Ongoing Process

OK, I don’t totally approve of this as I don’t endorse messing with random people who didn’t ask for it.  But it’s just too completely awesome to quibble about ethical details. 

On my way home from work…

I figured out that there’s a term for what it is that I’m wanting to learn about living in nature: bushcraft.  And it turns out that possibly the best bushcraft school in the country is right here in New England.

Jack Mountain

"We’re a bushcraft school and traditional Maine guide service based on a riverside homestead in Masardis, Maine. Unlike the large, national outdoor schools, our focus isn’t on traveling through the wilderness as an outsider or tourist using high-tech gear as an umbilical cord back to town. Instead we teach traditional bushcraft skills and nature lore that immerse you into the bush without a buffer, through which you learn that you’re an active part of the natural world, not an observer."

Very interesting…

This is a priceless sci-fi short from Terry Bisson.

They’re made out of Meat

I’ve had recurring impulses to learn some nature skills for a while now, but when I thought about actually doing it, it never felt right.  This morning I think I finally pinned it down.

In our culture, we’re accustomed to such things falling under "wilderness survival".  Implicit in this is that nature is "wild" and needs to be "survived".  It’s as if the non-human world were an enemy that must be out-maneuvered or defeated.  This is, of course, our attitude towards nature in general, so it’s no real surprise.

On the other hand, one could think about living in nature.  This is an entirely different perspective.  Here, nature is known to be inherently life-sustaining.  Of course, one needs to know how to go about it (illness and death being as natural as anything else).

There, then, I think is the answer to my seemingly conflicting impulses.  I was assuming I was feeling a call towards wilderness survival, but that couldn’t be further from the truth.  I was feeling drawn towards living in nature.

Now, if I can just figure out how to learn such things…