^ You have a point but please try to phrase your posts in a constructive way.
First off, I'd definitely listen to SKL on this. He has a grasp of the entirety of the 'culture' and is very insightful.
I have friends who have successfully 'dropped out' so-to-speak but none of them have done so entirely. I think they're been pretty lucky in their ability to live 'outside the system'. Here is how I believe it worked for a couple of them:
Friend 1: Took all her savings, graduation money etc. and booked it to Thailand. She was lucky in that she met her boyfriend soon after who already had a bunch of things set up on the alternative community. She's stayed with him since (~7 years) so I think that was part of her saving grace. Otherwise, I don't know where she'd be. It helps that she's an extremely good artist and I think makes money that way. Additionally, she has rooted connections throughout the world and especially in the U.S. to help her travel, keep enough income etc. I'm not sure if this is still true but last I knew she was living in a pretty luxurious tipi just outside Santa Cruz, California.
Friend 2: She has a trust fund that's sufficient for her to travel. Additionally, she had networks set-up before she started traveling in case she ever needed anything in the areas she was going to end up. She has told me what a difference this makes.
I believe these are pretty rare circumstances & stories of people who have successfully left traditional lifestyles. I think before you do anything you really need to figure out how to set up these connections and networks of people to make sure you stay safe. Not to mention the fact that you're going to need a lot of secure cheddar to start off and further maintain your safety.
Great post. (and Amor, clean your PM box...)
The counterculture attracts both people with no resources at all, and are looking for a way out and something other than and people who have a lot of resources, who are looking for a way out, too, but of something else (of a more existential nature). It's by and the large the latter that succeeds. Speaking in terms of political economy, class structures are perpetuated from the aggregate culture and economy into the counter-culture, and counter-economy, as are economic structures, viz. the increasing corporatist structures of the illicit drug trade. Economically speaking it is a stacked deck.
But personally speaking, in terms of addressing this existential angst, economics may not even be the most important concern. To be perfectly frank: You are seeking some kind of psychological freedom, but in all likelihood in the counter-culture, you will be enslaved again, to something else, most likely a perfect mirror of the situation that you now face. Wherever you go, there you are. But I'll let
Bob Dylan pick up that trail of thought.
The most important things regardless of your decision whether or not to drop out will be how well you take care of yourself, physically, psychologically, economically, socially, in every single dimension of your being. In the counter culture this prominently includes the operational details of your counter-economic practice, your intake of mind-altering drugs, your overall state of mind and, very importantly, the company you keep, and in the mainstream culture it will be mostly the same.
Most important is your own inner being and your psychological health. Reaching peace or self-actualization or nirvana or whatever your way of framing the ultimate psychological goal here, is not necessarily going to be easier in the counter-culture, and there are a great number of ways in which it could be much more difficult.
This is not to say there is never a reasoned case to be made to drop out; I, too, know people who have done so and experienced success, stability, and happiness ... but I know a great many lost souls as well. Both statements would hold true for the people that I know in the "real world" so to speak, as well.
So ultimately you have to look inwardly at your own heart. And right after that, you probably need to do some hard, cold, calculus of risk management. And whatever your ultimate decision will be, fare thee well ...
