Domesticated

do‧mes‧ti‧cate  [duh-mes-ti-keyt] verb, -cat‧ed, -cat‧ing.
–verb (used with object)
1. to convert (animals, plants, etc.) to domestic uses; tame.
2. to tame (an animal), esp. by generations of breeding, to live in close association with human beings as a pet or work animal and usually creating a dependency so that the animal loses its ability to live in the wild.
3. to adapt (a plant) so as to be cultivated by and beneficial to human beings.
4. to accustom to household life or affairs.
5. to take (something foreign, unfamiliar, etc.) for one's own use or purposes; adopt.
6. to make more ordinary, familiar, acceptable, or the like: to domesticate radical ideas.


In the last five years I've noticed some interesting trends in living. I am much more accustomed to spending a lot of time indoors. I am in love with sleep, and now with my new futon. I am content searching the web for hours, sometimes shopping, sometimes chatting or emailing, sometimes writing, etc.

Of course there is something missing: the outdoors, the soil, the trees, the wind. In Claremont, California I found myself in a highly indoorsy environment, but yet there was incredibly easy access to the great outdoors: Baldy was twenty minutes drive away, the organic farm about 10 minutes walk away, the foothills a ten minute drive.

But what is this about getting more comfortable with the life indoors? Have I become domesticated? Have I lost my ability to live in the wild?

There is an interesting way that our society domesticates us (often without us knowing it). Without going too much into the basics: the fact that most Americans grow up in a house or apartment, that schools keep us indoors at least half of the day, etc... Let's talk about how colleges get people used to living among each other, get us into debt so that we have to obey (and so that we are unable to simply escape), and so on....

Living in the city now makes me see this all more clearly. Monthly bills, expensive purchases (or just food), and other pressures like huge parking tickets, health insurance and bills, etc....

The system sucks you into the whirlpool and once you're in it's very hard to get out.... Not that you'll want to get out; most likely you will find it very hard to cope elsewhere because you have gotten used to the ways of the city.

Going back to the land, going camping, doesn't that just pull us back toward the domesticated life even more? Living in the countryside surely is no way to avoid domestication (I learned that last year in Ubuyama).

So what is the answer my friends? Is domestication something that is avoidable? If so, is there good reason to avoid it? I know that you will answer so kindly by saying that a 'balance' should be found, but what an easy escape from the question. Perhaps I am trapped here, albeit comfortably enough.