But in his purposeful death by fasting at the age of 100, Scott Nearing demonstrated that there are better, simpler choices. Their experience, memorialized in Living the Good Life and a string of other books, has been an inspiration to thousands of people looking for an alternative to modern industrialism. On their homesteads first in Vermont and later Penobscott Bay, Maine, the Nearings built, made, grew and collected nearly everything they needed. Yet they still found plenty of time for nourishing their inner lives and giving to others - through music, education, writing and speaking. Here Helen Nearing, who still lives at the Maine homestead, recounts the story of Scott's purposeful passing.
Doctors practice medicine.
We Practice Health , which never eventuated, though we wrote much on the subject in various chapters of our homesteading books Living the Good Life and Continuing the Good Life. We rarely if ever used doctors, pills, or hospitals. Yet Scott lived to a hale and hearty 100 and died when he decided to - by fasting for a month and a half at the very end. He had always been physically active, in the woods, in the garden, in building construction. He was also active mentally, having written 40 or more books from his 20's to his 90's, including an autobiography, The Making of a Radical .