Fredfredson
04-18-2004, 11:23 PM
Found this on ROE2 today.
Very interesting and very true.
So Mote it Be
F
:pooter
Date: Sat, 17 Apr 2004 21:52:39 -0000
From: "Lise Maring" <ldmaring@earthlink.net>
Subject: On Becoming a Primitive
There is an unspoken assumption that, while it would be impossible
for a "primitive" to become a member of our society, we can always
escape to the woods and become a "primitive", as if being
a "primitive" means being a simpleton. If this is what you believe,
then go right ahead and walk into the woods with no backpack and
maybe just a knife at your belt, and stay there for four days. If you
can't bear the thought of going in there without a backpack full of
special equipment, foods, and water, then you are as tied to
civilization as the scuba diver is to his/her air tanks, and you are
far from being comfortable with, nor do you trust, Mother Nature.
If you've ever stood at the edge of the wilderness and really opened
yourself up to what was before you, then you've felt it....that
awesome power of the life force that is Mother Earth. You can smell
it, see it, feel the weight of it, sense it swirling all around you.
It fills all of your senses and if you are not prepared for the
intensity can send you running back to your car and human
civilization. It is something older than human time and more
powerful than any "tinkertoy" human technology can invent and even an
environment full of humans doesn't even come close to generating that
same level of force, that same feeling. If you don't feel it, and
you go in there with the idea that you are superior and you are going
to tame Mother Nature or conquer her, save yourself the pain (and
possibly death) and stay home.
Do you know how it is when two people know each other so well that
they can finish each other's sentences? That's how well you need to
get to know Mother Nature. If you can't finish her sentences fast
enough without having to stop to "think" about it, she may just
finish it for you and it may be the last sentence you'll ever hear.
Being out in the wilderness is not just a different way of life, its
a different way of "operating". This is where logic and analytical
thinking are not necessarily an asset and could actually get you
killed. The thinking and coping skills you learned in school are to
be used in an industrial, concrete-covered society, not the
wilderness.
Native peoples grow up with Mother Earth, learn her every mood, the
subtle signs of coming bad weather and of the different seasons, how
animals live, where they are most likely to be. They know every twig
in their surroundings. They don't THINK about all of this, they FEEL
it, and know it on a gut level and in their hearts. They spent years
learning their "trade" and chose to put their trust in Mother Nature
for their livelihood. We spent years learning our trades and we
chose to put our trust in human-generated organizations for our
livelihood.
Their rituals are more than just based in superstition as many
anthropologists used to think. Some of them are meant to be part of
the "outdoor classroom" their youngsters are "schooled" in. Always
facing your tipi to the east is not done out of superstition, like
throwing salt over your shoulder or saying "knock on wood". It is
done to help teach the youngsters about directions, so it
becomes "second nature". Same with the medicine wheel. Among other
things, it is also a teaching tool for the young as well as a
reminder for the adults. Scouts travelled for days in untouched
wilderness and somehow still managed to find their way back to their
people. No compasses, no GPS, no street
signs or route numbers. For us who were not schooled in Mother
Nature's ways, every tree starts looking the same in a very short
period of time. During my (Very) brief stint as a teacher, I found
out the (high school) kids in my class didn't even know where north
is, let alone which phase the moon was in at the time. I assigned
that one as homework. Do you know without having to look it up in an
almanac?
There is more to being a "primitive" than just learning how to make a
fire by rubbing two sticks together, which is no easy feat, by the
way, especially if you are not in very good physical condition, which
is most of us who sit in front of a computer all day. The skills you
may have learned as a boyscout/girlscout don't even scratch the
surface of getting you prepared for what you will be facing.
But...if this is the path you feel you have been called to, and you
have
no experience, start now to acclimate yourself and do it every
weekend,
rain or shine, warm or cold. If you didn't grow up in the
wilderness,
you are at a huge disadvantage, one that could literally kill you.
Mother Earth has little patience for human arrogance and know-it- alls.
If you aren't paying attention to her every moment you are out there,
that one split-second of distraction could be the difference between
walking out of the woods and limping out....or not walking out at
all.
We are used to a human-generated environment. We surround ourselves
with it, wallow in it. There are days when our feet never even touch
the earth. Some of us don't even pay much attention at all to what
our feet are doing and assume the path will be completely free of all
obstructions. After all, if it isn't and we trip and fall, we could
probably sue someone, right? Have you ever tried to watch your feet,
watch what's coming up in front of you and still look all around all
at the same time? Unfortunately for us, the wilderness happens to be
a cluttered "mess". So get used to doing this. You can't sue Mother
Nature.
There are some of us who don't have windows in our workplace and
don't even know if its sunny or raining. Some of us don't even
breathe any air that hasn't gone through some kind of machine first
before getting to our lungs. Our environment is flat, linear,
square. We walk down straight corridors, drive down long linear
roads, live in square houses, work in square, usually small cubicles
or offices. Have square pictures on the wall, read rectangular books
of black ink on white paper, sit in front of a flat, rectangular
computer screen, and on and on it goes. We no longer have much of an
eye for natural detail because our world doesn't have the subtlety,
richness, variety, depth of shapes and colors that you find out in
the wilderness. And out in the wilderness, its what you don't see
that can kill you.
In actuality, We no longer really use all of our senses at all and
pretty much depend on sight. As a matter of fact, we depend on it so
much that we feel as if we live right there behind our eyeballs and
tend to forget about the rest of our bodies unless something hurts
someplace. When I was involved with environmental education, I would
take a bunch of kids on a hike, then sit them down and ask them what
they could hear. The first things they noticed were the sounds of the
cars on the highway not too far away and the sound of planes
overhead. Finally, when they could filter those out, they started
hearing birds, the wind, the water flowing in a stream nearby. We
have a saying about not seeing something coming. In the wilderness,
that applies to hearing as well.
Finally, if you think catching and killing an animal for food, then
skinning it and preparing the hide to be used as clothing is a piece
of cake, then you've been watching too many Survivor shows on TV.
Building a trap and knowing where to put it involve several separate
skills. And when it comes to skills, practice may not make
perfect...but it may make it workable. Being able to build a working
trap involves an instinctive knowledge of geometry and physics. And
you have to have a feel for the materials you are working with. Can
you make cordage out of natural fibers? Can you make a tool to help
you cut saplings? Do you know where the rabbit will be tonight that
you want to catch? If you don't, the rabbit will be well-fed and
you'll be digging for grubs, assuming you know where to find them and
have something to dig with, that is.
But just the act of killing is a gut-wrenching experience. If it
isn't, then there is something wrong with you. "Primitives" had/have
many rituals having to do with hunting and killing. You can't take a
life without being reminded of your own mortality, after all. But
then true "Primitives" are also very philosophical about death and
accept it as part of life. These "Primitives" aren't where they are
because they are trying to run away from something. They're there
because its their home. They understand that the same life force
flows through all and that the death of one thing gives life to
something else and so it goes in an unending circle. You see, while
we of human civilization tend to think linearly, "Primitives" think
in circles and cycles.
Meanwhile, we in our sophisticated society, cower at the sight of
death, are forever trying to make ourselves younger-looking. Want
our kids to hurry up and grow up but then spirit our old people away
into "rest homes" and think once you're over 65 you have nothing more
to contribute. We isolate our dying in intensive care units,
attached to all kinds of machines and away from family and friends,
as if dying was a disease that one could catch, and we consider it a
failure when someone dies. We've become such a fearful society that
we don't even want our kids to go outside and play. We are obsessed
with germs and dirt and spend fortunes each year on cleaning
chemicals. And we pay out a hefty sum each month for life insurance,
car insurance, health insurance and I don't know what other kind of
insurance as if all of that could keep death from our door. On the
other hand, we watch more violence and killings, whether real or
acted out, on TV, and feel nothing. Do you think we have a true
understanding of what life and death are all about?
You know, sometimes I really have to wonder who the true "Primitives"
really are.
Lise
Newport News, VA (awaiting the arrival of the New Moon in a couple of
days)
"When we try to pick out anything by itself, we find it hitched to
everything else in the universe." --John Muir
Very interesting and very true.
So Mote it Be
F
:pooter
Date: Sat, 17 Apr 2004 21:52:39 -0000
From: "Lise Maring" <ldmaring@earthlink.net>
Subject: On Becoming a Primitive
There is an unspoken assumption that, while it would be impossible
for a "primitive" to become a member of our society, we can always
escape to the woods and become a "primitive", as if being
a "primitive" means being a simpleton. If this is what you believe,
then go right ahead and walk into the woods with no backpack and
maybe just a knife at your belt, and stay there for four days. If you
can't bear the thought of going in there without a backpack full of
special equipment, foods, and water, then you are as tied to
civilization as the scuba diver is to his/her air tanks, and you are
far from being comfortable with, nor do you trust, Mother Nature.
If you've ever stood at the edge of the wilderness and really opened
yourself up to what was before you, then you've felt it....that
awesome power of the life force that is Mother Earth. You can smell
it, see it, feel the weight of it, sense it swirling all around you.
It fills all of your senses and if you are not prepared for the
intensity can send you running back to your car and human
civilization. It is something older than human time and more
powerful than any "tinkertoy" human technology can invent and even an
environment full of humans doesn't even come close to generating that
same level of force, that same feeling. If you don't feel it, and
you go in there with the idea that you are superior and you are going
to tame Mother Nature or conquer her, save yourself the pain (and
possibly death) and stay home.
Do you know how it is when two people know each other so well that
they can finish each other's sentences? That's how well you need to
get to know Mother Nature. If you can't finish her sentences fast
enough without having to stop to "think" about it, she may just
finish it for you and it may be the last sentence you'll ever hear.
Being out in the wilderness is not just a different way of life, its
a different way of "operating". This is where logic and analytical
thinking are not necessarily an asset and could actually get you
killed. The thinking and coping skills you learned in school are to
be used in an industrial, concrete-covered society, not the
wilderness.
Native peoples grow up with Mother Earth, learn her every mood, the
subtle signs of coming bad weather and of the different seasons, how
animals live, where they are most likely to be. They know every twig
in their surroundings. They don't THINK about all of this, they FEEL
it, and know it on a gut level and in their hearts. They spent years
learning their "trade" and chose to put their trust in Mother Nature
for their livelihood. We spent years learning our trades and we
chose to put our trust in human-generated organizations for our
livelihood.
Their rituals are more than just based in superstition as many
anthropologists used to think. Some of them are meant to be part of
the "outdoor classroom" their youngsters are "schooled" in. Always
facing your tipi to the east is not done out of superstition, like
throwing salt over your shoulder or saying "knock on wood". It is
done to help teach the youngsters about directions, so it
becomes "second nature". Same with the medicine wheel. Among other
things, it is also a teaching tool for the young as well as a
reminder for the adults. Scouts travelled for days in untouched
wilderness and somehow still managed to find their way back to their
people. No compasses, no GPS, no street
signs or route numbers. For us who were not schooled in Mother
Nature's ways, every tree starts looking the same in a very short
period of time. During my (Very) brief stint as a teacher, I found
out the (high school) kids in my class didn't even know where north
is, let alone which phase the moon was in at the time. I assigned
that one as homework. Do you know without having to look it up in an
almanac?
There is more to being a "primitive" than just learning how to make a
fire by rubbing two sticks together, which is no easy feat, by the
way, especially if you are not in very good physical condition, which
is most of us who sit in front of a computer all day. The skills you
may have learned as a boyscout/girlscout don't even scratch the
surface of getting you prepared for what you will be facing.
But...if this is the path you feel you have been called to, and you
have
no experience, start now to acclimate yourself and do it every
weekend,
rain or shine, warm or cold. If you didn't grow up in the
wilderness,
you are at a huge disadvantage, one that could literally kill you.
Mother Earth has little patience for human arrogance and know-it- alls.
If you aren't paying attention to her every moment you are out there,
that one split-second of distraction could be the difference between
walking out of the woods and limping out....or not walking out at
all.
We are used to a human-generated environment. We surround ourselves
with it, wallow in it. There are days when our feet never even touch
the earth. Some of us don't even pay much attention at all to what
our feet are doing and assume the path will be completely free of all
obstructions. After all, if it isn't and we trip and fall, we could
probably sue someone, right? Have you ever tried to watch your feet,
watch what's coming up in front of you and still look all around all
at the same time? Unfortunately for us, the wilderness happens to be
a cluttered "mess". So get used to doing this. You can't sue Mother
Nature.
There are some of us who don't have windows in our workplace and
don't even know if its sunny or raining. Some of us don't even
breathe any air that hasn't gone through some kind of machine first
before getting to our lungs. Our environment is flat, linear,
square. We walk down straight corridors, drive down long linear
roads, live in square houses, work in square, usually small cubicles
or offices. Have square pictures on the wall, read rectangular books
of black ink on white paper, sit in front of a flat, rectangular
computer screen, and on and on it goes. We no longer have much of an
eye for natural detail because our world doesn't have the subtlety,
richness, variety, depth of shapes and colors that you find out in
the wilderness. And out in the wilderness, its what you don't see
that can kill you.
In actuality, We no longer really use all of our senses at all and
pretty much depend on sight. As a matter of fact, we depend on it so
much that we feel as if we live right there behind our eyeballs and
tend to forget about the rest of our bodies unless something hurts
someplace. When I was involved with environmental education, I would
take a bunch of kids on a hike, then sit them down and ask them what
they could hear. The first things they noticed were the sounds of the
cars on the highway not too far away and the sound of planes
overhead. Finally, when they could filter those out, they started
hearing birds, the wind, the water flowing in a stream nearby. We
have a saying about not seeing something coming. In the wilderness,
that applies to hearing as well.
Finally, if you think catching and killing an animal for food, then
skinning it and preparing the hide to be used as clothing is a piece
of cake, then you've been watching too many Survivor shows on TV.
Building a trap and knowing where to put it involve several separate
skills. And when it comes to skills, practice may not make
perfect...but it may make it workable. Being able to build a working
trap involves an instinctive knowledge of geometry and physics. And
you have to have a feel for the materials you are working with. Can
you make cordage out of natural fibers? Can you make a tool to help
you cut saplings? Do you know where the rabbit will be tonight that
you want to catch? If you don't, the rabbit will be well-fed and
you'll be digging for grubs, assuming you know where to find them and
have something to dig with, that is.
But just the act of killing is a gut-wrenching experience. If it
isn't, then there is something wrong with you. "Primitives" had/have
many rituals having to do with hunting and killing. You can't take a
life without being reminded of your own mortality, after all. But
then true "Primitives" are also very philosophical about death and
accept it as part of life. These "Primitives" aren't where they are
because they are trying to run away from something. They're there
because its their home. They understand that the same life force
flows through all and that the death of one thing gives life to
something else and so it goes in an unending circle. You see, while
we of human civilization tend to think linearly, "Primitives" think
in circles and cycles.
Meanwhile, we in our sophisticated society, cower at the sight of
death, are forever trying to make ourselves younger-looking. Want
our kids to hurry up and grow up but then spirit our old people away
into "rest homes" and think once you're over 65 you have nothing more
to contribute. We isolate our dying in intensive care units,
attached to all kinds of machines and away from family and friends,
as if dying was a disease that one could catch, and we consider it a
failure when someone dies. We've become such a fearful society that
we don't even want our kids to go outside and play. We are obsessed
with germs and dirt and spend fortunes each year on cleaning
chemicals. And we pay out a hefty sum each month for life insurance,
car insurance, health insurance and I don't know what other kind of
insurance as if all of that could keep death from our door. On the
other hand, we watch more violence and killings, whether real or
acted out, on TV, and feel nothing. Do you think we have a true
understanding of what life and death are all about?
You know, sometimes I really have to wonder who the true "Primitives"
really are.
Lise
Newport News, VA (awaiting the arrival of the New Moon in a couple of
days)
"When we try to pick out anything by itself, we find it hitched to
everything else in the universe." --John Muir