Burn the Ships

Most homesteaders that I meet strive for self-reliant living. We have taken a look behind the curtain and recognize something is wrong within our nation and our culture. Most of us are striving to preserve traditional skills and Christian values just as monasteries preserved the Christian faith and accumulated knowledge during darker periods of history. It may be that in the future our homesteads will serve a greater purpose, as beacons of light providing hope and aid to individuals that have been cast out from the systems of this world. I truly don't know what the future holds and I certainly can't control it. However, I can control what I am doing today within the current systems that I live within. Taking control began with the realization that the systems we live within largely no longer serve our best interests. When we finally reach this level of understanding we can do one of two things, we can bury that realization in the depths of our mind and try to maintain the status quo or we can burn the ships, accept responsibility for our own lives, and take the steps necessary to thrive and help others.

We have been indoctrinated to outsource our autonomy. Our money and financial systems are just one area where we have been conned into giving up control. I, like many, was quite content to do this for a time but along my journey I realized that the mantras of financial planners were full of irreconcilable errors in logic. I also realized that while my money is the hands of others, invested in corporate interests, it was potentially being weaponized against my family, our values, and our way of life. Getting my money disentangled from these systems was painful and costly. I was okay with that. The pain was a good reminder of just how the things we think we know and understand might not be true and how we are fools if we simply sit back and take the advice of experts as gospel.

I had burned the ships, there was no going back. While scouting ahead, connecting with others and researching my options a solution presented itself. It was called the Infinite Banking Concept, pioneered by R. Nelson Nash. As a homesteader, this concept resonated with me and I consumed the book in one evening. It was clear I could leverage this system to steward our wealth, keep that wealth within our family, avoid interest losses to banks, legally pay no taxes on growth, and maintain 100% liquidity. I moved forward in confidence that I was doing the best I can within the current structures in place. It was not hard and only required changing one behavior, (where I put my money first). There are so many areas of life in which we have given up control and in doing so we give up sure footing for convenience and ease. Let me encourage you to start taking back the areas of life you have outsourced. Burn the ships. In doing so, you will find out exactly what you are capable of and perform feats you didn’t think possible.