The Sage's Pub
Writing & Art by Dustin Swartz
Pull up a chair. This is where the stories live — raw, unfiltered, and written the way they happened. No polish. No pretense. Just the truth, a pen, and whatever wisdom came out the other side.
The Tao of Helping Others
By Dustin Swartz — Currently in progress
This book is dedicated to Charlie — my one true soul mate — and to everyone who ever told me to write it.
It started as a college paper. My professor read it and said I needed to write a book. I'd heard that before, many times. That was 2010. People kept saying it. For over a decade, I kept living instead of writing. More stories piled up — some beautiful, some devastating, all of them real.
The Tao of Helping Others is about the people who appeared at the exact moments when everything could have gone either way. A stranger on a highway. A legend camping alone near Mt. Shasta. A kid at a triangle in Denver who didn't make it. A dog who followed me into the wilderness and never left my side.
There's a tribe that determines a man's worth by the amount of wisdom, knowledge, and stories he has to share. Well — it just so happens I might have some stories to tell.
"I remember how hot and thick the air was outside and how shockingly crisp and cold the water was when I was submerged. How it was like a jolt of electricity that enveloped my whole body jump starting my heart as if it had never even beat before. Like every beat before that moment had been but a miniscule tap."
"I choke up with a smile on my face and a tear in my eye for they are the written memories of when everything in my life changed. The words written on the pages open up the flood gates and I am instantly enveloped by a giant wave of emotions and memories."
"Dan Stone… Thank you for the gifts you gave me. You'll never know they were gifts and you'll never know how much they mean to me."
— Dustin Swartz, The Tao of Helping Others
"The sage does not hoard. The more he helps others, the more he benefits himself. The more he gives to others, the more he gets himself."
— Laozi, Tao Te Ching, Chapter 81
Inside the Book
Stories of the people who showed up. Each chapter is a person, a place, a moment that bent the arc of a life.
The Journal
Where it all begins
A worn black hardback journal, 8 by 5 inches and an inch thick. Inside: campfire smoke, a sister's wedding photo, a brine recipe, a sketch of Charlie, and the written record of a life that was about to change forever.
The beginning — Denver, the journal, the decision to leave everything behind.
Independence Day
July 4th, 2008
The day Dustin strapped on a 75-pound pack, took his dog Charlie, a .22 rifle, and a compass, and walked into the Snowy Range Mountains of Wyoming. No return date. No plan. Just the need to become something else.
Wilderness survival, self-discovery, the raw fear and exhilaration of starting over.
Dan Stone
A legend nobody's heard of
A man camping alone near Mt. Shasta, California, in the spot where he and his late wife used to camp together. Budweiser, bacon and eggs, giant squirrels, and a watering hole jump that changed everything. Some people save your life just by being themselves.
Connection, grief, generosity, and the gifts people give you without knowing.
I Never Got Your Name
The kid at the triangle
A chance encounter in Denver with a kid who was too nice for the world he was walking into. A day spent together. A promise to meet the next morning. And then — the silence that comes after.
Loss, guilt, the weight of choices, and the people you can't save.
The Road West
Hitchhiking, trains & the Rainbow Family
Thumbing it from Wyoming to California with a dog and a guitar. The Rainbow Gathering in Medicine Bow. Ashley and Mary in the PT Cruiser. A deadhead named George and his dog China White. The road as teacher, healer, and mirror.
Freedom, human connection, the kindness of strangers, and life outside the system.
And More to Come...
The book is still being written
Federal prison. Foster homes. The White House. North Dakota. The three women he owes it all to. His last overdose. When he finally accepted God. And always, always — Charlie.
The full arc — from destruction to redemption, told through the people who made it possible.
筆
About the Writer
Dustin Swartz is a journeyman electrician, organic farmer, Daoist practitioner, and writer living in Fairview, Montana. He's been in the electrical trade since 2006, worked across five states from tiny homes to giant hospitals, and provided specialty emergency electrical work for Mt. Rushmore National Monument.
Before all of that, he survived addiction, homelessness, federal prison, and years of living on the road with nothing but a dog, a guitar, and a pack. He hitchhiked coast to coast. He hopped trains. He walked into the Wyoming wilderness on July 4th, 2008, and came out the other side as someone else.
He's been told to write a book since 2010. He's finally doing it.
The Tao of Helping Others is his first book. It's about the people who saved his life — most of them without ever knowing it.
The crane stands alone, patient beneath the pine — enduring.
The Art Gallery
Original artwork by Dustin Swartz. Paintings, sketches, and visual work from a life lived intensely.
"My only goal is to share the experiences in hopes that it might stir your feelings and make you laugh and cry and gasp in shock — essentially having a good time."
— Dustin Swartz