The Voyage of Discovery

Individually and collectively as the human race as well as all life on and of the earth, we are constantly discovering things from the moment we are conceived and maybe long even before that. It is always convenient to limit consciousness to when a child talks but I have memory long before that quite clearly. However, it is of course a different type of consciousness than most of us who are civilized relate to.

For example, I have lived far from civilization for months at a time without electricity for the most part and 10 miles from the nearest small town with my wife and three children during the early 1980s. We did this by choice and home schooled our kids. During this time we experienced our senses slow down but also open much wider than is helpful or safe if one is living in the speedy city. I found it became natural to view the wild forest as a part of me. As my senses slowed down I became more and more a part of the forest and the forest became more a part of me. It could be said that I experienced while I was in the wilderness, strength and unification and communication from the forest to me and from me to the forest. I experience this now from living remotely there now anytime I am near the ocean a forest or in the desert away from major civilization. I am usually as at peace in the wilderness of forest, sea or desert as I am uncomfortable in big cities with smog. Cities, I find to be mostly sources of confusion and out of touchedness and the remaining wild places tend to be places of spiritual refuge.

I find people in cities must many times use alcohol or drugs to cope (both legal and illegal) whereas out in the country that isn't really necessary if one knows how to commune with nature. For example, if you are in distress you can walk up to a friendly tree and many times the tree or trees will take away your distress. Getting rid of distress is much harder to do deep in a city than it is walking along the ocean or being with nice trees in a forest.

In some ways the fuel shortage and extremely high prices separate people living in the country and people living in the cities once again. This is both good and bad. It will be the hardest on the poor in the city and the poor in the country. It will also be hard on anyone who earns their living in regard to vacations or the travel business of any kind.

However, it will also reduce country smog(except for forest fires). It might be harder to afford to live in the country unless you are retired also. So more people will be in cities and suburbia just to make a living and going to the country will be a really big deal for those who don't live there already.

Learning to be comfortable in the wilderness, I have found is the essence of spirituality for me. When I learned to be comfortable in the wilderness, I also learned to be comfortable with myself. I learned not to panic. I learned to be nicer to myself and nicer to others. By learning to be at peace with myself in the wilderness, I also learned how to be a better father, husband and human being.

In the end we are all wild creatures. Accepting this is the beginning of self discovery. You have to accept your wildness before you can understand the necessity for self discipline as a being. Self discipline is meaningless without understanding wildness. Human beings are infinitely more than most people think!