This is an archived article that was published on sltrib.com in 2012, and information in the article may be outdated. It is provided only for personal research purposes and may not be reprinted.
The story of Daniel Suelo, a cave-dweller near Moab, who claimed not to have touched currency in nine years, flashed through news headlines in 2009, provoking "can you believe this?" reactions.
News stories covered the basics: Suelo was a university graduate in anthropology who worked in labs and a woman's shelter before shedding his bank account for good near 2000. He got his food from either dumpsters, friends, or simple charity. He bathed in creek pools, and squatted when nature called. It's a free country, as they say.
What caught Moab writer Mark Sundeen's eye was the mostly cursory mention of the philosophy that sustained Suelo's life choices.
Sundeen is a nonfiction writer and author of the 2000 book Car Camping, which chronicled his travels throughout the American Southwest lodging in the back of a car, himself is no stranger to low-budget living.
What he discovered profiling Suelo for The Man Who Quit Money, which will be released this month, was a firm ideology buttressing a stress-free life of grace, ease and overriding sense of living in the present.
Sundeen, a native of California and Stanford University graduate, took his phone call from Montana. "I worked with Suelo one time as a restaurant cook in Moab in 1993, back when he used money," Sundeen said.
Sundeen was always interested in Suelo's ideas in the abstract. "But when a walking allegory presents itself, instead of an abstract idea, you've got to leap on it," he said.
Drawing a line between Henry David Thoreau and Suelo, what did you discover about changes in the historical line of American radical thought?
There's so much that it's hard to say whether you can go backward, or forward, in time. The "Freegan" movement of today has its roots in 17th-century agrarian Diggers of England who lived communally, all the way forward to Luddite movement. Of course there's a long tradition of communes and Christian sects, such as the Shakers, who try to remain as free as possible of economic concerns.
But Suelo's not part of a commune. What do think that says about what people can do individually, and collectively?
When I first read up on Suelo, I was reminded of the iconic photo of the Chinese student or "Tank Man," who stood in front of the Red Army tank in Tiananmen Square. He didn't actually stop the tank, he only stopped it for a moment, of course. Suelo's never going to bring down Bank of America, or the Federal Reserve but his civil disobedience is so easy to understand. Both serve as examples.
The next question is, 'How much people will actually follow his example?' There's a big movement over the past 10 years to live more simply and consume less. It's sprung largely as a protest against the excesses of the '90s, and attempts to stop climate change. I don't know how much connection there is between a "Freegan" dumpster diver and someone who drives a Prius and shops at the farmers' market. My goal was more to explore an ideology that mainstream culture could have more exposure to. Suelo is incredibly articulate, but when people hear that he lives in a cave, they shut down a bit. My job was to present his ideas [with a little more accessibility].
What did you find most and least persuasive about aspects of his life?
He said that before he gave up money, he was always filled with anxiety, both about his own life and what people would think of him. Since he quit using money he found his problems not only less stressful, but solved. One way or another, he gets by.
Some of the problems he gave up are intractable. Most people know that they'll never have enough money, so in a certain sense there's no sense in striving. It's very Buddhist or Toaist way of seeing the world. Since you can never rid yourself of wanting more, the point is to rid yourself of that longing. I love his point that you should give freely without expecting anything in return, and accept freely without obligation to give back. That's something I've been working on ever since I met him. It's hard to rid your DNA of the idea that you must trade or act with something in return. If someone gives you a gift it's because they give you a gift, not because they expect something in return.
As to the least persuasive element of his life: I really pushed him on the belief that he always live in the present. He said if you worry all the time about getting sick, you'll get sick. So far he lives quite healthy for a 50-year-old man, but has said he'd never go to an emergency room or government clinic. Personally, as much as I want to live simply, I'm not going to die because I don't want to pay $800 for medicine.
Browsing Suelo's blog, it's clear he's not completely detached from the world. He follows Moab City Council resolutions and other current events.
He's not withdrawing from society, just from money. He's not out to prove he's independent. In fact, he's out there to demonstrate how dependent we are on one another. He believes we all give and take from each other, and that's often hidden in society. If you pay tax, and that goes to government agencies to a person you've never met in the other part of the country, you never feel like you gave, and that person never really feels they receive.
That sounds like a very right-wing, conservative argument.
That's why liberals often get frustrated with Daniel. He embraces ideas from the right and the left that neither side would necessarily endorse. A big part of his critique of government, specifically of the federal reserve book, comes from The Creature from Jekyll Island by C. Edward Griffin, a member of the John Birch Society. Daniel never accepts food stamps or government assistance, but would accept food [from] people who willingly give it to him.
If everyone lived like Suelo, the changes would be seismic.
He doesn't expect everyone to live like him. He just wants everyone to rethink why they use money. But the question of what would happen if everyone lived like him is important. Who'd perform open-heart surgery, raise children, or grow food?
I wrestled with that question then, when reading about Steve Jobs, I noticed that no one asks what would happen if everyone lived like him, incessantly inventing high-tech devices. Everyone asks this question about Daniel, but no one else, because there's something about Daniel that provokes people. What we don't realize is that if everyone in the world lived the way most of us do, driving 40 miles per day with only themselves inside. and placed two barrels of trash on the curb every week, the planet would be stripped bare in a matter of months. Of course, the world wouldn't function if everyone lived like Daniel, but it wouldn't function if everyone acted like me, either.
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'The Man Who Quit Money'
What • Mark Sundeen reads from his new nonfiction book about Moab cave dweller Daniel Suelo.
When • Wednesday, March 14, 7 p.m.
Where • The King's English Bookshop, 1511 S. 1500 East, Salt Lake City
Info • Free. Call 801-484-9100 or visit http://www.kingsenglish.com for more information.