having a block party on April 26th, so that’s an immediate way to get involved, just next weekend. So yes, getting involved in community. There’s so many ways to get involved with community and break free from the separateness and the individualism.
Another thing is downsizing money. One of my earliest inspirations was a man named Mark Boyle. He has a book called “The Moneyless Manifesto,” and that is a book that teaches you how to live without money, if you want to learn and to dive into that. So, just looking at all the ways you’re spending money. A simple way to do it: say, “Do I need to be spending this money and would I actually have more value in not spending this money?” So, all the bills that are not bringing you what you’re really seeking in life, you can reduce those bills and then be able to use that money in ways that are more meaningful to you. Or, just need less money in general.
Another big one is breaking free from cars. Cars are a really good way to feel separate. You’ve got drivers and you’ve got pedestrians. Actually, you just have human beings. Human beings inside cars, human beings outside cars. But as soon as we create that, there’s such an opportunity to create that ‘otherness.’ So walking, biking, skateboarding, rollerblading, roller skating, running, public transportation; all of these ways are ways to be more connected, less separate, and using our bodies, just getting basic exercise just, like, moving ourselves around.
Breaking free from plastic. Well, we’ve moved on to the solutions, so I’m not going to talk about the problems that exist with plastic. I want to keep it solutions. If you want to learn, “The Story of Stuff” is one of the most powerful resources that I know that teaches about plastics. So breaking free from plastic. Imagine existing in a way where your clothes are OF the earth and they can RETURN to the earth, where most of what you have is OF and can RETURN to the earth.
There’s a concept of zero waste, I’m sure many of you have heard of, and that’s the idea of just creating as little garbage as possible, feeding into the system as little as possible and creating as little garbage as possible. You can simply look into your garbage can and you can see, “Okay, look at this item. How can I do things differently where there’s not trash?” So, paper towels, for example, you can have reusable washcloths that you just wash, as one example.
Composting. Composting everything. Again, you can go from — it depends on what level you want to go for. Radical movement is you make a pact to compost everything that’s compostable. Your hair is compostable. Your fingernails are compostable. Even your poop is compostable. That’s called humanure. That’s, to me, a kind of higher, deep level of practice. I love it. I love the concept of the poop going back to the earth to create nourishing soil that can grow food rather than going to a wastewater treatment plant where it becomes a burden on society that requires taxpayer dollars. But you can also just compost to start your vegetable scraps. That’s a lot less radical. But still radical, to be just composting at all.
Breaking free from chemicals, just thinking that there is no thing that’s away. Any time we flush chemicals down our drain, they are ultimately a lot of the time staying in our drinking water. Our systems are not what we think. Pesticides and insecticides are in our drinking water. In fact, I just heard the statistic that a baby born today has about 270 chemicals in their blood, so the chemicals do not go away; just looking at the things we have and saying, “Can this return to the earth or is this a chemical?” So, you can specifically apply that to what you put on your body and then also what we use in our houses.
We can grow more food. We can forage for food. Here in Griffith Park there’s over 20 different plants that you can work with as foods and medicines, and when we start to see that food and medicine is growing freely and abundantly all around us, we start to see the world in a different way. So many of these are so practical, but I’m seeing time and time again how every single one of these connects us more with the world, connects us with life and helps to break us free from the separation. You don’t need to grow and forage, you can support local food growers. You can find regenerative agriculture, farms and gardens. You can shop at a local food co-op that has a deeper connection with food. You can just learn about foods. The “Omnivore’s Dilemma” is one of the most powerful books for me; that by Michael Pollan, and Eric Schlosser’s “Fast Food Nation” are two really powerful books. Alice Waters is another author, and her books are very powerful in really learning the truth of our food system.
You can love your water. A lot of people say water is life, so you can really start to see water as life. When we see water as life, we’re a lot less likely to want to put chemicals directly into it, or even our poop, so starting to see that water is life in all forms. If you’re looking to have maybe an interesting water experience, you could go swim in the L.A. river. I’ve enjoyed quite a few L.A. river swims and I can say that you will still be alive afterwards, so that could be a radical way to experience water in a new way here in L.A.
Deepening your connection with Earth. Just deepening your connection with Earth, and one way we do that is just by being outside more. Being here, like where we are now, as much as possible. Being outside, and you don’t have to go to deep nature. I definitely recommend going to deep nature, which you don’t have to go very far from L.A. I’m amazed by the Angeles mountains, how deep some of that nature is. But also, nature is on every street corner. The sky above us, the ground below us, the pigeons, the rats, the squirrels, the cockroaches. That’s all nature. The crows, the ravens, the coyotes, and, of course, us. We can tune into the fact that we are — there’s millions of bacteria and yeast on every little square inch of our body. In fact, we’re more bacterial cells than we are human cells. So we are an interconnected culture of being. To be a human being, it’s pretty radical.
Another big one is overcoming societal norms. The more that we can just say, “I’m not going to be so concerned about what people think. I’m instead going to be focused on truth and integrity. I’m going to instead be focused on living in alignment.” Breaking free from societal norms. So many of these help you do that; so many of these practices help you to do that.
Existing in gratitude. On my walk here from Canada, I listened to a lot of Ram Dass. And Ram Dass, among many others, really helped me to tap into existing in a state of gratitude. When we’re grateful, we have so much more. Some would even say when we’re grateful, we have everything we need.
Being in the present moment. Fred Rogers, Mister Rogers — I didn’t have him in my childhood, but recently he’s entered my life, and he taught me that the most powerful gift that we can give to anybody is being in the present moment with them, and I truly believe that. Right now when so many of us are just lacking that connection, what we’re seeking so badly is connection, and just being in the present moment can do that. Practicing empathy, which is another one that we’re going to talk about, but just being in the present moment is one of the most powerful solutions that we can have.
Compassionate Communication. We practiced that earlier, for those of us who were here. I carry this book. And no, I do not own this; this is borrowed from Peter in Ojai. This was one of the hardest things to NOT own, because I consider this my bible. I carry it everywhere with me. I’ve read it seven times and the practice of compassionate communication. Marshall Rosenberg is the creator of this, but inside of this is nothing new. It’s just many practices that many cultures have had for a very long time.
Living in service. One of the most beautiful things about living in service is there’s a never ending supply of meaning and purpose. You will never run out of something to do when you’re living in service. All of the happiest people who I’ve met in my entire life are people who are focused on living in service. So, you get to give, but you also get to enrich your life so deeply at the same time.
A few more. Some big ones. Wealth redistribution. I mentioned 1% of the world’s population has 50% of the world’s wealth. A lot of us could look at that and say, “Well, we’re not the wealthy ones compared to them.” We can always compare, but all of us here are in the top probably 5% of the wealthiest, financially wealthiest people in the world. Not necessarily happiest people in the world. In fact, the wealthiest are — I actually made a note earlier — that a lot of people look at the people who are poor. They see them as poor, destitute and lonely, but it’s actually the wealthiest people in the world who are probably the most poor, destitute and lonely. I was thinking about that as I was listening to Thich Nhat Hanh earlier in a group practice. But, the key is that as those of us who have enough and plenty start to give more and we reduce the inequality, we start to become richer as we give more away. We see it time and time again. So again, decreasing the wealth gap isn’t about giving up. It’s actually about finding more meaning and purpose, so: finding ways to redistribute wealth.
One way of doing that — and also, someone who I really recommend listening to is Vandana Shiva. I love hearing her thoughts about globalization. So, one way to do that is through redistributing land. You can go to landback.org to learn about the Indigenous movement of returning land to the original stewards of the land. Leah Penniman is one of the founders of the Northeast Farmers of Color Land Trust and that’s an organization that is returning land to Black people to farm. At one time, I believe they owned about 15% of farmland and currently it’s about 2% or less. Returning land to people so they’re able to have meaningful lives on the land. Malcolm X was very strong about saying that revolution lies in land. And that, ironically enough, is owning land, and so, ownership is not inherently good or bad and ownership can be powerful. It’s really about stewardship of the land. Getting to that point of stewardship.
A couple more. Another big one is divesting. Every way that our funds exist in a way that is creating exploitation and oppression and injustice, divesting from that. Divesting from that. So, that could be our 401Ks, our mutual funds, our IRAs, our stocks, and taking those investments out of there and instead, investing in investments that are actually beneficial to the people, or investing in ‘the now,’ in clean air, in fresh water, in meeting basic human needs that exist now. Taking our money out of the big banks. So Chase, JP Morgan, Wells Fargo, and putting it into a local credit union instead. I would say our future is quite uncertain. We don’t know really if money is — I would say a lot of the concepts of money are quite uncertain of whether it will exist in the decades ahead, but we know that we have a life right now, and that there’s people who need fresh air and clean water and nourishing food, and so investing in ‘the now,’ in what we have right now.
Voluntary simplicity is another practice. Mahatma Gandhi said, “Live simply so that others may simply live.” When he’s talking about that, he’s talking about how in our lives so much destruction exists by living these globalized, industrialized, incredibly complex lives. Just living simply is a huge protest to these systems of destruction, and a way to experience deep interconnectedness.
A couple last ones. Breaking free from the system of taxes. Our taxes pay for the police brutality, the military industrial complex, the police system, war, bailing out big banks. One way of practicing voluntary simplicity is to earn less than the federal poverty threshold, which is one of my lifetime commitments. In doing so, you’re just not paying for any of those things and you can then put your money and your actions into the things that represent what you want.
A big one is educating yourself. So some resources for that are on my website, if you go to robingreenfield.org/people. Those are about fifty people that I recommend learning from. /films is many of the films that I recommend, and /books are many books that I recommend learning from. If we don’t know, how are we going to live the lives that we truly want? Building skills. A way that I recommend building skills? There’s something called The Earth Skills Gathering, where you can go and immerse with others to learn the skills for working in harmony with the Earth, skills that you can take back into your life. There’s at least two Earthskills Gatherings that happen here in California. earthskillsgathering.org is the website you can learn from. I think there’s about 35 different Earthskills across the country.
Finding wholeness and completeness within is a huge act of resistance to these systems. They don’t want us to be whole and complete. If we’re whole and complete, we no longer need most of the stuff. Developing that wholeness and completeness. I mention Thich Nhat Hanh. He teaches a lot of very basic practices for finding that inner peace.
Learning from the Indigenous movements. Some of the Indigenous people that I’ve learned a lot from are Robin Wall Kimmerer. Braiding Sweetgrass is an incredibly powerful book. Lyla June Johnston, who is based up here in Northern California. Her Ted Talk is a very powerful one, and Winona LaDuke. She’s an Anishinaabe activist from the land where I’m from. If you want a really little book that is absolutely revolutionary, it’s called The Thanksgiving Address. It’s by the Haudenosaunee. It’s the Thanksgiving they’ve given for over about a thousand years or so. It’s this tiny, little book, and if you live by this tiny, little book, the world would be an utterly different place.
Closing Remarks
So, in closing, some people would say, “With the challenges we live in, why even try?” “It’s such a daunting time, there’s so much destruction, why even try?” My simple answer is because life matters. I believe that life matters. I believe in the value of us here. If we can live in a way that brings value to others and respects life rather than destroys it, that’s meaningful. Whether or not we continue to exist as humanity in 500 years, 1,000 years, 10,000 years; if we believe that life matters now, that’s reason to be doing what we’re doing. My encouragement is with this, again, is not to get overwhelmed. If you are feeling alive, that you want to be shifting your life, then my encouragement is to take it one step at a time. Decide what are the things you’re most excited about. Maybe you’re excited to grow some food, or forage, or live in community, or be more out in nature, or maybe it’s, starting a nonprofit that works on a particular thing. Whatever you’re feeling most excited about, do that. The things that are feeling very daunting? Save that for later. Build up the momentum. Build up the motivation. Take it one step at a time.
My recommendation is: set goals. When I decided to transform my life, what I did is, I made a list of goals I wanted to make, a list of goals of changes I wanted to make and then what I did is I made one positive change per week. By doing that for two years, I made 100 positive changes. So just one step at a time, break free. And if you’re interested in seeing that list, you can see it on my website. It’s just at robingreenfield.org/100. You can use it as a guide to help shifting your life if you would like to. Finding joy in this, finding meaning, finding connection, and just taking it one step at a time.
On that note, I am grateful to be done talking right now. I’m grateful that you’re all still here. Not all. But I’m grateful that you’re here. I’m grateful for this time together and I would love to — before closing and sharing more hugs because –oh, I didn’t add hugs to that list, but definitely add hugs to that list.
Questions and Answers
I would love to hear if anybody has any questions. Anything alive in them, things they are interested in about, whether it’s bigger picture or whether it’s ways you want to make changes in your life, or whether it’s just curiosities about the experiment or anything at all. The weirdest questions are all on the table.
Question: What are your feelings on your last day of the experiment compared to the first?
Yeah. So Ant’s question was … Ant was here the first day and he could see my emotions on the first day and he’s curious what they are on the last day. And I will say, this isn’t the last day of non-ownership. I’m doing a speaking tour through California and I’ll be continuing to own nothing until the last talk in Sebastopol. So a new chapter actually begins. I won’t be here in the park, but that continues. My feelings: owning nothing to a lot of people would certainly be — maybe a little unsettling. Maybe some fear, maybe some anxiety, etc., around that. I was amazed at the beginning, as you’ll recall, that I was basically the — the day that I gave away my stuff, the next day I was pretty much the most happy and content and joyous as I had ever been. After a week, I realized this has been the most solidly present moment that I’ve ever been in in my life, and very little anxiety or stress or overwhelm or frustration. And that continued. And then, as of late, I have trickled more responsibilities back into my life. I’ve done more and spread myself more thin, so I’ve experienced more anxiety and I’ve experienced a little more overwhelm and disheartenment and sometimes even a little bit of hopelessness. I got sick one time. It was during when it was cold, and I was sleeping outside and that was a little challenging. There was also social media when swimming in the LA river went quite viral and I tapped into an audience of people that had a whole lot of things to say! People were telling me — I started to feel a little concerned about holding it all together and whether I was — well, I said, I’m fine with looking absolutely like I’ve lost my mind, but in that moment, I wasn’t quite able to be okay with it, and there was some ego. So I’ve had many emotions. Ending, I would say I feel — I mean, I’ve also been tired. I will say, I get my best sleeps out there. I’ve slept at people’s houses three times in the last five weeks, and every time I’ve felt worse afterwards, like, slept way worse there than out here in Griffith Park. So my emotions have fluctuated as they have outside of this. However, I have been much more — much love bubbling inside of myself. Much joy, much connection, much presence, much gratitude… much just being, really being. Right now I’m feeling hopeful and excited and grateful and peaceful. Thanks for asking. I was hoping to be able to talk about that. Any other questions come to mind? Okay.
Question: How has your experience been with the rangers here?
Yeah. Charlie, right? Charlie’s question was about the rangers. So I’ll summarize this in a couple minutes. I’ll start by saying thank you to the Griffith Park rangers! I appreciate you all very, very much! I want to film a video of just that: like, as a goodbye. Thank you to the rangers. I’ve had, overall, a pretty solid time. I think I would say overall that the Los Angeles — I’ll just speak of the rangers because that’s what I know best — have a pretty ‘hands-off’ approach and not trying to stir anything up. On Day 8 the rangers approached me by not approaching me, but just by following me around in their vehicles, which was a tense moment. I only was here for ten days and then I was gone for five weeks at Vipassana and then a long walk. When I came back, they didn’t approach me until after about a week, and then a ranger approached me during a plant walk and I talked to him for about five minutes and he had a pretty, I would say, compassionate connection. Then he confirmed that the rangers — some of the rangers do, indeed, watch my videos online and they know what I’m up to.
And there’s been plenty of interactions where other people have talked to the rangers. There’s actually this other guy who slept in the park some, and they found him because he’s not sleeping back in the bush like I am. He just for fun decided to ask, “Do you know about Robin Greenfield?” And their response was, “Is he sleeping here still!?” [laughs] So they know — it’s interesting. I can’t say what the exact take is, but the park closes at 10:30 and I go to my bed long before that, and so there’s really nothing they could do unless they came and found me back there, which, if they watched my “Day in the Life” video, which we recorded two days ago, which will come out in a few days, they will know exactly where I was sleeping, because it’s in that video, now that I’m leaving… and you can watch that if you’re ever looking for, I would say, a million dollar spot, if you could monetize it.
Yes! Yes! Ant and I laid down the pine needle bed together. The same pine needle bed is there. I added some more pine needles though. Yeah. It’s been a joyful spot.
Question: Have you had trouble with the police?
Hmm. I’ve only been approached by police in the last few years four or five times. On the walk here from Canada, I was approached by police three times. Because I no longer have a form of ID, because I got rid of my passport and birth certificate two years ago, and my driver’s license and social security card in 2016, that’s an interesting interaction with the police and — but all of those have flowed. Again, acknowledging my privilege, it would be different for other people I am certain. But, I will say that I really believe that because I see officers as human beings first and foremost, I think that really does help. Like, one time an officer approached me and I said, “I sense that you are concerned about my presence.” And, wow, as soon as I said that, you could see her body language release the tension. She said, “Oh, no, I’m not concerned.” But then why are you stopping and talking to me? Obviously there’s a reason why you’re stopping me and pulling me over. I was walking. But that really, like, tuning into her emotions, what she might be feeling, really was a beautiful opportunity.
I love every time I get to speak with the police officers because it’s a real opportunity to practice compassionate communication. Often the hardest time to practice it is with authorities. When people have more power than us. What I do is, I actually imagine the police officer naked. Just a naked person behind there. I’ll even just think about their armpits or behind their knees, their most vulnerable spot and think about how, yeah, a lot of times they are afraid for their life. Their needs for safety and security are often not met on their jobs. So, that’s helped with my interactions, I would say. But, in Orlando I lived in a tiny house. The city came and they shut me down and I had to take the tiny house out, so that was meaningful, having that happen. But I just go with the flow. It is what it is. It’s also — we’ll see what happens in time as I test things a little deeper. This certainly was a test, but I’m planning to test things deeper. I expect that, at some point, I’ll spend some time in jail and I will welcome that, especially if I’m doing the experiment of non-ownership because they’ll give me food, clothes, a bed. It’s the perfect place to practice non-attachment and surrender and non-ownership, so I’ll welcome that. Does that give some insight into the question? Any other questions? Yeah. Ant?
Question: How do you feel about owning things in the future?
Yeah. Ant’s question is am I going to own things in the future and how am I feeling about that. I have no qualm whatsoever with ownership. It’s just our out-of-balance relationship with ownership. My ideal scenario is that every single item that I own is handmade by me or somebody I know and can return to the earth, and that I know the process of harvesting it from the earth and turning it into what I have. So right now, I’m dreaming of making my own sleeping bag. I’m dreaming of making my own sleeping bag this Fall with cattail, down and goose feathers, because there’s a lot of people who hunt goose where I’m from who just throw away the feathers, and that’s a dream right now. That’s a possession that I would LOVE to have. I will eventually probably build another tiny house. I’d like to build that completely from materials on the land that can return to the land one day. But then how do you own a computer? My plan is not to get a computer right away. My plan is to go to a library or use computers if I’m at people’s houses and that would mean spending a lot less time on the computer. So it’s a beautiful reset, the fact that I own nothing; I will say, I have had a few things that kind of borderline ownership like this little guidebook. I’m working on making a guide for simple and sustainable living. I write on paper and it’s kind of like once I’ve written on here, it’s kind of like I own it. So in a sense, I already kinda do own something. Would anyone like to free me of ownership and take the first draft of this…. [gives booklet away] I saw an excitement on your face. That’s the first draft of the — alright, sweet. It’s a work in progress. So now I don’t own anything. I kinda owned that thing. But yeah, so I’m looking forward to — because my next big endeavor is I’m going to do a year of foraging 100% of my food. So I’ve done a year of growing and foraging 100% of my food, but this is 100% just wild. Tending the wild. I’m going to own possessions for that. Basically, my objective is I’m going to own only the possessions that allow me to meet my basic needs, that allow me to have a deep connection with the earth and nothing more. Just the possessions that really bring that value and meaning into my life. A fingernail clipper? I’ve always owned one. I probably am going to hold out for awhile and just clip my fingernails when other people are around with a fingernail clipper.
Let’s do two last questions. Does anyone else have one besides Ant? Otherwise, we can ask any more that Ant has. Yes?
Question: Do you want to have kids?
Do I want to have kids? Yeah. Thanks for asking that. When I was 25, I actually got a vasectomy. So that was 13 years ago. So I have been certain for a long time that I don’t — I feel slightly uncomfortable saying, “don’t want to have kids,” but yeah. The reason why is I think other people could hear that as, like, a judgment or something. Here’s what I’d like to say. I think having children is one of the most beautiful things that a human can do with their life. Bringing a child into the world and raising a child is one of the most meaningful and beautiful things that we can do with our lives. I’m not against it in any way. But I chose not to have children so that I could take a lot of risks and not have someone be dependent on me. So that I could really explore to the depth that I want to without potentially being unable to. You can explore deeply and you can be deeply of service while having children, but my particular lifestyle design of living without money and having basically nothing is much more conducive to not having children. I want to have more children in my life by working in schools and by working with children who don’t have role models and who would benefit from that, and that’s an area where I want to do more. Because I do love children and I love being with them. But I also find myself annoyed, and so it’s an area I need to do some work.
Let’s do one last question because I think they might be coming and filling in this parking lot. I’m not going to call it a parking lot. This grassy area they sometimes park in. And then we can move a little ways back and be together before saying goodbye.
Question: What happened to your project about only eating school lunches?
Oh, yeah, I was going to do a month-long project where I ate school lunch and only school lunch. That’s why I arrived in L.A. a year ago. But, that project didn’t end up happening because the school — we just didn’t find a school that was in alignment to be able to do it, that also represented the average school lunch.
I won’t end on that question because it’s so disconnected from the present moment. Let’s do one more that’s, — not that there’s anything wrong with the question. I appreciate you asking, but one that connects us back to the present moment.
Question: Can you tell us about both a high and a low of your experiment?
One high! One high and one low of this experiment of non-ownership. One high. Well, I can tell you, right now I’m feeling pretty high just looking at that little mountain over there. I’ve looked out, sitting right here, so many times, just at that little mountain, and I just love it! I just love it! And a couple times, I’ve seen — I would say my time with the coyotes has been a high. About a week ago, I woke up to five coyotes walking past me in my bed and they have this like, partly nonchalance — so long nonchalance that I don’t even know if they know I’m there, but also they’ll give a couple of glances that acknowledge that I’m there. So I would say deepening my connection with the coyotes has definitely been a high. There’s so many of them. And a low?
One of the lowest was when I surrendered to getting back on the computer earlier than I planned. I was going to be offline for this entire period and about three weeks ago, I think it was nine weeks in, I hadn’t managed to — with sharing the messages and then coordinating a speaking tour after this, and with the number of things I was working on, the team that I work with wasn’t able to manage everything, and so I ended up going back online. And, it’s fine; nine weeks offline was pretty darn meaningful and a deep exploration, but going back online was painful, to break that sooner than planned.
On that note, to those of you out there who are watching through the internet, I’m grateful that all of you are here and I look forward to sharing hugs in real life with some of you and on that note, we’re going to say goodbye, we love you, and we’re going to spend a little bit of time here in this last moment for those of you who would like to. So goodbye, Dear Friends.
Articles referred to:
The Experiment in Non-Ownership – My “Why” and In-Depth Explanation
Non-Ownership in the Physical, Digital and Mental Realms
The Timeline of My Journey to Complete Non-Ownership
