Going Wheatbelt

The following is an excerpt from A Fool's Folly.

PART IV: Actions Derived From Elegance

Chapter 16: Going Wheatbelt

In September 2015 I got back from a trip to Mauritius. We'd gone over for a wedding and had ourselves a great time. But, my return home had a feeling of precariousness to it.

In the months before Mauritius, I had put together a prior version of this book, as an online course. I had a go at promoting the course using Facebook Ads, to no avail.

I had hoped to eke out a living and work onward from that platform. But I would have to rethink as my bank balance was fast approaching zero. Out on a walk I had a simple realisation. I had been trying to make a living (intention #1) by selling my creative work (intention #2).

Each of our intentions carries a degree of uncertainty. A goal is a weak intention for means of achieving it aren't yet well considered. You are uncertain whether you will achieve it, and in what time frame. Once you want to do something the intention has advanced beyond a goal, through consideration of means and to a choice of specific actions. Certainty is greater, and in a much smaller time frame.

I needed to be certain about making a living and quickly at that. However, I didn't need to be certain of selling my creative work yet. I merely needed to do that work which I desired to do. I could see that the way my various intentions had become related had them working against one another.

Each of our intentions should support the others rather than detract from them. Given time, an intention will mature toward certainty. First they will take the shape of a goal. These goals will move. We will consider various means by which we can achieve these desired ends. We will begin taking actions toward these ends. One can begin to appreciate how it is a human tendency to underestimate what we will achieve in the longer run, and overestimate what we will achieve in the shorter run.

Now I had to figure out how I could marry off my intentions in a productive manner.

I decided that I wanted to get work that didn't require a resume. I wanted honest work that I could get with a firm handshake. I decided that I would marry this intention with a desire for adventure. I didn't want to experience over and over again, the same or similar experiences.

Make a Living + Adventure = A Certainty.

A creative mind experiences a wellspring of intention. Some fade away and a great many coalesce. Eventually we are compelled into action and our intentions are shown to either have merit in the real world, or not.

With creative intentions, I would allow time to do her work. If I found myself with a healthy business on my hands, well that would be a good problem to have.

Creative Work + Time = Improved Certainty.

If I could proceed in this manner, I would enjoy my present and benefit in the future because of it. I would be neither a square nor a hedonist.

Toward the end of 2015 I was hoping to work on the harvest in the West Australian Wheatbelt, but kept missing out until my brother gave me some advise on how to use Gumtree properly. I found work and started at a grain mill 25 km's outside of Geraldton. After a couple of months I then found work in the Wheatbelt. There myself and a couple of other blokes helped put in a 7000 ha crop. Wheat, lupins, barley and canola. With what I earned, I came over to Canada. Here I'm working as a night cleaner at the Roundhouse Lodge on Whistler mountain.

All the while I've carried on creatively. Reading, thinking, writing, taking notes and watching intentions evolve. I formed some of the best chapters in this book in my head while driving a tractor. Sometimes while ripping, or seeding with a 60 ft bar, or spreading fertilizer at night.

Besides this book, I've been thinking on other endeavours that would qualify as art. A means of getting together with individuals of shared intent. I've been thinking on endeavours that would require the combined effort of that union of individuals I hope to assemble.

It's worth reflecting on the stakes involved. Before my realisation, I was under pressure to resume my old path. I had struck out on my own, and I had failed. I was being told from all directions that it was time to wind my neck in. I can't be sure that I would've listened. But after my realisation and a year along, I'm definitely staying on this road.