Man, scrolling down from what I thought was quite a beautiful video and the first thing I see is that you're trying to sell me some logo ridden junk...
you have really captured the same feeling as exurbia while being much better in quality and personality. i remember your older videos were less philosophical in nature i am somewhat liking the turn of this channel, although I hope you can cover practical stuff too like jakob geller
It is the irony of the world that such a video is not a video by itself, but a resource for companies to use to advertise itself. The topic spoken is proven right by it's own platform
My friend ended his life a few years ago. The last thing he put on Facebook was a quote from Thoreau about living deliberately, he read a lot of philosophy. He couldn’t reconcile his values and desire for meaningful life with the reality of modern living, just as this video explores. Miss u always Ben and thank you Horses x
@@Josh-tf9crIt's obviously more likely that his desire to study philosophy was an attempt to fill a void and upon failing he felt hopeless. Mentally healthy people don't just read a book and then decide to die, obviously
Your work is to be savored; it's taking time to consume (busily being Naturepilled). You are changing lives, causing introspection and reflection. Keep broadcasting your message Michael! Your research and writing are masterful.
Thank you for supporting this channell truely. From someone who doesn't have much but sees this work ethic and passion for information, I long to support. Truely means a lot to see the love.
I have watched my father grow old, I have watched his rage turn into sadness and self pity. My mind constantly plays out the fictional scenario where I will say goodbye to him one last time, as I live my life knowing that with each passing day that moment grows closer. Yet, I remain standing upon this earth knowing that the things that weigh down his heart are not my only inheritance. For I know that love and patience and compassion are the best I can do for a stranger that is someone else’s child, and perhaps it is the only thing we can give that truly matters.
Before my dad died, I often thought about how angry I would be if he did, how I would probably go out and get into a fight or something. But when the alcoholism took its toll it was all to quiet. His deathbed too sterile, the family room to cold and big and empty when I ran away from his bed. After he fell asleep for the last time I walked by his room, and just wished I could have said more while his throat wasn't swollen. The car ride home I wrote him a text, and ended it with the same words I said before fleeing like a coward: "I love you so much, goodbye". I had spent all my life not sure whether I loved him or hated him, and at that moment all I wanted was to sleep. Suffice it to say, my prediction was wrong. I became disenfranchised entirely with it all, and couldn't bring myself to care, lest I be burdened by it all.
Love and patience and compassion for others etcetc… becomes the exact same sadness and self pity in the end, because that is the end phase of living long enough to understand just how futile and insignificant your life was in the grand scheme of things… and how stupid your chosen focal points were.
What a strange experience this was. Here I am, unable to sleep due to the stress of what I am doing with my life, doomscrolling youtube. The thumbnail caught me for a split second before I scrolled on, and then I paused. I felt intrigue. I had no idea what to expect, but I knew that phrase about birds singing in caves would stay in my head. So I went back, and clicked it, and it was exactly what I needed to hear. This perfectly sums up my internal conflict with a desire for connectivity while also a desire for solitude. This will probably be one of the most important videos I've seen. Thank you.
As someone from the Appalachian mountains who now goes to uni in a city, it is horrendous. It truly feels like cities drain everyone of their humanity. We are all stuck in this check of materialism and consumerism and distraction. Thank you for sharing your thoughts on this. You articulated that which I have had on my mind for a long time.
I spent a lot of time there, and lived i cities before and after. It's true that the city itself kind of kills you, but I've also come to love some aspects- the subcultures, the communities, the collaboration. It's really the human (well, and other animal) elements that make it worth it for me. Of course, the caveat, is that the people who work so hard to build and maintain these enclaves of humanity are often punished - by the economy and the state build to uphold it, the authorities given license to inflict violence, other people in their pursuit of material gain, etc. . I love both, quite frankly, but cities are hard, especially when you try to fight against the endless expansion of capitalists and technocrats- or even just fight to live outside of their authoritarianism.
I haven’t even watched the video yet but I just want to say, I wish you the best. Most of my family is made up of hillbillies, I’m two generations removed from our long sold family farms. Grew up at the edge of a large metro area in the sticks, now living in a huge city and barely managing despite having been exposed to sprawling cities a lot as a kid. It’s downright expensive to move away from the city now, with most rental properties being in metro areas and their suburbs. I can’t move back home for complicated reasons, and it hurts. But things will get better. We have to believe they will.
@XAustria Where I live, it's cheaper to buy in a rural area than rent. I know that probably won't help you right now, but I thought I'd share. Keep your chin up and continue working hard. God loves you.
Channels like this are the true value of UA-cam: the free, unfettered access to reasoned thought, without the limitation of commerce. Thank you for this video; I'm now a new subscriber.
So many years of clickbait and obvious titles have gotten me used to it, but this video was the freshest breath of air that I've experienced on this site in a long time.
I can't begin to describe how glad I am that I clicked on this video. I've been feeling the same way, but things are backwards for me. I feel like I was born at my Walden Pond, and every day that passes it seems the world gets closer and closer to pulling me away by force. I am in my mid 20s, I cannot drive, I do not have any insurance, and my teeth are beginning to rot. I am not ready to face this world, as I feel like I've barely had any chance to truly grow up, and I am becoming more and more aware of serious, deeply-rooted mental difficulties that will prevent me from surviving on my own. Without insurance to get a proper diagnosis, and without the funds to get such insurance, I'm not sure what I'm going to do. This video gave me a bit of peace, so thank you.
Hey. I had a moment reading your comment where I thought it might be a comment I left years ago.... I am about to turn 40, and I neglected my issues, physical and mental for most of my life. I wish I had known how to care about myself in my 20s, I wish I could drive, I wish I had been better to good people and less good to bad people, I wish I had gotten my teeth fixed when it was possible. Do it. Do it all now.
When I became unemployed I was cut off from the daily grind of progress. However, I have not gained any insight nor revelation from it: I am merely worried for my future. I would not recommend this to anyone. One must remember that when Thoreau wrote Walden he was independently wealthy and did not need to worry supporting himself, nor a family. For the rest of us the life is not so simple.
Glad to see comments like this. Transcendentalist content always seems to make the same mistakes; they assume that the greatest challenge that stops us from self-isolation is some kind of “modern trap”, when in reality self-isolation is a genuinely terrible idea for all but the most mentally and financially sound individuals, unless of course you plan to never return.
My version of simple living involves growing and preserving produce and thrifting, sewing and recycling my clothes, going to the library or buying used books.
@@jturtle5318 Me too, I have an idea for self sustainability in that exact sense. For me in America though, I fear that if I'm aging and have no money the medical system will give me minimal care and something will kill me that would have been preventable had I made the money.
Thank you, it really bothers me how this video opens with everyone stepping over a dying rotting homeless man, yet goes on to ignore how much of Thoreaus 'insight' was only facilitated by his immense privileges of being rich and having the unpaid labor of women in his life to deliver all his meals? 🫠
@MrLugubrious I think this is the point made in the middle of the video. They talk about how Walden said his point is not that everyone should go live isolated from the cities, but spiritually isolated in the mind from the assumptions made by those that came before you. It is to say to yourself that everyone else is in such a hurry to catch the train, but if you ignore that pressure and are ok with being late for work for a day you can actually be the one to "wake up" and help the man with the rotted leg. They make this point around the 11 - 12 minute mark, though not explicitly back to the rotted leg.
i found my own solitude from may-october of this past year within a shack in the woods placed in the forests of british columbia. no power, no plumbing, no ease of access to food. similar to thoreau, i went to the nearest town for supplies and to visit a friend or two here and there. during this time i truly realized how meaningless and counterintuitive life in a city and the distractions we place value in truly are. after countless battles with myself over loneliness, frustration, and past regrets, i found what was most important to me. this was my loved ones and the freedom i have to live life and discover myself. i found beauty in the smallest of things: blades of grass, clouds, the air we breath, the smiles of strangers. this life we live is truly a miracle and i wish for everyone to have the chance to find that joy in this world
@ericcalkins- he said it was In British Columbia so as a Canadian I’ll let you know it’s either live away from town/a city abit , just enough you may need a truck & know bare minimum of how to deal with the elements or pay $4’000-8’000 a month to live in a town that’s probably getting rebranded for tourists and will rise prices again inevitably without notice
@ericcalkins- in desperation for escape from the city, i took a leap of faith into the uncertain, dropping everything in life to begin anew with a friend to begin logging. he knew an old man with a shack on his property, so i stayed there in exchange for firewood and for help with building his new home
You've become my favorite modern essay writer, this musing was as insightful as the biographies you do. I liked the section on Walden, reading Walden made an impression on me when I was working a miserable corporate job and it gave me the courage to leave it. It shocked me later to read some critics describe Walden as a satire; I believe Thoreau was being frank. "I went to the woods because I wished to live deliberately"
Man, Horses is SO wrong. You can't blame one mentally ill man on the City of Chicago. Also, it's highly likely that the duty of care that caused that doctor to stop and do his best also caused him to ring for an ambulance. Which arrived after you'd gone past. Or maybe he realised the guy just wanted to die, in front of everyone as a final statement. The system to help this guy was there but he had the right to refuse it. Don't talk to me about the evils of consumerism. What, do you wanna be Pol Pot and send everyone back to Year Zero on collectivist farms? Empty the cities and give the power of life and death to revolutionary peasants? What do you think their health system was like? Here in the west we have democracy and the progress people have chosen; and it is real progress, we can constructively criticise and move forward. And along with all the crap we don't need comes the technology and infrastructure to build stuff that improves our lives, like double glasing, safer and healthier cars, heatpumps, medicines and the means to package and distrubute them, education, justice, the internet and wikipedia. Get you dreaming head out of your arse...sure its nice to go bush for a while, but sheeeesh man. Get out a bit, get a girlfriend, have some fun.
I once went up in the Appalachians on vacation. My wife and I stopped in a small shop selling hand made brooms. It was a small cabin off the beaten path on the way to our cabin we were staying in. The brooms there were beautiful. The quality was amazing. We bought one as decoration, in fact. But what stuck with me the most was the words of the father running the shop. "This buisness has been passed down to me by my father, his father, and the father before him. I want nothing more to pass it down to my only son, but he moved to the city, went to university, and took a wife. I'm still hopeful that someday he'll return home and continue out family history." I still think of this situation philosophically. The son can be seen as the farmer who receives the pressure of obligation, however I hope that one day the son sees his father's broom shop as his Walden.
I'm fairly certain this is the only essay channel on youtube that entices me so much that I go to the description to find sources, and am met with a pleasant new list of cited reading material. On to the local book store.
As a cv icu nurse, I see patients with body parts like this. It’s sad, amazing, & interesting at the same time because of how resilient the human body is, but how people get to the point at which this occurs.
It was quite ironic to get a work call around the 1035 mark, dragging me back to a focus on the lives we are given and the obligations therein. I am fortunate, the work is work I love. I've been given the rare chance to take the time to find what I enjoy, not just what is thrust upon me. But even when trying to enjoy a piece about solitude and self actualization I am pulled back to this chaos we've created. Going to watch the rest now, this a wonderful and enlightening video so far. Thank you for doing what you do.
Hi horses I recently found your channel and just wanted to say thanks for doing what you do. I know you mentioned you hadn’t made any impact on the world but for the little time I’ve followed your videos my life has changed for what I believe is to be the better. I’m less hard on myself, more subconsciously open to ideas that I didn’t know I was opposed to, and more intrigued at all facets of myself that I have deliberately and accidentally neglected. You’ve made an impact on me, and I’m certain many others share that sentiment. Thank you
Kinda needed this today, found myself in one of those nameless dark corners of the internet today. Reduced to gawking at some of the horrific things we humans do to one another. Accompanied only by the guilt of knowing I can’t stop any of it, I can only choose to close the tab. There’s a spark of light in what you’re creating here. I find a bit of solace in it. The description of the man at the start (and the situation as a whole) took me as close to that point in time without being there, vividly described and superbly written. I know people say your channels one of their favourite new finds of the year quite often, but your videos (which I listen to regularly in my monotonous line of work) cover such a rich variety of topics and are so well presented that I simply CANNOT go another video without writing a simple (and BEYOND well-deserved) thank you.
I am from a small town. I went to SF when I was 16 and needed to find an ATM in. The atm was located on a 40 ft long, bald, wall - monochrome except for the bank logo and, about 15 ft in from the left, an atm. In front of this urban canvas were two things: A line of busy cityfolk with wrankled faces and, right near the blank wall itself, a dead homeless man. The busy people were stepping around and over the body to get to their destinations, inches away from the decay. His organs had already expunged and his death fluids were running down the slight incline of the recently powerwashed sidewalk. It was a wide sidewalk and, avoiding the corpse entirely seemed a simple thing however, they were making a point to get as close as possible while denying his extinction- to make a grotesque point of ignoring him. He was the first thing I noticed. I began shouting and gesturing that there was a dead man there. Dead! Another human dead on the ground, what is wrong with all of you? They seemed to wake up for a moment, sheepish at being caught in their little game of leap the corpse. Cities are true solitude, true disregard.
I think it's a major mistake in logic to point to cities as the primary cause of this kind of behavior. I live in an extremely rural area in southwest alabama, if you ask the people here what they think of homeless people, welfare recipients, gay people, people who are killed by police etc. you'd be astonished at what kind of answers they give and how many give those answers. It's not just callous ambivalence, it's outright hatred, it makes the callousness of cities seem desirable by comparison.
I’m from SF. Born and raised. The sight of homeless people is so common that it becomes part of the landscape, ever since I was a child. You learn early on that 99.9% of the time, it is best to simply accept it, and leave them be. It’s not exactly a virtuous attitude, but it is so ubiquitous that if you lent your attention to the condition of every person laying on every sidewalk and in every doorway, there’d be no attention left for anything else. People care, but everyone’s tank is empty, and unless it’s money, most of them don’t want or care for your concern. Many are mentally disturbed and dangerous as well. So the idea that people were just walking over someone laying in the streets is not surprising at all - fluids or not. People do heroin, and drink, and shit and piss all over the place and there’s nothing to do that’ll fix it. You just so happened to be the one who discovered they were dead. It’s not good or bad. It just is. The people who didn’t discover it aren’t good or bad either they all have their own problems and issues to deal with that are far more important to them than what might be wrong with yet another person laying on the sidewalk. Don’t blame them, blame the cultural revolution of the late sixties, because that’s when this all started to become an issue. Before the Summer Of Love, San Francisco was a working class city that was able to take care of their homeless population. It wasn’t until a flood of humanity poured in looking to “turn on, tune in, and drop out” that the capacity to help people got overwhelmed.
This is the best video ever. It put into words things I've been feeling for a while now. I quit my corporate job because, while it provided security, I felt like there must be something more to life than waking up, clocking in, eating, sleeping, and looking forward to those 1-2 vacations a year. But I couldn't say it so elegantly as this video did. Horses is probably my fav channel on youtube, I love the writing
I’ve been listened all of horses videos on repeat for the last week while at work. Excitement and joy filled my morning seeing I have a new video to listen and work to
Man, you probably know this already, but… You are a very talented storyteller. Almost all your videos are thought-provoking and extremely pleasant to listen to. I take breaks from your channel to then sink 2-3 hours into it again, and every time it feels like watching a good movie or listening to an audiobook. Wow… Keep doing what you are doing. Chapeau, l’artiste!🎩
1 this bird could be a budgie metaphor so does not sing in the cave of human progress. 2 If a bird sings in a cave, does anyone outside this cave notice when it stops ? 3 Definitely Birdsong, but do birds really sing?
This video is beautiful. I don’t have much to say, I’m not a poet; but I audibly said “beautiful” once it finished. Truly a masterpiece horses, thank you
Everytime I watch a video from horses, I'm completely blown away. As a youtuber and video essay writer myself, I try to learn from him and absorb as much as I can, then he blows me away again. This is probably my 2nd favourite video after the Marcus aurelius one
Wow never have I felt less free before. But this video is so perfect. From despair at the start to hope at the end. It’s really a spiritual journey through this video.
I truly cannot overstate my appreciation of this channel. Your voice, your visual style, and your writing are all phenomenal and simultaneously bring both peace and a quiet longing for more (both more out of life, and more of your work). As a dissatisfied instrument of the system this video so sharply criticizes (I'm an investment banker), I increasingly find myself drawn to someplace quiet. I'm lonely but feel, maybe counterintuitively, that being alone would be an important first step to solving that problem. As far as reconciling your criticisms with your position on the Internet, I think it's quite easy to do. Art for art's sake can and should exist in the system you've imagined. Much like the tree is more than green leaves and brown bark, the essence of the canvas where your art lives is more than the wires and signals that bring it to our eyes and ears. Thank you for another powerful work of art.
Fear gives way to pride as it is conquered you know... Fight for a future so the weak and future people don't have to. Get involved in politics, your community, and self-improve to live as yourself with burning sincerity. Your sincerity should be capable of igniting the hearts of wayward peers trapped by a demanding and inhuman system whose sole drive is profit. That, or immolating their minds unable to comprehend the breadth and depth of a human soul. Our indomitable spirit. Politics and community outreach are far easier than you think! I have lived it! I AM living it!
22:22 "it will be a great tragedy to work ones entire life for a better world, while ones own backyard remains a mess" Damn.. That line hit me like a fuking freight train..
i feel that's more a meta take and is discussing humanity as a single person, as many artists and people who have created groundbreaking work or new ways of thinking, were in fact quite disorganized in their personal lives.
It's a great line. I interpreted it as meaning that it is sad to chase external achievements at the expense of your inner knowledge and integrity. It's sad how many people don't really know themselves or grapple with their demons.
@urproblem because of the right-wing actively dismantling unions and collective bargaining, causing people to have to work more for less, leading to the destruction of the middle class?
I have been on a journey of self discovery for a while, your videos have given me a lot to think and ponder on about myself and the world around us. Please keep them coming, keep us thinking, and help us remember that not all is lost, we can become more.
The title is fitting. It's not obvious at first, or even at all to probably some people. But it definitely works with what this video is about and who it is for. Thank you. ❤
I’ve noticed that videos with thumbnails and titles like these tend to be much more intriguing than videos with clickbait titles and thumbnails. Videos like these seem to be more thought provoking, and I enjoy that.
As a young adult who spent four years working on farms as a gardener and is currently completing studies in business psychology, I can relate to your words. I believe it requires a great deal of self-awareness to recognize when technology or crafting things with your own hands free up time or consume it. Currently, I think the optimal approach is to embrace a hybrid lifestyle that incorporates the benefits of both worlds to simplify one's life. By the way, your videos are like a short meditation for me. My thoughts could flow more easily in this video because there weren't any distracting white spots, which I understand to be a video effect, drawing my attention, as they did in the previous videos.
Your writing always makes me want to write again desperately, but only after taking a long walk in my woods and reading some Camus. Really makes me miss school, and reminds me I was creatively and intellectually ambitious once. I'm so grateful for your entire channel.
Wow this is honestly the most profound channel I’ve ever come across. I share many of the same sentiments towards society & the world, yet you articulate it in a poetic way I could never imagine ❤
In the video game Fallout 4, you can find Thoreau's cabin by Walden Pond as the game takes place in and around Boston. Not much inside the cabin but right next too it is a gift shop. I never realized how brutally ironic that is until this video, holy shit.
I’m so glad I found this channel, there is no other content that comes even close than the type of content you get here. Thanks for the perspective shift 💯
The opening...I saw Comisky Park or whatever they call it now and before u said the word Chicago I already knew. That's my hometown. I love this channel. The quality and the narration is outstanding. 👍
I really enjoy your videos, especially the prose. You’ve gotten me to challenge the way I think and I really appreciate it. Also, I appreciate the 4:3 aspect ratio, as someone who grew up in the 80s and 90s, it feels comfortable.
i can’t believe i couldn’t sleep and now you’ve given me a direction of resolution in my senseless, directionless life, so i now sit here not sleeping again. maybe feeling peace? catastrophizing my existence? both? thank you for the beautiful video horses. i’ll see you at dawn
God you're such an an npc. Comments like yours are dime a dozen, almost every successful channel has a few people saying the exact same thing. Say something original at least.
The art is too good. I've gotta watch once to appreciate the art and again to pay attention to the content! Another excellent video. I'm so happy you covered Thoreau.
As soon as I saw the title, I didn’t even see the creator name yet, but I knew it was horses immediately I feel like for me this just goes to show how unique horses as a channel is
I've never felt so happy watching it all from the outskirts...life was miserable when I was working a job, running around, min maxing every minute of my day to ensure I was efficient...led to so many mental health issues...I wish everyone just stopped working for a few months. it's scary to begin with but when you adjust the day to day freedom to do what YOU want is just so comforting. Thanks for giving my brain some interesting thoughts....as always :)
until you need to find a job because you don't have a safety net and the world literally wont allow you to live independently from markets. Unemployment is a full time job. Hobbies are a full time job. Everything is work, and for a lot of people- whether its the homeless man with the rotting leg, or one of the millions working under the barrel of a gun to sustain the behemoth- there is no escape. Is it extortion? Sure. But that doesn't change their material reality. The grim fact is that for many people, not working- or even working one fewer job- would propel them into poverty. The time you spend not working, you're forced to fill with thoughts and anxieties about work. Sure, they can choose not to, and lose power, heat, food, shelter, healthcare, become a second class citizen or a slave in the prison system. They can't move because they have no money - and maybe their health provider or support network is nearby, and they cant afford to lose that, or any number of reasons. They cant obtain land because they have no money. They cant LIVE, because they have no money. That's the consequence of a ubiquitous, international apparatus upholding the economic system. The only way for people to be free, imo, is to tear that shit down. No one is free until everyone is.
The title and thumbnail give off the vibes of one of those one in a billion books that are talked about to this day. With themes so deep and real they touch your heart and soul forever after you read them.
I get a lot of this. I grew up in the country and i love the country but I hated how sexist and racist people were. Now i live in the city where i can be more authenitc without as much fear of retaliation for being different. But i noticed over time i am, overall in a different way now less happy in noticing how little cities care. I moved to an imbetween community and it seems so far a bit better in terms of blending those things. Not reqlly the whole ppint of the video but was glad to see Walden doscussed without it saying i needed to go do that.
i always get inspired in that way but i feel that the subtleness of these videos seem so simple but to create are so complex. wishing you the best of luck!
I saved this video to my watch later around 5 months ago because I knew somehow, upon seeing the title, thumbnail, and channel name juxtaposed as they were, that whatever it was it would hit too hard and require more reflection than I could give it while doing my college work. I couldn’t have known how right I was, it exceeded my expectations. Definitely gonna check out more from you mr horses
i can be just as much of a doomer talking about nature: 'nature is a closed cycle, all matter is a source of energy to some process inside some organism. that hunts to get food, to be able to hunt again, a continuous loop of energy demand, until the organism is no longer efficient enough to maintain itself up inside this ever moving wheel, and can no longer lift itself from the weigh of the shackles of its own metabolic demand.' i can also say that technology freed people (to a certain extent) from this cycle and enabled them to pursue things like art and philosophy. i can also say that too much technology makes people dumb and soft. and too little makes people starve.
this channel is so special. the way you set up dominos then knock them down only to unveil a wonderous pattern is beyond captivating. I truly appreciate you and your videos.
Henry David Thoreau quotes got me through some darker times when I was younger. I appreciate these videos and the opportunity to learn more about the man. His ideas have been and continue to be a guiding light for me.
Incredible, and as always artful, video. Thank you again. Walden taught me one huge lesson, which is that we're always spending something from within ourselves to get something. We're spending our soul when we work in cubicles and offices and influencing or whatever. How much of that soul we wish to spend is up to us, based on the inherent structures with which we were born. Most people spend it freely, and the free market takes full advantage of that, mercilessly. I spent a lot of my soul in my life. And then I decided to stop doing that. There's a way to get it back through one's work.
I'd trade everything for a cabin in the woods. Unfortunately my everything is about $97,000 and the cabin in the woods is going for not less than $400,000. I can't afford to Walden.
@@crunchylettuce5446no matter your philosophy, you may just not have the funds required for your desired way of living. This commenter didn’t think it tells him to go get a cabin, thats just what they want. modern society does not allow this. we can be as mentally stable and self reliant as possible, if we are trapped physically we will never be fully happy
The system is a mess. We are slaves to those who are themselves slaves. The blind leading the blind. Everyone at the top feasts while those at the bottom wonder how they'll ever have enough to afford a home. It's not sustainable, and it's not going to last.
I knew exactly what you were going for when I saw the thumbnail and title, and I got giddy. This is such a needed discussion right now. I also find it awesome that this came up right when I finished watching another video that... was discussing some eerily similar stuff, but was actually about autism and our disordered world.
what a phenomenal video... its like an entire semester worth of class but in just 24 minutes. will def need to rewatch more not just for cemented understanding but the artful telling
Ive been alone offgrid 6 years. This absolutely spelled out my reality of bliss in nature. The only thing i allowed is Internet, that i turn off daily. To arrive online with content like this is immensely appreciated. Thank You @Horses for this content 🙌🏽
I live next to Walden pond, Henry David Thoreau was the name of each grade in middle school. We even bike to Walden pond from the middle school as a school event. Cool to be around Lincoln as well knowing all the history of America here
I disagree with the idea that technology in itself is what is hurting us. It feels to me like it is conflating technology with capitalism. I would love to see a world with the technology that exists today in which it is used to meet everyone’s basic needs first instead of infinite profit growth.
i get what you mean technology has been used so wrongly by greedy business men. but now its so intertwined with everything its almost impossible to keep up without it and its so much harder to disconnect than it is to just keep using it.
maybe we wont be hvaing the enjoyment of latest technology? greed and money(capitalism) has incentivised rapid invention not necesarily that makes life better(?) i stand coreected
I agree that it is important to not completly inpune technological progress as a concept but also, the way in which technology of the day has come into existence is inextricably linked to how capitalism has shaped our desires and as such, the horizon of what is possible technologically. It is important to remember that modern technology is a direct result of all desire, that being desires that are both natural as in the desire for community and understanding/respect from others and desires that are less natural, such as the desire for profitable ideas and the desires that come out of the way in which sign demand currently functions. I think it is important to recognize which parts of any technological advancement satiate which desires so that they can be redesigned in a more human-forward way. Why spend comparative billions more on a national fleet of electric cars and infrastructure, a single person or trending towards individualistic technology, when the same desire for freedom of movement can be achieved through other, more practical ends as in trains or other robust public transit? In this case, it is because the proposed technological solution has a seperate desire tacked on, that desire being profitability. TLDR: In my opinion, technology isn't bad inherently. To say so is an overgeneralization. Technology can however have adverse side effects. It is important to recognize both perspectives as valid (technology can be both good and bad) so that we can iterate upon it and create something truly better for all.
@@cyclopam I really can't see a situation where innovation itself makes life worse, it would always be either positive or neutral if we correctly chose which innovations were used and in what way they're used. I think people fetishize past life and rural living to absurd levels, material conditions are far better in modern western cities than anywhere else despite all their problems. If we were better at realizing the potential of technology and density it would make that gap even larger. The best solutions for improving cities are generally ones that would cause further urbanization and even denser cities, e.g. getting rid of single-family zoning and other NIMBY housing restrictions greatly decreased housing price and supply, cities having a vastly higher cost of living is one of the primary points against them but it's not a natural economic outcome.
Fantastic essay. I resonate a lot with what you’ve said! It’s put to words and articulated beautifully the vague senses I’ve felt inside for a long time. Thank you for your carefully crafted words and stories :) they’ve helped me a lot
in april i was driving downtown in my city with a friend when i saw a man, not a man a boy only about 20 overdosing in the middle of the sidewalk as people stepped over him, the public heath building which gives out narcan wasnt even 2 blocks away, yet nobody thought his life was worth taking 5 minutes out of there day. luckily i was able to narcan him and bring him back and walked him to the public health building to be seen. its sad seeing everybody walk over him like trash grown adult passing by.
STORE: horses.land/
Man, scrolling down from what I thought was quite a beautiful video and the first thing I see is that you're trying to sell me some logo ridden junk...
@@blindmanonacidhe’s selling a sword I’ve never appreciated logo ridden junk more
You did good
Birds aren’t real
you have really captured the same feeling as exurbia while being much better in quality and personality.
i remember your older videos were less philosophical in nature i am somewhat liking the turn of this channel, although I hope you can cover practical stuff too like jakob geller
To make a title and thumbnail so vague and interesting at the same time is an advanced form of art
hm, that impressed you?
If he said the topic or idea he'd be shoved down the algorithm. He's here to share information and I love it more than most channels.
It's a quote of Thoreau.
@@drtydshLmao what an energy
The way yours and Horses pfps are similar is a little funny
there is something cosmically, hilariously absurd having this video get interrupted by a loud burger king ad
😅
It is the irony of the world that such a video is not a video by itself, but a resource for companies to use to advertise itself. The topic spoken is proven right by it's own platform
You need Adblock!
@@LockederBoss1 I don't think adblocks work on youtube anymore
@@TC181_ They do. I never, ever see ads.
I use uBlock Origin and Sponsorblock. Just dont use the App. I only use UA-cam on Browser, even on my Handy.
I've never met a horse that knew so much about philosophy, let alone horses. Nice work.
What's better than a horse? More than one horse!
Rehab was supposed to be a fresh start
@@ZethDeeLMAOO
This implies many horses would be worse than a single horse at talking about philosophy, which is funny
Bro what the fuck is your channel
My friend ended his life a few years ago. The last thing he put on Facebook was a quote from Thoreau about living deliberately, he read a lot of philosophy. He couldn’t reconcile his values and desire for meaningful life with the reality of modern living, just as this video explores. Miss u always Ben and thank you Horses x
God damn, man. I feel that. My condolences.
reads a philosophy book and then ends himself. what the heck,
@@Josh-tf9crIt's obviously more likely that his desire to study philosophy was an attempt to fill a void and upon failing he felt hopeless. Mentally healthy people don't just read a book and then decide to die, obviously
@@Josh-tf9cr This is a weirdly insensitive and poorly thought out response to someone talking about their friend committing suicide.
Shout out to all the people who are starving and surviving with *real* problems in this world
Well, this wasn't about birds.
ik right and like where are the horses
@@ayoungmale636wtf are horses?
@@TwoSoulsOneCup😂
and the publisher is not a horse
@richcast66 we cant be sure tho
Your work is to be savored; it's taking time to consume (busily being Naturepilled). You are changing lives, causing introspection and reflection. Keep broadcasting your message Michael! Your research and writing are masterful.
Thank you for supporting this channell truely. From someone who doesn't have much but sees this work ethic and passion for information, I long to support. Truely means a lot to see the love.
I have watched my father grow old, I have watched his rage turn into sadness and self pity. My mind constantly plays out the fictional scenario where I will say goodbye to him one last time, as I live my life knowing that with each passing day that moment grows closer. Yet, I remain standing upon this earth knowing that the things that weigh down his heart are not my only inheritance. For I know that love and patience and compassion are the best I can do for a stranger that is someone else’s child, and perhaps it is the only thing we can give that truly matters.
Before my dad died, I often thought about how angry I would be if he did, how I would probably go out and get into a fight or something. But when the alcoholism took its toll it was all to quiet. His deathbed too sterile, the family room to cold and big and empty when I ran away from his bed. After he fell asleep for the last time I walked by his room, and just wished I could have said more while his throat wasn't swollen. The car ride home I wrote him a text, and ended it with the same words I said before fleeing like a coward: "I love you so much, goodbye". I had spent all my life not sure whether I loved him or hated him, and at that moment all I wanted was to sleep. Suffice it to say, my prediction was wrong. I became disenfranchised entirely with it all, and couldn't bring myself to care, lest I be burdened by it all.
Love and patience and compassion for others etcetc… becomes the exact same sadness and self pity in the end, because that is the end phase of living long enough to understand just how futile and insignificant your life was in the grand scheme of things… and how stupid your chosen focal points were.
@@KarmasAbutchnihilism is not a destination. It is a waypoint on the journey to true meaning.
My father died when I was 21, 10 years ago now. I very much value time itself now. It has more weight than
Take care bud!
What a strange experience this was. Here I am, unable to sleep due to the stress of what I am doing with my life, doomscrolling youtube. The thumbnail caught me for a split second before I scrolled on, and then I paused. I felt intrigue. I had no idea what to expect, but I knew that phrase about birds singing in caves would stay in my head. So I went back, and clicked it, and it was exactly what I needed to hear. This perfectly sums up my internal conflict with a desire for connectivity while also a desire for solitude. This will probably be one of the most important videos I've seen. Thank you.
I experienced this exact thing
I had the exact same experience!!!
Did you do anything with this insight? Or do you just continue to waste your life away?
@@ad-ui6ey what a weird comment? Did you mean to word it in a way that could be perceived as rude or was that unintentional?
You are not alone! Same here
As someone from the Appalachian mountains who now goes to uni in a city, it is horrendous. It truly feels like cities drain everyone of their humanity. We are all stuck in this check of materialism and consumerism and distraction. Thank you for sharing your thoughts on this. You articulated that which I have had on my mind for a long time.
I spent a lot of time there, and lived i cities before and after. It's true that the city itself kind of kills you, but I've also come to love some aspects- the subcultures, the communities, the collaboration. It's really the human (well, and other animal) elements that make it worth it for me. Of course, the caveat, is that the people who work so hard to build and maintain these enclaves of humanity are often punished - by the economy and the state build to uphold it, the authorities given license to inflict violence, other people in their pursuit of material gain, etc. . I love both, quite frankly, but cities are hard, especially when you try to fight against the endless expansion of capitalists and technocrats- or even just fight to live outside of their authoritarianism.
literally same (from rural Appalachia to a big big city) and yes. i have seen so much casual daily inhumanity that it is damaging my mental health.
I haven’t even watched the video yet but I just want to say, I wish you the best. Most of my family is made up of hillbillies, I’m two generations removed from our long sold family farms. Grew up at the edge of a large metro area in the sticks, now living in a huge city and barely managing despite having been exposed to sprawling cities a lot as a kid. It’s downright expensive to move away from the city now, with most rental properties being in metro areas and their suburbs. I can’t move back home for complicated reasons, and it hurts. But things will get better. We have to believe they will.
@XAustria Where I live, it's cheaper to buy in a rural area than rent. I know that probably won't help you right now, but I thought I'd share. Keep your chin up and continue working hard. God loves you.
try going offgrid?@@graynoita
Channels like this are the true value of UA-cam: the free, unfettered access to reasoned thought, without the limitation of commerce. Thank you for this video; I'm now a new subscriber.
Knowledge should be for everyone whitout restrictions.
coming from a stranger it might not seem like much, but what you’re doing here is incredibly wonderful and you should be very proud of it
So many years of clickbait and obvious titles have gotten me used to it, but this video was the freshest breath of air that I've experienced on this site in a long time.
I can't begin to describe how glad I am that I clicked on this video. I've been feeling the same way, but things are backwards for me. I feel like I was born at my Walden Pond, and every day that passes it seems the world gets closer and closer to pulling me away by force. I am in my mid 20s, I cannot drive, I do not have any insurance, and my teeth are beginning to rot. I am not ready to face this world, as I feel like I've barely had any chance to truly grow up, and I am becoming more and more aware of serious, deeply-rooted mental difficulties that will prevent me from surviving on my own. Without insurance to get a proper diagnosis, and without the funds to get such insurance, I'm not sure what I'm going to do. This video gave me a bit of peace, so thank you.
Hey. I had a moment reading your comment where I thought it might be a comment I left years ago.... I am about to turn 40, and I neglected my issues, physical and mental for most of my life. I wish I had known how to care about myself in my 20s, I wish I could drive, I wish I had been better to good people and less good to bad people, I wish I had gotten my teeth fixed when it was possible. Do it. Do it all now.
When I became unemployed I was cut off from the daily grind of progress. However, I have not gained any insight nor revelation from it: I am merely worried for my future. I would not recommend this to anyone.
One must remember that when Thoreau wrote Walden he was independently wealthy and did not need to worry supporting himself, nor a family. For the rest of us the life is not so simple.
Glad to see comments like this. Transcendentalist content always seems to make the same mistakes; they assume that the greatest challenge that stops us from self-isolation is some kind of “modern trap”, when in reality self-isolation is a genuinely terrible idea for all but the most mentally and financially sound individuals, unless of course you plan to never return.
My version of simple living involves growing and preserving produce and thrifting, sewing and recycling my clothes, going to the library or buying used books.
@@jturtle5318 Me too, I have an idea for self sustainability in that exact sense. For me in America though, I fear that if I'm aging and have no money the medical system will give me minimal care and something will kill me that would have been preventable had I made the money.
Thank you, it really bothers me how this video opens with everyone stepping over a dying rotting homeless man, yet goes on to ignore how much of Thoreaus 'insight' was only facilitated by his immense privileges of being rich and having the unpaid labor of women in his life to deliver all his meals? 🫠
@MrLugubrious I think this is the point made in the middle of the video. They talk about how Walden said his point is not that everyone should go live isolated from the cities, but spiritually isolated in the mind from the assumptions made by those that came before you. It is to say to yourself that everyone else is in such a hurry to catch the train, but if you ignore that pressure and are ok with being late for work for a day you can actually be the one to "wake up" and help the man with the rotted leg.
They make this point around the 11 - 12 minute mark, though not explicitly back to the rotted leg.
i found my own solitude from may-october of this past year within a shack in the woods placed in the forests of british columbia. no power, no plumbing, no ease of access to food. similar to thoreau, i went to the nearest town for supplies and to visit a friend or two here and there. during this time i truly realized how meaningless and counterintuitive life in a city and the distractions we place value in truly are. after countless battles with myself over loneliness, frustration, and past regrets, i found what was most important to me. this was my loved ones and the freedom i have to live life and discover myself. i found beauty in the smallest of things: blades of grass, clouds, the air we breath, the smiles of strangers. this life we live is truly a miracle and i wish for everyone to have the chance to find that joy in this world
I am desperate to have an experience like this
X
@ericcalkins- he said it was In British Columbia so as a Canadian I’ll let you know it’s either live away from town/a city abit , just enough you may need a truck & know bare minimum of how to deal with the elements or pay $4’000-8’000 a month to live in a town that’s probably getting rebranded for tourists and will rise prices again inevitably without notice
@@thekingoface8338 if u will it and take action, then there is a good chance that it may happen
@ericcalkins- in desperation for escape from the city, i took a leap of faith into the uncertain, dropping everything in life to begin anew with a friend to begin logging. he knew an old man with a shack on his property, so i stayed there in exchange for firewood and for help with building his new home
You've become my favorite modern essay writer, this musing was as insightful as the biographies you do. I liked the section on Walden, reading Walden made an impression on me when I was working a miserable corporate job and it gave me the courage to leave it. It shocked me later to read some critics describe Walden as a satire; I believe Thoreau was being frank. "I went to the woods because I wished to live deliberately"
walden is actually hilarious ngl he’s so unserious
based solely on these 2 comments, it's clear the interpretation is nothing but subjective
@@curtisboyce3849 bro it reads like a hippie telling you modern society is doomed and we need to go back to the old ways. it’s like actually funny asf
Man, Horses is SO wrong. You can't blame one mentally ill man on the City of Chicago. Also, it's highly likely that the duty of care that caused that doctor to stop and do his best also caused him to ring for an ambulance. Which arrived after you'd gone past. Or maybe he realised the guy just wanted to die, in front of everyone as a final statement. The system to help this guy was there but he had the right to refuse it.
Don't talk to me about the evils of consumerism. What, do you wanna be Pol Pot and send everyone back to Year Zero on collectivist farms? Empty the cities and give the power of life and death to revolutionary peasants? What do you think their health system was like?
Here in the west we have democracy and the progress people have chosen; and it is real progress, we can constructively criticise and move forward. And along with all the crap we don't need comes the technology and infrastructure to build stuff that improves our lives, like double glasing, safer and healthier cars, heatpumps, medicines and the means to package and distrubute them, education, justice, the internet and wikipedia. Get you dreaming head out of your arse...sure its nice to go bush for a while, but sheeeesh man. Get out a bit, get a girlfriend, have some fun.
@@ThomasPCGuruENGINESbro did you watch the video?
the 5 midroll ads really tie the whole video together
I once went up in the Appalachians on vacation. My wife and I stopped in a small shop selling hand made brooms. It was a small cabin off the beaten path on the way to our cabin we were staying in. The brooms there were beautiful. The quality was amazing. We bought one as decoration, in fact. But what stuck with me the most was the words of the father running the shop. "This buisness has been passed down to me by my father, his father, and the father before him. I want nothing more to pass it down to my only son, but he moved to the city, went to university, and took a wife. I'm still hopeful that someday he'll return home and continue out family history." I still think of this situation philosophically. The son can be seen as the farmer who receives the pressure of obligation, however I hope that one day the son sees his father's broom shop as his Walden.
I'm fairly certain this is the only essay channel on youtube that entices me so much that I go to the description to find sources, and am met with a pleasant new list of cited reading material.
On to the local book store.
Pretentious
@@StainsStainsStains Fanzanoon 👃🏽💨
@@StainsStainsStainsare you deliberately leaving hate comments on every thread
12:26 reminds me of the existential turtle’s video “The Answer is Not a Hut in the Woods”
As a cv icu nurse, I see patients with body parts like this. It’s sad, amazing, & interesting at the same time because of how resilient the human body is, but how people get to the point at which this occurs.
It was quite ironic to get a work call around the 1035 mark, dragging me back to a focus on the lives we are given and the obligations therein. I am fortunate, the work is work I love. I've been given the rare chance to take the time to find what I enjoy, not just what is thrust upon me. But even when trying to enjoy a piece about solitude and self actualization I am pulled back to this chaos we've created. Going to watch the rest now, this a wonderful and enlightening video so far. Thank you for doing what you do.
This video might have radicalized me
The fact that you used the word radicalize proves the videos point
to do what? buy his merch?
@@aidanelder880 I hope you realize the irony in your comment
Sometimes the only way to win a game is not play.
Amen. People do not like this answer
23:23 until the end made me cry because I don’t either but understood and related to all of it
Hi horses I recently found your channel and just wanted to say thanks for doing what you do. I know you mentioned you hadn’t made any impact on the world but for the little time I’ve followed your videos my life has changed for what I believe is to be the better. I’m less hard on myself, more subconsciously open to ideas that I didn’t know I was opposed to, and more intrigued at all facets of myself that I have deliberately and accidentally neglected. You’ve made an impact on me, and I’m certain many others share that sentiment. Thank you
Babe wake up Horses made a new video
Literally me but no one I try to recommend the video to is interested
I'm up babe
Kinda needed this today, found myself in one of those nameless dark corners of the internet today. Reduced to gawking at some of the horrific things we humans do to one another. Accompanied only by the guilt of knowing I can’t stop any of it, I can only choose to close the tab.
There’s a spark of light in what you’re creating here. I find a bit of solace in it. The description of the man at the start (and the situation as a whole) took me as close to that point in time without being there, vividly described and superbly written.
I know people say your channels one of their favourite new finds of the year quite often, but your videos (which I listen to regularly in my monotonous line of work) cover such a rich variety of topics and are so well presented that I simply CANNOT go another video without writing a simple (and BEYOND well-deserved)
thank you.
I am from a small town. I went to SF when I was 16 and needed to find an ATM in. The atm was located on a 40 ft long, bald, wall - monochrome except for the bank logo and, about 15 ft in from the left, an atm. In front of this urban canvas were two things: A line of busy cityfolk with wrankled faces and, right near the blank wall itself, a dead homeless man.
The busy people were stepping around and over the body to get to their destinations, inches away from the decay. His organs had already expunged and his death fluids were running down the slight incline of the recently powerwashed sidewalk. It was a wide sidewalk and, avoiding the corpse entirely seemed a simple thing however, they were making a point to get as close as possible while denying his extinction- to make a grotesque point of ignoring him.
He was the first thing I noticed. I began shouting and gesturing that there was a dead man there. Dead! Another human dead on the ground, what is wrong with all of you? They seemed to wake up for a moment, sheepish at being caught in their little game of leap the corpse. Cities are true solitude, true disregard.
What happened after that, did You called the police?
Horrible sight to witness. What happened after that?
@@Dolritto People started gathering around and the body was taken away less than ten minutes later.
I think it's a major mistake in logic to point to cities as the primary cause of this kind of behavior. I live in an extremely rural area in southwest alabama, if you ask the people here what they think of homeless people, welfare recipients, gay people, people who are killed by police etc. you'd be astonished at what kind of answers they give and how many give those answers. It's not just callous ambivalence, it's outright hatred, it makes the callousness of cities seem desirable by comparison.
I’m from SF. Born and raised. The sight of homeless people is so common that it becomes part of the landscape, ever since I was a child. You learn early on that 99.9% of the time, it is best to simply accept it, and leave them be. It’s not exactly a virtuous attitude, but it is so ubiquitous that if you lent your attention to the condition of every person laying on every sidewalk and in every doorway, there’d be no attention left for anything else. People care, but everyone’s tank is empty, and unless it’s money, most of them don’t want or care for your concern. Many are mentally disturbed and dangerous as well. So the idea that people were just walking over someone laying in the streets is not surprising at all - fluids or not. People do heroin, and drink, and shit and piss all over the place and there’s nothing to do that’ll fix it. You just so happened to be the one who discovered they were dead. It’s not good or bad. It just is. The people who didn’t discover it aren’t good or bad either they all have their own problems and issues to deal with that are far more important to them than what might be wrong with yet another person laying on the sidewalk.
Don’t blame them, blame the cultural revolution of the late sixties, because that’s when this all started to become an issue. Before the Summer Of Love, San Francisco was a working class city that was able to take care of their homeless population. It wasn’t until a flood of humanity poured in looking to “turn on, tune in, and drop out” that the capacity to help people got overwhelmed.
bruh how have you been pumping out so much stuff out this year already??? crazy shit
loved the Merlin video!
His output is insane for a research essay channel. Gotta love it
I love the VHS stock footage, so casual, transient. Neglected yet yearned ❤
This is the best video ever. It put into words things I've been feeling for a while now. I quit my corporate job because, while it provided security, I felt like there must be something more to life than waking up, clocking in, eating, sleeping, and looking forward to those 1-2 vacations a year. But I couldn't say it so elegantly as this video did. Horses is probably my fav channel on youtube, I love the writing
I’ve been listened all of horses videos on repeat for the last week while at work. Excitement and joy filled my morning seeing I have a new video to listen and work to
Man, you probably know this already, but… You are a very talented storyteller. Almost all your videos are thought-provoking and extremely pleasant to listen to. I take breaks from your channel to then sink 2-3 hours into it again, and every time it feels like watching a good movie or listening to an audiobook. Wow… Keep doing what you are doing. Chapeau, l’artiste!🎩
Do not recommend watching this, this was not an in depth, scientific breakdown of why birds do not sing in caves. 😔
Thanks man
Thanks man 😂
Ah sh!t, right 😕, ok 🫤, is it ever touched upon like at all?
1 this bird could be a budgie metaphor so does not sing in the cave of human progress.
2 If a bird sings in a cave, does anyone outside this cave notice when it stops ?
3 Definitely Birdsong, but do birds really sing?
I have no answers only more questions
This video is beautiful. I don’t have much to say, I’m not a poet; but I audibly said “beautiful” once it finished. Truly a masterpiece horses, thank you
Everytime I watch a video from horses, I'm completely blown away. As a youtuber and video essay writer myself, I try to learn from him and absorb as much as I can, then he blows me away again. This is probably my 2nd favourite video after the Marcus aurelius one
Yeah the stoicism video quiet literally changed my life.
Wow. What an incredible perspective. Thank you so much for creating something so meaningful. This was truly powerful to listen to.
Wow never have I felt less free before. But this video is so perfect. From despair at the start to hope at the end. It’s really a spiritual journey through this video.
I truly cannot overstate my appreciation of this channel.
Your voice, your visual style, and your writing are all phenomenal and simultaneously bring both peace and a quiet longing for more (both more out of life, and more of your work).
As a dissatisfied instrument of the system this video so sharply criticizes (I'm an investment banker), I increasingly find myself drawn to someplace quiet. I'm lonely but feel, maybe counterintuitively, that being alone would be an important first step to solving that problem.
As far as reconciling your criticisms with your position on the Internet, I think it's quite easy to do. Art for art's sake can and should exist in the system you've imagined. Much like the tree is more than green leaves and brown bark, the essence of the canvas where your art lives is more than the wires and signals that bring it to our eyes and ears.
Thank you for another powerful work of art.
Your approach has just given me an existential crisis and life enlightenment simultaneously. In other words: THANK YOU!
Fear gives way to pride as it is conquered you know... Fight for a future so the weak and future people don't have to. Get involved in politics, your community, and self-improve to live as yourself with burning sincerity. Your sincerity should be capable of igniting the hearts of wayward peers trapped by a demanding and inhuman system whose sole drive is profit. That, or immolating their minds unable to comprehend the breadth and depth of a human soul. Our indomitable spirit.
Politics and community outreach are far easier than you think! I have lived it! I AM living it!
22:22 "it will be a great tragedy to work ones entire life for a better world, while ones own backyard remains a mess"
Damn..
That line hit me like a fuking freight train..
i feel that's more a meta take and is discussing humanity as a single person, as many artists and people who have created groundbreaking work or new ways of thinking, were in fact quite disorganized in their personal lives.
Yep if you can't fix yourself than how can you fix other people.
It's a great line. I interpreted it as meaning that it is sad to chase external achievements at the expense of your inner knowledge and integrity. It's sad how many people don't really know themselves or grapple with their demons.
@urproblem because of the right-wing actively dismantling unions and collective bargaining, causing people to have to work more for less, leading to the destruction of the middle class?
Yet another video of yours that made me think, your essays are so thought provoking and insightful, amazing work.
So happy to see this channel exponentially grow recently. More than well deserved.
I have been on a journey of self discovery for a while, your videos have given me a lot to think and ponder on about myself and the world around us. Please keep them coming, keep us thinking, and help us remember that not all is lost, we can become more.
The title is fitting. It's not obvious at first, or even at all to probably some people. But it definitely works with what this video is about and who it is for.
Thank you. ❤
What a great channel! A real gemstone in the sludge.
I’ve noticed that videos with thumbnails and titles like these tend to be much more intriguing than videos with clickbait titles and thumbnails. Videos like these seem to be more thought provoking, and I enjoy that.
this is the content that makes me conscience of my blood flowing and excited for what’s to come from my actions! thank you
As a young adult who spent four years working on farms as a gardener and is currently completing studies in business psychology, I can relate to your words. I believe it requires a great deal of self-awareness to recognize when technology or crafting things with your own hands free up time or consume it.
Currently, I think the optimal approach is to embrace a hybrid lifestyle that incorporates the benefits of both worlds to simplify one's life.
By the way, your videos are like a short meditation for me. My thoughts could flow more easily in this video because there weren't any distracting white spots, which I understand to be a video effect, drawing my attention, as they did in the previous videos.
Your writing always makes me want to write again desperately, but only after taking a long walk in my woods and reading some Camus.
Really makes me miss school, and reminds me I was creatively and intellectually ambitious once.
I'm so grateful for your entire channel.
What a deeply, profoundly moving piece of art. Every upload of yours is incredible.
Wow this is honestly the most profound channel I’ve ever come across. I share many of the same sentiments towards society & the world, yet you articulate it in a poetic way I could never imagine ❤
Your work brings me a calm in a modern life of nonstop motion. Thanks, Horses.
You have no idea how much I needed to listen to this video today. Thank you so much.
In the video game Fallout 4, you can find Thoreau's cabin by Walden Pond as the game takes place in and around Boston. Not much inside the cabin but right next too it is a gift shop. I never realized how brutally ironic that is until this video, holy shit.
I’m so glad I found this channel, there is no other content that comes even close than the type of content you get here. Thanks for the perspective shift 💯
The opening...I saw Comisky Park or whatever they call it now and before u said the word Chicago I already knew.
That's my hometown.
I love this channel.
The quality and the narration is outstanding. 👍
I really enjoy your videos, especially the prose. You’ve gotten me to challenge the way I think and I really appreciate it. Also, I appreciate the 4:3 aspect ratio, as someone who grew up in the 80s and 90s, it feels comfortable.
i can’t believe i couldn’t sleep and now you’ve given me a direction of resolution in my senseless, directionless life, so i now sit here not sleeping again. maybe feeling peace? catastrophizing my existence? both? thank you for the beautiful video horses. i’ll see you at dawn
*_Sees title_*
"This isn't your average everyday artness... this is... *_ADVANCED artness."_*
Listening to this while driving to work. I need my own Waldan.
The only channel I click on immediately when I see a new upload
the comment i was looking for
God you're such an an npc. Comments like yours are dime a dozen, almost every successful channel has a few people saying the exact same thing. Say something original at least.
This essay really changed and validated the way in which I already view the world. Thank you so much. Love this work!
If I could give you a Pulitzer, I would.
You are one amazing Artist.
🕊️
Chill
I can’t find words to describe the serenity this video brought to me… I may have found my favorite book. Beautiful work,Thank you.
The art is too good. I've gotta watch once to appreciate the art and again to pay attention to the content! Another excellent video. I'm so happy you covered Thoreau.
Oh boy I love birds I can't wait to watch this video for the bird talk
Horses goes into a philosophical rant, psychiatrist asks “why the long face?”
As soon as I saw the title, I didn’t even see the creator name yet, but I knew it was horses immediately I feel like for me this just goes to show how unique horses as a channel is
i dont see many mentioning it but i love the 4:3 aspect ratio i honestly think its ideal for most modern devices
I've never felt so happy watching it all from the outskirts...life was miserable when I was working a job, running around, min maxing every minute of my day to ensure I was efficient...led to so many mental health issues...I wish everyone just stopped working for a few months. it's scary to begin with but when you adjust the day to day freedom to do what YOU want is just so comforting. Thanks for giving my brain some interesting thoughts....as always :)
until you need to find a job because you don't have a safety net and the world literally wont allow you to live independently from markets. Unemployment is a full time job. Hobbies are a full time job. Everything is work, and for a lot of people- whether its the homeless man with the rotting leg, or one of the millions working under the barrel of a gun to sustain the behemoth- there is no escape. Is it extortion? Sure. But that doesn't change their material reality. The grim fact is that for many people, not working- or even working one fewer job- would propel them into poverty. The time you spend not working, you're forced to fill with thoughts and anxieties about work. Sure, they can choose not to, and lose power, heat, food, shelter, healthcare, become a second class citizen or a slave in the prison system. They can't move because they have no money - and maybe their health provider or support network is nearby, and they cant afford to lose that, or any number of reasons. They cant obtain land because they have no money. They cant LIVE, because they have no money.
That's the consequence of a ubiquitous, international apparatus upholding the economic system.
The only way for people to be free, imo, is to tear that shit down. No one is free until everyone is.
The title and thumbnail give off the vibes of one of those one in a billion books that are talked about to this day. With themes so deep and real they touch your heart and soul forever after you read them.
i genuinely appreciate your ability to create, very thoughtful and insightful
0:00-0:30 made my ears perk up immediately as a Chicago south sider(currently) at work in the Loop
Yep!
My cousin showed me this YT channel and I immediately subscribed. This video went into my favorites.
I get a lot of this. I grew up in the country and i love the country but I hated how sexist and racist people were. Now i live in the city where i can be more authenitc without as much fear of retaliation for being different. But i noticed over time i am, overall in a different way now less happy in noticing how little cities care. I moved to an imbetween community and it seems so far a bit better in terms of blending those things.
Not reqlly the whole ppint of the video but was glad to see Walden doscussed without it saying i needed to go do that.
I do not posses the rhetoric to express how much this video has touched me. All I can do is say thank you. Thank you for making this.
Your videos have inspired me to start making my own. Love the aesthetics and the vibe - as well as the content of course!
i always get inspired in that way but i feel that the subtleness of these videos seem so simple but to create are so complex. wishing you the best of luck!
The thumbnails are spot on
Agreed! @@wardaddy944
The elegant simplicity does so much more than it being over edited. Thank you!@@homerpupgh243
I saved this video to my watch later around 5 months ago because I knew somehow, upon seeing the title, thumbnail, and channel name juxtaposed as they were, that whatever it was it would hit too hard and require more reflection than I could give it while doing my college work. I couldn’t have known how right I was, it exceeded my expectations. Definitely gonna check out more from you mr horses
A visualizer audiobook.
You wasted time at college for nothing. You're still a canvas that is easily tainted and stamped.
i can be just as much of a doomer talking about nature: 'nature is a closed cycle, all matter is a source of energy to some process inside some organism. that hunts to get food, to be able to hunt again, a continuous loop of energy demand, until the organism is no longer efficient enough to maintain itself up inside this ever moving wheel, and can no longer lift itself from the weigh of the shackles of its own metabolic demand.'
i can also say that technology freed people (to a certain extent) from this cycle and enabled them to pursue things like art and philosophy. i can also say that too much technology makes people dumb and soft. and too little makes people starve.
Your writing is beautiful and moving
this channel is so special. the way you set up dominos then knock them down only to unveil a wonderous pattern is beyond captivating. I truly appreciate you and your videos.
Henry David Thoreau quotes got me through some darker times when I was younger. I appreciate these videos and the opportunity to learn more about the man. His ideas have been and continue to be a guiding light for me.
It took me a whopping 1 minute and 27 seconds to realize that this video is not a horse explaining why birds don’t sing in caves.
Incredible, and as always artful, video. Thank you again.
Walden taught me one huge lesson, which is that we're always spending something from within ourselves to get something. We're spending our soul when we work in cubicles and offices and influencing or whatever. How much of that soul we wish to spend is up to us, based on the inherent structures with which we were born. Most people spend it freely, and the free market takes full advantage of that, mercilessly.
I spent a lot of my soul in my life. And then I decided to stop doing that. There's a way to get it back through one's work.
I'd trade everything for a cabin in the woods. Unfortunately my everything is about $97,000 and the cabin in the woods is going for not less than $400,000. I can't afford to Walden.
Dawg you gotta build it yourself to be truely disconnected from society
@@derpnation7832 should i squat the land they want the $400,000 for?
The point of the video and of Walden was to not just go to a cabin. You made this comment without listening to the second half of the video.
@@crunchylettuce5446 why, is there $400k hidden somewhere in that video that i missed? I'd settle for 200!
@@crunchylettuce5446no matter your philosophy, you may just not have the funds required for your desired way of living. This commenter didn’t think it tells him to go get a cabin, thats just what they want. modern society does not allow this. we can be as mentally stable and self reliant as possible, if we are trapped physically we will never be fully happy
This video was life changing for me. Got me to read a bit of Walden. It’s beautiful. Thank you so much for making this wonderful piece of art.
The system is a mess. We are slaves to those who are themselves slaves. The blind leading the blind. Everyone at the top feasts while those at the bottom wonder how they'll ever have enough to afford a home. It's not sustainable, and it's not going to last.
Bro is so close to the labour theory of value
I knew exactly what you were going for when I saw the thumbnail and title, and I got giddy. This is such a needed discussion right now.
I also find it awesome that this came up right when I finished watching another video that... was discussing some eerily similar stuff, but was actually about autism and our disordered world.
what a phenomenal video... its like an entire semester worth of class but in just 24 minutes. will def need to rewatch more not just for cemented understanding but the artful telling
Ive been alone offgrid 6 years. This absolutely spelled out my reality of bliss in nature. The only thing i allowed is Internet, that i turn off daily. To arrive online with content like this is immensely appreciated. Thank You @Horses for this content 🙌🏽
Wot tha hell i wanted to see some birds
I live next to Walden pond, Henry David Thoreau was the name of each grade in middle school. We even bike to Walden pond from the middle school as a school event. Cool to be around Lincoln as well knowing all the history of America here
I disagree with the idea that technology in itself is what is hurting us. It feels to me like it is conflating technology with capitalism. I would love to see a world with the technology that exists today in which it is used to meet everyone’s basic needs first instead of infinite profit growth.
i get what you mean technology has been used so wrongly by greedy business men. but now its so intertwined with everything its almost impossible to keep up without it and its so much harder to disconnect than it is to just keep using it.
maybe we wont be hvaing the enjoyment of latest technology?
greed and money(capitalism) has incentivised rapid invention
not necesarily that makes life better(?)
i stand coreected
Algorithms have been set to detain all of us
I agree that it is important to not completly inpune technological progress as a concept but also, the way in which technology of the day has come into existence is inextricably linked to how capitalism has shaped our desires and as such, the horizon of what is possible technologically. It is important to remember that modern technology is a direct result of all desire, that being desires that are both natural as in the desire for community and understanding/respect from others and desires that are less natural, such as the desire for profitable ideas and the desires that come out of the way in which sign demand currently functions.
I think it is important to recognize which parts of any technological advancement satiate which desires so that they can be redesigned in a more human-forward way. Why spend comparative billions more on a national fleet of electric cars and infrastructure, a single person or trending towards individualistic technology, when the same desire for freedom of movement can be achieved through other, more practical ends as in trains or other robust public transit? In this case, it is because the proposed technological solution has a seperate desire tacked on, that desire being profitability.
TLDR: In my opinion, technology isn't bad inherently. To say so is an overgeneralization. Technology can however have adverse side effects. It is important to recognize both perspectives as valid (technology can be both good and bad) so that we can iterate upon it and create something truly better for all.
@@cyclopam I really can't see a situation where innovation itself makes life worse, it would always be either positive or neutral if we correctly chose which innovations were used and in what way they're used.
I think people fetishize past life and rural living to absurd levels, material conditions are far better in modern western cities than anywhere else despite all their problems. If we were better at realizing the potential of technology and density it would make that gap even larger. The best solutions for improving cities are generally ones that would cause further urbanization and even denser cities, e.g. getting rid of single-family zoning and other NIMBY housing restrictions greatly decreased housing price and supply, cities having a vastly higher cost of living is one of the primary points against them but it's not a natural economic outcome.
Fantastic essay. I resonate a lot with what you’ve said! It’s put to words and articulated beautifully the vague senses I’ve felt inside for a long time. Thank you for your carefully crafted words and stories :) they’ve helped me a lot
I love you with all my philosophical heart.
in april i was driving downtown in my city with a friend when i saw a man, not a man a boy only about 20 overdosing in the middle of the sidewalk as people stepped over him, the public heath building which gives out narcan wasnt even 2 blocks away, yet nobody thought his life was worth taking 5 minutes out of there day. luckily i was able to narcan him and bring him back and walked him to the public health building to be seen. its sad seeing everybody walk over him like trash grown adult passing by.