The life of a downshifter in the Russian outback

Writes rais: “Igor “iwar” once owned a small computer repair company, then headed a department in a bank. But 3 years ago, he dropped everything and moved to a remote mountain village, where there is not even a cellular connection. True, Igor has a dedicated Internet, he plays Forex, harvests medicinal herbs and keeps a herd of a dozen horses.

Source: Journal/rais

1. Like a real Pelevin hero, Igor drinks fly agaric tincture and is fond of occult teachings.

2. Early in the morning, on the way to Igor, I saw a motorcycle, a man was lying next to me. It turned out that this local resident was "tired" and decided to rest. Nearby lay the "devastated cause" of fatigue.

3. The small village where Igor lives is located in the foothills of Iremel, the highest mountain in the Southern Urals. The village is so remote that there is not even a cellular connection. Silence, all the inhabitants are mowing. Igor himself calls this place "Kolingrad".

4. Igor's house is a classic "five-wall".

5. Igor is a good-natured host (for friends:).

6. Igor immediately shows me the prepared herbs. For example, fireweed, aka Ivan-tea.

7. Ivan tea is also called koprosky. Tea is harvested in the purest glades near Iremel, then dried and fermented into different varieties. The tea is quite pleasant in taste and has a tonic and healing effect. Igor sells it via the Internet.

8. Alcohol tincture of fly agaric. If you add a few drops to tea, then there will be a superenergizer. I drink a cup of this tea in the morning and mow hay tirelessly all day, says Igor - The main thing is not to overdo it, otherwise glitches will start, Igor smiles.

9. Chest of drawers in the bedroom.

10. Yard. Prepare a sled in the summer, and a motorized plow in the winter).

11. Dog.

12. Cat. One of 4.

13. And this baby is still ...

14. There are huge pumpkins in the garden. Good for Halloween.)

15. Polycarbonate greenhouse. There is a lot of harvest, nowhere to put huge tomatoes)

16. The farm has 10 horses (three adults, the rest are foals and one-year-olds) photo -iwar. Igor leads horse routes in the mountains of the Southern Urals. People come to him from all over Russia!

17.

18. Now horses are grazing on summer pastures. Sometimes they have to be searched within a radius of 30 km. Igor complains that there is no cellular connection, he could attach GPS sensors to the horses to monitor their movements.

19. To provide hay for 10 horses for the winter, you need to prepare 60 tons of dry hay!

20. He runs the household alone, there is a girlfriend, but she has left for the city for now, as Igor explained.

21. Igor, as a person with a higher technical education and a mystical-humanitarian mindset, is fond of a strange mixture of technological shamanism and rustic cyberpunk. Something at the intersection of religion, culture, science and computer science.

His own teaching is called the One World and is based on three basic things - the Sun, the Forces of Nature and the Mechanisms.

A tattoo on which these symbols are clearly visible.

22. Rune computer.

23. Charm of good luck at the entrance to the house.

24. Installation of agricultural implements.

25. Soviet watch, a cast-iron kettle, a thing with knitting needles, wrapped around the head of an adult foal to ward it off from the mare.

26. Cow skull, aluminum chain, candle and wolf skins.

27. Wood doll connected to an ammeter.

28. Although Igor is calm and friendly, he does not always find understanding among the locals. Once strange - it means a stranger, they say. Doesn't drink vodka - generally suspicious. You can, for example, steal something from him (horses have disappeared more than once). But like a westerner, he can always stand up for himself.

29. Video surveillance and alarm system.

30. The Internet works at home via ADSL, shared to the network with a simple password 12345678, hardly anyone in the village knows what Wi-Fi is. Linux is installed on the laptop. Igor administers several sites and sometimes trades on Forex. He earns up to $ 500 a day, and sometimes the same amount is lost. But in general, the balance is positive, says Igor. I wanted a new smartphone - I sat for a day on the stock exchange, bought it. I didn’t want to - I went to harvest grass)

31. It seems to me that this is a very symbolic illustration of the lifestyle of the downshifter iwar

Downshifting (English downshifting, switching the car to a lower gear, as well as slowing down or weakening any process) is a term that refers to the life philosophy of “life for yourself”, “refusal of other people's goals”. It is related to the concept of simple living (English simple life), as well as simplification in the religious philosophy of Leo Tolstoy. Those who consider themselves to be downshifters tend to abandon the desire for the generally accepted benefits promoted, such as the constant increase in material capital, career growth, etc., focusing on life for themselves and / or family.

Examples: the Roman emperor Diocletian, who renounced power and retired to his estate to grow cabbages; Siddhartha Gautama, who left his palace; Diogenes who lived in a barrel. Wiki.

Do you have similar friends? Or would you yourself quit your job and live such a simple life?