The Ecstasy of Wilderness

There is a power that the multifaceted splendor of nature can create. David Cumes referred to this as “wilderness rapture”. I call it the ecstasy of wilderness. One can achieve profound shifts in awareness through the exposure to the elements and the diverse polarities that abound in the wild. In my experience, I have found that we need to experience the “whole” - from one extreme to the other to even begin to understand how we can achieve such ecstasy. From freezing to extreme heat, from wet to dry, from numerous days of solitude to experiencing solitude in a forest full of people. We have to find our own way to balance the opposites.

After spending years in the wilderness, from a few hours to over a month at a time, from being alone to going with people, I finally realized it was time for me to find other ways of experiencing wilderness more profoundly. A lot of people feel they have not had a wilderness experience at all if they have not encountered animals in the wild. It was just fine with me to not make physical or eye contact with and animal. It became enough just to be there and KNOW they were there as well.

John Muir said, “Only by going alone in silence can one truly get into the heart of the wilderness. All other travel is mere dust, hotels and baggage and chatter.” There is so much wisdom and experience in that statement.
When alone, you can enter the wilderness at YOUR choosing. You can approach it as if a child or seasoned shaman. The approach itself is in your total control. You may crawl like a baby, dance with the energies that reside there, touch the soul of a stream or become one with a mountain or a single tree. The choice is yours.

I think it was Martin Buber who wrote that “All men have access to God, but each man has a different access.” Sometimes I think my “access” is through a secret veil hidden in particular places in the wilderness. Lost Creek, Bearpen Branch, my dear Santeetlah….if there is not a solid cord reaching from my soup to the Gods in those sacred places, then surely no Gods exist. Some areas we visit can become so sacred to us. When one enters one of these areas, it is wise to honor them, if not for their magickal healing effect, then for one’s own sake in the hope that the Gods, spirits or energies of the place are not disturbed and in turn honor you for the respect you have shown.

Humans for the most part are hesitant to spend time alone. Some feel meditation, worship and contemplation are best done in a group setting. For some there is a fear of being alone, especially in the wilderness. Stories of mauling and attacks from bear, wolf, etc. place a fear among the majority. But if we look, how many more deaths, assaults, attacks occur in general population, in your own community, as compared to those things in the wilderness? Respect the wilderness, but never fear it. Respect solitude and never fear it. Once you reach a different psycho-spiritual space in the wild, it becomes second nature, it becomes you.

When I spent the majority of my time in the wilderness, I developed a storage of inner peace and harmony within myself. As time went by, after re-entering the “civilized, modern, social society”, this harmony would begin to dwindle. It would be time to go back, to make a restorative trip into nature to replenish myself. Only by doing this am I able to function in a healthy manner in “normal” society. It has become a part of me that society feeds on at times, an energy required to survive in this modern world, and this energy must be replenished is I am to survive. I realize all cannot “return” to the wilderness. However, connecting with nature and our more primitive roots in some small way is always a healthy start.

Wilderness to come is something to be conquered, rather than being a sacred space. This thought process can often be a deadly one, to oneself, to the inner soul and to wilderness itself. If you look at wilderness as a reality, as a sacred experience, the feeling and need to “conquer” will subside. Some people allow “ego” to control them, especially when with a group. This is why it is best to enter the wilderness alone at times. One can let go of that “ego”, of “self”, and release the feeling that it must be “conquered”. By doing this, you are free to feel, touch, taste and experience the reverence of wilderness freely. “Ego” dissolves us. IT can be the single most dangerous factor leading to disaster situations in the wilderness. We must become a PART of the wilderness for it to bestow its benefits. You must feel, touch, smell and taste, as well as see and hear it. Wilderness has been used for spiritual growth through the ages.

One cannot fight the difficulties of modern day society without the help of some method of going inward.

Wilderness can provide that method.

“Wilderness hold the answers to the questions we do not yet know how to ask” ~ David Brower