This piece eloquently describes what I experience whenever I’m in the woods or on a solo canoe trip. Thanks to age and a severely compromised spine, these adventures have become increasingly difficult and will likely be impossible soon. The inability to be in nature as I have for 70+ years is what I dread most about lies ahead. I have a sense of impending, profound loss. To all of you, get off your asses and get in the wilderness as much as possible while you can.
A closing pivot, I can help but notice with amusement the irony of this piece having been created on an electronic device for all of us to consume and appreciate on our electronic devices 😉.
Very true about the electronic device or the cell phone, Internet. Does anyone ever fast from your hand held device? I don’t much, it has become a part of me and it can be difficult to be without honestly. I do take walks without it periodically. When I’m with loved ones we try to do without. It has become uncomfortable and maybe unnatural to not have it. I find that unsettling but it is today’s reality. I think we been conditioned. Our brains are being rewired.
I think as you wrote getting away from modernity is helpful. At least it is for me but I’m introverted and sometimes think people are hell. Thank you for this Sub-stack and putting your thoughts on paper or screen.
How well I understand what you are saying. At the age of 71, several health challenges make time spent in nature, especially camping and hiking, very difficult, or impossible to do. Like you, it is a profound loss for me, as well. It is not the same, but I comfort myself with viewing online articles and photography of my favorite places in the Blue Ridge Mountains of Virginia and North Carolina. And fortunately I am still able to drive and the Blue Ridge Parkway offers a way to experience being in nature without hiking. I am grateful for that option. May your memories of your favorite wild places offer you moments of peace and calm.
Lovely writing🥰. I feel fortunate to live in the hills of Tuscany away from the city’s noisy confusion. I’m not completely isolated— I love stepping outside knowing other critters are watching me, though they are seen only occasionally. When I lived in the US I use to go camping alone with my dog, such pure serene happiness in northern woods. Thanks for sharing your journey into nature 🌿
My wife and I used to enjoy grabbing our gear and going camping.
As age grabs you, things have changed. We have a camper because things have changed. I need electricity for different things, but we still enjoy getting out. Do I need the things unfortunally yes but age crawls up on us before we know it.
Yes yes. i took a journey into the wild softness of Nature for myself: through your journey and words. Graceful perfect timing. Ahhh, I thank you for this
Let the glory of the world go where it will, the mind has its own glory. what it doth, endures. No man can serve many masters. And often the choice is not given you between greatness in the world & greatness of soul which you will choose, but both advantages are not compatible. The night is fine; the stars shed down their severe influences upon me and I feel a joy in my solitude that the merriment of vulgar society can never communicate. There is a pleasure in the thought that the particular tone of my mind at this moment may be new in the Universe; that the emotions of this hour may be peculiar & unexampled in the whole eternity of moral being. I lead a new life. I occupy new ground in the world of spirits, untenanted before. I commence a career of thought & action which is expanding before me into a distant & dazzling infinity. Strange thoughts start up like angels in my way & beckon me onward. I doubt not I tread on the highway that leads to the Divinity. And why shall I not be content with these thoughts & this being which give a majesty to my nature & forego the ambition to shine in the frivolous assemblies of men where the genuine objects of my ambition are not revered or known?
This is the most wonderful post packed with poetic and naturalistic wisdom. I am making my way home from the red mountains of Utah and a part of me was unleashed… that wants to stay out of her cage and learn from the wildness of this earth.
This piece eloquently describes what I experience whenever I’m in the woods or on a solo canoe trip. Thanks to age and a severely compromised spine, these adventures have become increasingly difficult and will likely be impossible soon. The inability to be in nature as I have for 70+ years is what I dread most about lies ahead. I have a sense of impending, profound loss. To all of you, get off your asses and get in the wilderness as much as possible while you can.
A closing pivot, I can help but notice with amusement the irony of this piece having been created on an electronic device for all of us to consume and appreciate on our electronic devices 😉.
Very true about the electronic device or the cell phone, Internet. Does anyone ever fast from your hand held device? I don’t much, it has become a part of me and it can be difficult to be without honestly. I do take walks without it periodically. When I’m with loved ones we try to do without. It has become uncomfortable and maybe unnatural to not have it. I find that unsettling but it is today’s reality. I think we been conditioned. Our brains are being rewired.
I think as you wrote getting away from modernity is helpful. At least it is for me but I’m introverted and sometimes think people are hell. Thank you for this Sub-stack and putting your thoughts on paper or screen.
How well I understand what you are saying. At the age of 71, several health challenges make time spent in nature, especially camping and hiking, very difficult, or impossible to do. Like you, it is a profound loss for me, as well. It is not the same, but I comfort myself with viewing online articles and photography of my favorite places in the Blue Ridge Mountains of Virginia and North Carolina. And fortunately I am still able to drive and the Blue Ridge Parkway offers a way to experience being in nature without hiking. I am grateful for that option. May your memories of your favorite wild places offer you moments of peace and calm.
Thank you. A heartfelt joy. Reading this is a mental hike through deep woods.
I enjoyed and savoured every word you wrote. It was a great start to my morning.
Thank you.
It was!
Lovely writing🥰. I feel fortunate to live in the hills of Tuscany away from the city’s noisy confusion. I’m not completely isolated— I love stepping outside knowing other critters are watching me, though they are seen only occasionally. When I lived in the US I use to go camping alone with my dog, such pure serene happiness in northern woods. Thanks for sharing your journey into nature 🌿
So true.. that nature is not quiet or still. It is quite alive and full of music.
My wife and I used to enjoy grabbing our gear and going camping.
As age grabs you, things have changed. We have a camper because things have changed. I need electricity for different things, but we still enjoy getting out. Do I need the things unfortunally yes but age crawls up on us before we know it.
Beautiful song of self Erik! Get lost on that journey. Its the only way home. Keep writing here. We need you! 🙏❤️
Indeed we do!
Your writing also summoms a strong sense of survival, which is so exhilirating.
Nature is a cathedral where God's Presence is known through the senses and the heart.
Yes yes. i took a journey into the wild softness of Nature for myself: through your journey and words. Graceful perfect timing. Ahhh, I thank you for this
Beautiful, loved the quotes, but I’d be a bit scared of the gators and snakes and extreme heat.
That is part do our running away from
Nature I think… how indiscriminate she is…. I was in Zion and the waters and stones would have eaten me alone if needed.
So relatable love this!
“revive that inner archaic spirit that resides in all of us.”
So many inspiring poems and quotes!
Thank-you for sharing an important reminder...enjoy!
Journal, Jan. 1827, St. Augustine, E. Florida
Let the glory of the world go where it will, the mind has its own glory. what it doth, endures. No man can serve many masters. And often the choice is not given you between greatness in the world & greatness of soul which you will choose, but both advantages are not compatible. The night is fine; the stars shed down their severe influences upon me and I feel a joy in my solitude that the merriment of vulgar society can never communicate. There is a pleasure in the thought that the particular tone of my mind at this moment may be new in the Universe; that the emotions of this hour may be peculiar & unexampled in the whole eternity of moral being. I lead a new life. I occupy new ground in the world of spirits, untenanted before. I commence a career of thought & action which is expanding before me into a distant & dazzling infinity. Strange thoughts start up like angels in my way & beckon me onward. I doubt not I tread on the highway that leads to the Divinity. And why shall I not be content with these thoughts & this being which give a majesty to my nature & forego the ambition to shine in the frivolous assemblies of men where the genuine objects of my ambition are not revered or known?
Ralph Waldo Emerson
This is the most wonderful post packed with poetic and naturalistic wisdom. I am making my way home from the red mountains of Utah and a part of me was unleashed… that wants to stay out of her cage and learn from the wildness of this earth.
Fantastic, I am blessed in that I live in a wilderness area and salmon, bears, loons, and eagles are my neighbors.
Great post and I have the greatest respect for what you do. 🙏