Have you ever met a mute traveler?

[deleted user]

I suppose I'm just curious to know if there are any others out there.

While I'm not yet a complete mute, I do have a condition that can worsen.

I mostly don't talk because it's easier, or I use a notebook with whiteboard pages.

 

[Deleted member 125]

you are going to have a EXTREMLY hard time travelling any "unconventional" or even conventional way if you cant/dont speak.

 

[deleted user]

you are going to have a EXTREMLY hard time travelling any "unconventional" or even conventional way if you cant/dont speak.

This comment doesn't really do much for my question, but I do appreciate your concerns on the matter. I've been travelling for about three years now, but mostly through intentional communities. It has had its ups-and-downs through different phases of my speaking ability. I think it's easy for someone to say it is hard, from their perspective of using their voice so much. In some ways it is DEFINITELY inconvenient, but for every con there are some pros to not speaking (just like with nearly about anything else). I've found people always kind of adapt though, once the situation is in front of them. It used to be maddening, but now I find it to be an almost zen-like experience in a world full of people with heads full of narratives or whatever piles of justifications are spewing out of them any given day. I've also found it to be a good radar in vetting people, as the highly egoic or neurotic find someone else to bother instead quite rapidly. This is just a few examples that it isn't all bad.

Here's one of the only examples of another mute traveler I've found:

View attachment 38111

Great book if you ever wanna check it out from a library or order it, by the way. He did another one called The Ragged Edge Of Silence specifically about his 17 year vow of silence. Quite inspiring, though he walked everywhere and wasn't trying to catch rides. I suppose I try to model myself after people like him, but see merit in attempting being around people more. While always be prepared to get out of any car or commune to walk an unknown distance to the next possible thing. It is one of the most free feelings I've found.

And just because something is hard doesn't mean someone should support the cruelties of modern life, capitalism, and the soul-crushing empty friendships built around work schedules or condensed into specific repetitive activities. Whether I was a talker, semi-mute, or completely mute I would never enjoy a four-wall prison held together by my suffering for the gain of others. Plus, well you know, that world left me behind a long while ago.

Are you currently in Virginia? That's neat. We're like 45 minutes apart.

 

[Deleted member 125]

answering yer question i was going by yer profile info that states you are "thinking about it" when it comes to travelling, making me think you are a green horn looking for advice.

but you are right, i dont have much input as far as yer question goes. hope you find what yer looking for.

 

[deleted user]

answering yer question i was going by yer profile info that states you are "thinking about it" when it comes to travelling, making me think you are a green horn looking for advice.

but you are right, i dont have much input as far as yer question goes. hope you find what yer looking for.

Technically I've traveled very little in distances--but I've been making my way through ecovillages, egalitarian and anarchist communes for a few years. I imagine compared to the constant new people with questions who haven't left home before, I'm traveling? It seems like a weird status no matter what when I've been fairly stationary several months, but by comparison to people looking into leaving mainstream life, I'm out seeing the world.

Ha -- so maybe I should change that bit of info on my profile...

Thanks for responding, regardless.

 

[creature]

Shadow, hi!!

YES!!!

great kid, too..
things are a bit busy right now, but I'll write it up pretty soon..

he was one of my favorite travelers, and we used a notebook that i keep to this day, as a memento..

I'm not deaf, but super super hard of hearing..
i know just a little bit of how the difficulties of communication can affect traveling..

I'll def post up.. good luck!!

 

[deleted user]

Shadow, hi!!

YES!!!

great kid, too..
things are a bit busy right now, but I'll write it up pretty soon..

he was one of my favorite travelers, and we used a notebook that i keep to this day, as a memento..

I'm not deaf, but super super hard of hearing..
i know just a little bit of how the difficulties of communication can affect traveling..

I'll def post up.. good luck!!

Looking forward to your story, Creature.

 

[VikingAdventurer]

Looking forward to your story, Creature.

Oh, friend.

@creature is something else. You'd better buckle up, and hold the fuck on for dear life when it comes to Creature & his tales.

He doesn't even HAVE any regular "stories". Everything that comes out of his mouth is an Epic Saga, akin (in my mind) to the Poetic Edda of the ancient Norse.

 

[deleted user]

Oh, friend.

@creature is something else. You'd better buckle up, and hold the fuck on for dear life when it comes to Creature & his tales.

He doesn't even HAVE any regular "stories". Everything that comes out of his mouth is an Epic Saga, akin (in my mind) to the Poetic Edda of the ancient Norse.

I've seen a few of their stories around.

All of them entertaining and high energy thus far.

 

[Whereamiwhatdoido]

Hey there shadow, I've never met anybody who were a completely mute, though I've gone through some months in France where I stopped talking, worked wonders and people really seem to be intrigued by it at times. And if you finally do happen to find yourself in a conversation there's all of a sudden a lot of ears listening.

Also met this guy, spend 3 or 4 days with him, and I think or longest conversation was me asking 2 questions that he answered. Still don't know his name till this day, awesome guy though.

But anyways kudos your ways, I think silence is a powerful thing to own.

 

[Hillbilly Castro]

I have wondered this myself. Neat thing to think about. I see no reason it could not be done.

 

[deleted user]

Hey there shadow, I've never met anybody who were a completely mute, though I've gone through some months in France where I stopped talking, worked wonders and people really seem to be intrigued by it at times. And if you finally do happen to find yourself in a conversation there's all of a sudden a lot of ears listening.

Also met this guy, spend 3 or 4 days with him, and I think or longest conversation was me asking 2 questions that he answered. Still don't know his name till this day, awesome guy though.

But anyways kudos your ways, I think silence is a powerful thing to own.

I imagine people have an inconsistent image of me, as some experience me as a total mute, very quiet, or if around long enough might catch me being talkative. When I was younger in a rough place, I attempted to OD unsuccessfully several times, but mostly managed to induce a form of aphasia. Making it hard to speak words at times, but am able to think them just fine. The part of it being my choice to quit speaking is mostly due to stress and consistency. I prefer the absolution in the eyes of others over the assumption I can speak.

I used to spend a lot of time cooped up by myself, not wanting to get myself into situations to talk. This was especially problematic once I hit the road. I first came out of my shell through practicing two week long vows of silence at a time. While walking decent distances of 5-10 miles a day. I gained an awareness that wasn't quite there before. I noticed all the people or crushes who would talk my ear off, drifted away from my life while being replaced with more centered folks with similarities at our cores over the superficiality of most friendships. It was like some people avoided me, while a few finally took the time to look into my eyes and see me for who I am rather than what I say. There's also a magic to it, like people who usually wouldn't open up to anyone telling me stories while no one was around only because of the fact I couldn't speak. People opening up about just wanting to be touched and how so much of their talking spirals out of them in hopes of receiving some kind of intimacy. I've seen people who seemed to nearly hate me offer a smile my way once I wasn't a cog in the ego machine of their lives. It's like a shortcut into the real, when all the illusions fade away.

 

[VikingAdventurer]

Wow.

All I can say is that I certainly hope you make it to the Jambo.

 

[AlwaysLost]

I think most people probably wish I was mute does that count?

 

[deleted user]

Wow.

All I can say is that I certainly hope you make it to the Jambo.

It's on my list of possibilities for the next place I end up to network.

I think most people probably wish I was mute does that count?

Only if you finally take their advice!

 

[deleted user]

Shadow, hi!!

YES!!!

great kid, too..
things are a bit busy right now, but I'll write it up pretty soon..

he was one of my favorite travelers, and we used a notebook that i keep to this day, as a memento..

I'm not deaf, but super super hard of hearing..
i know just a little bit of how the difficulties of communication can affect traveling..

I'll def post up.. good luck!!

Still hoping to hear this story if you find the time, @creature

 

[creature]

it's very much on my mind.
haven't forgotten..

 

[Deleted member 2626]

I've read johns book numerous times. I've never met a mute but I'm trying for a few days of silence myself without speaking verbally. He did and survived. It is kind of weird in public places but I'm far from ever embarrassed so I don't care. I'm not big on talking a lot as it is anymore. For my mental health I have to have solitude where I say a few sentences in a day to my dog and be okay

 

[creature]

@Shadow,

i am sorry this took so long..

it needed a long moment of needing to pay attention to nothing else, because injustice is done to some experiences when they are conveyed merely as a collection of details..

--------------------------

O God, i wish i remembered names....

-----------


November (?) 2016..
en route to the Slabs..
the Library..

or was it.. april ?

april... i think april..

heading down to pick up @NatashaVelvet & do some early prep for the Jambo..

april.. maybe even March..

Cold.. cold & full of wind & Grey like the Ocean & Sky are ripping Vengeance
from
Each Other..

heading down CA 1, water thrashing upon all that exists..

Grey
& goddamned fucking cold...

open the window, or step out to piss & the Air assails your warmth, like either hate or love, dragging its chill into your marrow to replace what you are,
with Her..

somewhere above Cambria there is a lighthouse.. a research station..
it is grey..
even the grass is fucking grey --
& the Rain,
Commanding all Light..

i, too, am grey..

& huddling before the grey lock of the grey chain of the grey gate with a grey bike & long, straggling, grey-brown hair is some poor bastard huddled over a basket, struggling in a grey fucking poncho, and looking forlornly towards the lighthouse that the Sea is Threatening...

i pass & wonder.. "is that one a hostel, too?? is he waiting for it to open? does he have a flat? why the FUCK would anyone be stationary in the goddamned open in weather like this???"

i turn around...

cold.. the wind is fucking cold..
... rain, thrown like a nasty child throws gravel against cars..
cold enough to fucking kill you, and that is something that can be said without poetry or cursing...

cold enough
to kill you.

i pull up
& this son of a bitch is dying.

the van is packed..
i have shit going to the library.. chairs, 3 coffee tables.. some kitchen shit.. not to mention my tools, kitchen gear, etc.. i literally cannot stick my head more than perhaps a foot behind my neckrest, if that..

& he is near hypothermia, grey to his fucking bones, almost, and he
begins
Pleading...

O christ...

i thought i was just going to give him help with a flat or some such..

& the Rain is honestly killing Things...

he points at his bike, then points at the van & i say "my van is entirely full.. i don't think we can get your bike in..."

& then... then..he clasps his hands in front of me, points to the van & drops to his knees, soundless...

i am wondering "???" & then he points to his ears & his mouth & shakes his head..

i am like "o shit." & begin a physical assessment of the situation..

he has his bike, his backpack & a basket up front..
the first thing he does is he pulls from the basket a small bundle..
he pulls back the towel around it, and it is a shivering, scared, beautifull little chihuahua..

he places her in the passenger footwell, & we begin figuring things out..

Rain, motherfucker..

sideways, because the Wind is proclaiming what She is, today..

but we have work to do, so fuck her ass...

god, it is cold..
not -50 F, like goddamned fucking north dakota in goddamned fucking january, drying the very water out of your goddamned lungs, but.. like the ocean trying to reach out & drown whatever it can...
or merely becoming more, & by not caring, says *exactly* what she is...
shit the Fishermen have learned to both Love & Curse, but before which we are nearly naked, & of little more substance than the little dog, huddling into her own warmth, finally, sheltered from the terror not only of grey, but against the loss of her puppy..

we fight with the back doors & that is a no-go.. too much shit piled up to enter from the rear, no matter what we pull & push around..

the side door is piled even higher, & we are like idiots on a skiff, trying to pack shit away, merely so we can hold on a bit better, rather than actually answer to my greed to keep this shit...

shove, yank, swear..

we pull off the front wheel...
yes!
the fork goes in.. then the frame!
we are fucking in!!!

there is no heat in the van & she leaks like hell has eaten a hole into her, but we are out of the fucking rain, and on our way...

======== end part 1 ---------

.

 

[deleted user]

@creature

I haven't been on in a bit and didn't receive a notification about this response. I was just about to hop on here and say the wait for this story was like waiting for an unreleased Salinger work or something, and there it was. Thank you for sharing. Quite the introduction!