Brent Baccala said he is a Christ-serving monk devoted to obedience to the commandments and helping others. Baccala described the robe he wears as monastic attire, or an outward symbol of his devotion to God.
“When you wear a suit and tie, you want to present yourself as professional,” Baccala said. “Mormons wear a name tag to show they’re missionaries. I wear my robe for the same reason. I want people to see me as a disciple of God.”
Baccala explained he began wearing a robe every day when he was living with a small spiritual community north of Fairbanks, Alaska, some time between 2011 and 2016. He said the community was led by Timothy Shouts, a man who had traveled the United States in the ‘70s preaching about Christ.
Baccala described the community as, “Totally off the grid. [We had] no electricity except what came from a few solar panels; we used wood stoves, and everybody lived in cabins they’ve built themselves. It’s a bit of a harsh lifestyle.
“At one point, [Shouts] asked me if I wanted to wear a robe and I said yes,” he continued. Baccala said he wore the robe into tatters until a seamstress friend offered to make him a new one he still wears to this day.
Baccala said he strives to live his life as the Savior taught in Matthew 19:21, “…If thou wilt be perfect, go and sell that thou hast, and give to the poor, and thou shalt have treasure in heaven: and come and follow me.”
He said he has taken the Savior’s council to heart, and his only earthly possessions are his tent at Malaekahana Beach – his mattress, robe, laptop, cell phone, and a few other small things he keeps in his tent.
Inspired to take up his nonmaterial lifestyle in 1992 when he was 23, Baccala said he was led by the Holy Spirit to ride a bicycle across America. He began in New Jersey and rode all the way to Arizona, stopping to visit different spiritual communities along the way. At the end of his trip, he felt impressed to give away his bike and all he had with him.
Since his trip, Baccala described his commitment to nonmaterialism as a progression and a struggle. He said, “A lot has happened [since the trip]. For example, when I was 33,my father died and I received a $30,000 inheritance.
Some of it I spent on myself. Some of it I gave away. [This] included two cars I bought, drove for a while, and finally gifted each of them to two different people. After I gave the last car away, all of that money was gone.”
Baccala said when he decided to purge his life of his worldly possessions, technology proved to be one of his biggest hurdles. “My computer and work were the hardest things to give up,” he said, “I had so much self-identity in my work [as a computer programmer] and my computer. After I had decided to sell my it, I prepared an add on craigslist; $250 or best offer.
“Before I even put the ad up, a friend of mine called me up, gave me a bank card number with $500,” Baccala continued. “He said I could keep the computer and keep using it, but I couldn’t sell it and I couldn’t give it away. The hand of God works through other people. He tests us and was seeing if I would hold on to my material things. Then he came through last minute and blessed me.”
With the computer he is now perpetually borrowing from his friend, Baccala continues to work as a computer programmer. Staying true to his conviction, all the programming he does is completely free.
Baccala does much of his programming at BYU-Hawaii because he said he liked to work in a college environment. When he moved from Alaska to Hawaii in mid-2016, he first lived in Wahiawa, but didn’t find the environment to be what he was looking for. He was debating between BYU-Hawaii and the University of Hawaii, and ended up choosing the former of the two due to it being a Christian university.
He said a friend who had previously lived in Laie for a couple of years had recommended checking out a few hot spots around town like the Aloha Center and Laie Point. Baccala said, “I went over to Hukilau Beach and there were some guys there drinking kava who told me about some homeless people. I thought it looked like a reasonable spot, so I had a friend of mine help me move a couple days later with his pickup truck.”
Baccala said meeting his every day needs require a lot of prayer. Much of his prayer is simply expressing his gratitude. Gratitude for the tent he has, being able to live on a beach in Hawaii, and so on. “I camped homeless in
Alaska in December. I’ll take my beach front property on Oahu with a nice breeze that keeps the mosquitoes down.
“I shower at the beach park, which is really nice. They’re cold showers, but a shower is a shower so I shower every day. There’s foodbanks; there’s a woman who works at McDonalds who… will sometimes help me out with a free cup of coffee or a sandwich.” When doing laundry, Baccala said he has a friend in BYUH’s IT department who will regularly lend his washing machine for Baccala’s robe.
This is the second time Baccala has lived in Hawaii. He said he first moved here in 2010 when he was putting the finishing touches on a novel he had been writing. According to Baccala, his book, “Icarus Wing,” is a fictional story of a Christian revolution which takes place in Hawaii. A good portion of his motivation in moving to Hawaii was to get a first-hand experience of what it was like to live here, so he could incorporate it into his story.
“Icarus Wing,” as well as several of Baccala’s essays and blog entries can be read for free on his website, www.freesoft.org.
Writer: Alex Maldonado