You know sometimes people ask me why I walk; usually it’s folk that I work with, friends or general acquaintances. These folk seem to have one thing in common and that is they have appeared to have lost their connection with Mother Nature. Now don’t mis-understand me here I’m one of the least qualified to lecture folk about how to lead their lives and lets not be forgetting it has taken me years of trying to live in, and be successful at the ‘rat race’ before realising that it is truly in unimportant and there are far more rewarding things to be done with my life.
I have to admit that these days I do not think all that often about the reasons why I walk or just enjoy being outdoors because I guess it’s becoming second nature to me. But sometimes when I’m on the trial certain thoughts come to me, usually triggered by something seen, smelt or heard in the deepest part of the woods when all feelings of being part of the most destructive species this world has known fade from my senses.
It can the simplest of things that trigger the warm glow of belonging to nature that fill with a sense of utter contentment and inner warmth, rather like a dung beetle being first on the scene of a mound of fresh cow shit I guess. Take the other day, I’m dawdling along some scarce walked trail through the woods, the Warthog now doing her customary blasting through the surrounding cover (anywhere but the path it seems), when a though hit me. I guess it was brought on by a visit to my dad’s and realising once more that my parents are not immortal, so I had headed to the trails in a slightly sombre mood. But one thing I then thought, as I meandered deeper into the undergrowth, everything has a time limit no matter how hard we wish it wasn't so sometimes. But then as my vision was caressed by the freshness of the rain soaked fauna in the dappled sunlight I thought ‘yes everything does eventually pass, but then from this rebirth happens’. You only have to sit a look around you when in the woods to see long dead trees, whether brought down by man or by nature’s storms but over time these are absorbed back into the cycle and give life back from their death.
It made me smile inwardly at my earlier sombre mood and think to myself ‘take the day for what it is’. Sadness will indeed touch me with the passing of time but it won’t stop me smiling at the joys, messages and tales a walk with nature brings me. I now realise why I walk, it’s the primitive deep within me; fill my belly with simple food n ale, let me sleep when I’m truly knackered, let me feel the love of family n friends, let me hold and be held by my Clare and let me taste, see n feel all that nature throws my way and I’m a happy man. Primitive n simple? Oh damn right but there is no harm, I feel, in asking for the simplest of things from life;- it’ll do for me that’s for sure.
I guess this post has been a tad meandering but hey, it is what it is and if you like it then all the better, and if you don’t? Well there is always the cancel button but I’m not going to worry about it one way or the other ;o)
Till the next time, take good care my friends,
John
9 comments:
For a man who often says that he just doesn't have a way with words, that was a darn fine post!
I know where you're coming from John, as I have been in kind of the same moods lately. I wonder if it's the fading moon...?
Anyway, sounds to me like you have hold of everything as well as you can, and that's really all you can do, and all we can hope you can do.
Take care and stay sane! :O) As best you can, of course.
I guess most of us, especially those who like to tramp the woods, have our primitive side. It’s where we come from, and we feel at home there. I know I like to just sit and watch, and see what is going on around me. I still hunt and like most wild game meat. Enjoy the flavor of meat cooked over an open fire, a bed of coals actually. Trout dusted with salt and garlic powder, and fried in butter. I’ve never spent time in a camp where I was really ready to go home. I guess some would call it going back to the “real world”, but to me that is the real world. Anything else is just something manufactured.
Primitive to me is the word used by the rest of the world to try and belittle those who choose not to go down the same path as them.
'What? You don't have a 100" TV in every room? How primitive!" For example.
Well if living in balance with the planet rather than fully against it makes me primitive, I am putting myself down for a lifetime subscription and free t shirt.
Happy to be part of the gang.
I have occasionally been asked "how can I learn to get close enough to touch a wild animal as you do". My answere is not easily. First you have to become as one with the environment, you have to realise that you are just another animal. That is just the start.
There was no life on earth before there were trees to create oxygen, it makes you think doesn't it.
There are a lot of people out there that just wish it would all hit the fan, anything to create absolute freedom, a chance to go back in time when we were more conserned with survival than worrying about paying all the bills.
http://woodsrunnersdiary.blogspot.com/
Kind words Mr. Smythe, kind words indeed.
Casey,
As sane as I’ll ever be my friend, maybe the moon’s phases does have more affect upon us than we know?
Bob,
There is nothing better than food fresh from the wild, whether it be food for the stomach, eyes or soul. I agree with you that we seem to have lost touch with where we came from and have ‘manufactured’ a world that most take as the norm…
Eh up Damn,
Ah primitive man T shirt, now there is an idea!!! Let’s hope this ‘primitive gang’ continues to grow.
Keith,
It is certainly not easy reverting back to nature, but I wonder how far the ‘step back in time’ should go? After all we all have different ideas as well as skills if this scenario occurred, but how many would truly be able to cope? I think that folk such as yourself who participate in the older ways of living would have the most chance of finding peace through the anarchy of an apocalypse.
Thanks all for the comments; it’s nice to feel kindred spirits out there.
John
Outdoors among nature, simply the best place to be. I'm with you all the way there.
Hi John. When I was a kid and was asked "why do you do that?", I always answered "because". Covered most everything.
Mark
MQ - thank you me dear.
Hey Mark,
Mmmmm I wonder if I could use that when my irrational and befuddled bosses are asking me why I cannot achieve the imposable?
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