"wilderness Can Change A Man"

"WILDERNESS can CHANGE a Man"
__________________________________________________

There is a real transformation that can metamorphose within a man who is alone in the wilderness. He can exit the wilderness fragile, very fragile, he is no longer sure where that which is himself ends and that which is not himself starts.

Everything is kind of fuzzy, and has a softness about it, all things appear slightly blurred to the eye, like after one has been crying, and it can be hard to distinguish where one object stops and another object starts.

He feels weak and vulnerable, but centered. In fact he is stronger, but the feeling of weakness, and vulnerability comes from the loss of arrogance.

There is a clarity about the perfection of everything. Sounds are crisper, colors are different, there are so many more (new) colors now.

He feels as if he is looking through things and through people, this is a very uncomfortable experience, he tries to focus, but he just looks through everything.

Part of him wants to go back to the way it was, before being alone in the wilderness. But he also enjoys the bliss of how it is now. He wants to weep for no reason, but for the perfection of everything.

He has change, and can not change back to that which he was before, being alone in the wilderness.

I know not of drugs, but being alone in the wilderness, for long periods will change your perception of the universe. The universe is the same, but you have shifted to a place where you can see, with new eyes, a new heart, and a new empathy for all life. You have been born a second time, and are a child of the wilderness.

There was a time long ago, that a man was encouraged to go into the wilderness alone for a extended period, so that he might find wisdom about life. Sad it is discouraged today. Welcome home....welcome home. Home from the wilderness, for he is free to return at any time to your true nature.

NOTE: I wrote this based on my six months alone in the Alaska wilderness, in the early 70's. I was proving up on my federal homestead land grant.

 

Where is the "Other" ?

"WILDERNESS can CHANGE a LADY"

 

You know, for hundreds of thousands of years people lived in a world where they had hours and hours of silent contemplation. People used to have deep thoughts and lots of time to dwell on things. Walking along behind a mule doesn't require a lot of attention.

When I have gone alone into the woods and away from the sounds of the TV, Radios, other people and signs flying by as I drove I have experienced a reintroduction to myself. Without all the "clutter" my mind clears and I begin to slow down. Once I do this I begin to note things that normally I wouldn't have time to watch and see.

I learned about the importance of cooperation and accepting my place in the world from a copse of trees by watching them joust in the wind. At first, I thought that it was a slow-motion battle as they banged against each other. Later I came to understand that it was instead a discussion of needs and priorities. In a group of pine trees that are naturally growing, there will be a big tree and then that tree is surrounded by younger trees. The big older tree is bigger around in the trunk and also has a much larger canopy of limbs all the way around. The younger trees are very tall and not so thick in the trunk. As you get to know them you will note that they usually don't have their branches evenly distributed around and often have little to no branches on the side facing the older tree.

As you get to know them better you will not a similar if lesser adjustment between the younger trees. they try to grow and shade out their neighbors and as the winds blow they bang and bruise each other. They will drop lower limbs and then try to stretch out above the limbs lower on other trees.

What I came to understand was that what I at first saw was a group of trees fighting for supremacy was instead a cooperative group working together to be stronger and the dominant force in their little piece of the forest. The big center tree was it not for the support and windbreak provided by the surrounding younger trees would have too much foliage to survive the strong winds. The smaller trees also had the strength of the big tree to lean on or hide behind when the winds were strong. Between all of them, their foliage is so dense that there is little in the way of bushes, grasses, or invading trees tying to grow under them and compete for resources. Their community is far stronger when they are interwoven and supportive as a group that they would be if they were independently growing.

Native Americans sent their young men off for their vision quest. They would get to know themselves and learn from the world what their lace should be. when they returned they were better parts of the tribe than the young braves that had left. I see in most young men these days that lack. They have never gone off and met themselves and so don't know and instead are just children trying to ACT like adults but not really knowing how. When your strength and knowledge come from without instead of within it changes with the wind and lacks roots...

 

The answer to the OP is, for me, very simple, time in the wilderness will change a person, so will time in a prison cell, time meditating, time spent drinking, you get the general idea, we are cumulative totals of our life experiences.

Maybe we could be asking if time in the wilderness changes us for the better and how that is manifested?

 

Time spent alone and away from urgent distractions allows you to look in and meet yourself. When you do this you may see that there are changes that you need to make and the solitude will allow you to work on this. As you said, this can be found in many places.

 

I am a great believer in looking inside oneself and trying to become a better person. We are all flawed but can make better of ourselves with time and mindfulness

 

When I dropped out of so-called civilization and moved far away from it, I think I must have gone feral. Now, each time I visit the city, I feel a bit wild-eyed. Maybe it's a culture shock, remembering how mindless the rat-race is. I hurry home, breathe in the clean country air and feel grateful that I am just a simple country mouse, not a city rat going after big cheese. They can keep every bit of it. I am privileged and blessed to wake up to birdsongs, not sirens; to watch fireflies and stars, not street lights and flashing signs; to sit on the porch shelling peas, not waiting in line for a can of peas...

A woman named Brooke Hampton once said, "Life sucks a lot less when you add mountain air, a campfire and some peace and quiet."



.

 

I used to live in a type of wilderness. I built a GOOD (Get Out Of Dodge) shack between 2 national metro centers, Washington, D.C. and Hampton Roads. This is on the western shore area of the Chesapeake Bay. This area used to get listed in the "amphib" category like the shoreline areas of Lake Superior. Other types of categories had the Great Smokey Mountains of North Carolina and the windy Green Mountains of New Hampshire on lists similar to the lists of the "amphib" places.

Over 3 decades ago, my area was rural - real rural - and I met "locals" who told when the main road to the pre-Civil War court house got paved with asphalt pre-WWII.

Over these 3 decades, like the rest of the world, there were changes. One change I remember happening was the increased non-commercial aircraft flying between the 2 mentioned national metro centers. Over the 3 decades, it increased.

"you may leave for 4 days in space," ... or the wilderness
"but when you return, it's the same old place..."

My still rural area could not qualify as "wilderness" as I categorize the terms but it was not "urban" nor "suburban".

"I can't twist the truth, it knows no regulation,"
"Handful of Senators don't pass legislation"

Barry McGuire

Recall General Sir Hackett's book "World War III" - waged near where ever you are dwelling - 15 miles up.

It is not just "The eastern world, it is exploding,..." Non-eastern quadrants are also.

Prep a kit, have a plan and teach all this to the children.

 

I find the concept of a prepper not being able to live in a city fascinating. To me one of the keys to survival is the ability to adapt. I have live in the cities, in small towns and on the edge of vast wilderness. I have decided preferences ... I do not like cities at all ... but could I live there? Yes.

Maybe you all are just speaking hyperbole when you say you could not do so

 

Good morning Innkeeper,

A survivor, a prepper, a real practitioner of this, can make diligent and prudent efforts to live in most environments.

Think of Toronto and New York City. Ten miles from an ultra-urban area yields a lake re Toronto, Jamaica Bay, Long Island Sound and the Atlantic Ocean re NYC. These shorelines and the adjacent urban environment requires the same/similar principles to survive.