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Episode 129 | Field Notes – The Limits of Wilderness Minimalism

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Jul 28, 2025 at 2:45 am #3838791

Backpacking Light
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@backpackinglight
Locale: Rocky Mountains

Companion forum thread to: Episode 129 | Field Notes – The Limits of Wilderness Minimalism

Ryan Jordan examines wilderness minimalism under stress, using physiology, psychology, and Stoic philosophy to analyze five high-risk scenarios.

Jul 28, 2025 at 10:49 am #3838802

Chase Jordan
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@chasemilo99-2
Locale: Northeast US

Please share your experiences about when yout kit was too light to meet the demands of your trip. We’re curious to understand the disconnect between gear choices made at home vs. why those choices may have under-predicted stress in the field.

Jul 30, 2025 at 9:26 am #3838888

Monte Masterson
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@septimius
Locale: Southern Indiana

I can understand why stoicism has made such a resurgence in recent years, but I think it’s a good idea to look at Nietzsche’s criticisms of the philosophy. https://medium.com/@kukuh.herlangga/nietzsches-critique-of-stoicism-an-insight-for-the-modern-mind-53e5963dd159

Absurdism grew out of the existentialist ideas proposed by Nietzsche and others. I find I can approach multi-day hikes and everyday life better with this ideology. Life has no meaning, however it can become fulfilling by applying our own meaning to everything.

Jul 30, 2025 at 10:37 am #3838895

Murali C
BPL Member

@mchinnak

Thanks for the video!!!!!

Jul 30, 2025 at 11:49 am #3838896

jscott
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@book
Locale: Northern California

Whoever said life had to be reduced to making sense?

and anyway…what Camus failed to accept was that human reason has limits. In other words, “life doesn’t make sense” because WE are limited beings. My best guess is, yes, on its own and in its own terms, the cosmos makes sense. After all, everywhere we look we find order. Again, the order of the cosmos exceeds our limited ability to grasp it. WE don’t make sense. Blaming that on God or the cosmos is itself…nonsensical.

Nietzsche isn’t known for his humility. Of course, he spent the last 30 years of his life as an imbecile, to use the language of his day, due to brain damage brought about by who knows what. Those “little people” he despised had to clean his incontinence from his sheets and body and feed him and all the rest. that would have been humbling, if only he had the awareness to appreciate it.
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