Do You Feel a Spiritual Connection with the Woods?

[woodspirits]

5 pages of diatribe and the jurys still out... and will be untill 'science' grudgingly theorises, proves and accepts. oh and generally takes the credit. untill then its a brave soul who dares to bare his finer feelings only to be interrogated and ridiculed, each to their own.

 

[lucan]

Do i feel a spiritual connection to the woods? No, i just enjoy being there, It's somewhere i've enjoyed going since childhood. It's somewhere i can relax and wind down.

Still, I'd never venture into Fangorn Forest with an axe.

 

[red devil]

I'm an atheist and don't have any time for anything 'spiritual', but I do feel a great sense of calm/peace/belonging when I'm in woodland - it's something to do with the sound of the wind in the trees, the song of birds, the smells of the damp soil and grass, the connection with nature. I love the woods and have since I was a small boy making my first campfire to dry myself after falling in the river off a rope swing.
It's not my place to comment on other people's opinions about such matters; I merely observe that discussions about spirituality or faith always seem to descend into arguments.
Steve

Sent from my Nexus 7 using Tapatalk HD

 

[presterjohn]

I avoided posting on this thread for a while but I have had a couple of pints so am less reticent now. I do not see a spiritual anything in anything. Nature is a bitch and cares nothing for me and would let me die in a without even registering my presence. The forests care not if I thrive in them the sea cares not if I drown in it.

I take pleasure from the natural splendor of the wild of our forests and woods and the shores of our land and enjoy and revel in the fact that a bit of reading learning and practicing certain techniques and skills gives me a tad more ability to survive in these environments than the average 21st century man.

Being able to enjoy the simple pleasures of a wood fire and and a setting sun is a wonderful thing and I appreciate these things very much but the idea of spirits and Gods is just ludicrous to to me and totally unsubstantiated by any actual evidence.

 

[mountainm]

Also an atheist, but I think it's possible to have a feeling right in the core of your being. Call it awe, call it spirituality, call it hyper awareness. Call it Geoffrey for all I care.

I get that feeling when I look up at the stars and marvel at my own insignificance. When I watch a fish leap from a millpond. When I gaze up into the arches of a cathedral and think of the work and craftsmanship it all took. When my kids laugh from pure joy.

For me, no not spirituality. But I can see how it could easily be interpreted that way.

 

[Gray]

Also an atheist, but I think it's possible to have a feeling right in the core of your being. Call it awe, call it spirituality, call it hyper awareness. Call it Geoffrey for all I care.

I get that feeling when I look up at the stars and marvel at my own insignificance. When I watch a fish leap from a millpond. When I gaze up into the arches of a cathedral and think of the work and craftsmanship it all took. When my kids laugh from pure joy.

For me, no not spirituality. But I can see how it could easily be interpreted that way.

i can relate to this, until quite recently i took all these things for granted. Now i just feel glad to be part of it, its not spiritual, i sort of just blend with it.

 

[Gray]

Heres a question, if your not a religious person, does that mean you cant have a spiritual connection towards anything?

 

[Lister]

Heres a question, if your not a religious person, does that mean you cant have a spiritual connection towards anything?

Being religious and having a belief in something higher/better than yourself aren't mutually exclusive so i would say you don't have to be religious to have connections to things higher/better than yourself.

 

[John Fenna]

Heres a question, if your not a religious person, does that mean you cant have a spiritual connection towards anything?

It depends on your definition of "religion". If you go with Burnett-Tylor then no you cant... if you go with Geertz then yes you can! I go with Geertz's definition and although not religious in those terms I have a strong sense of the "Spiritual".

 

[Gray]

It seems during this thread some of us are connecting the two. I'm not religious, by that that I dont go to church or pray to god, for me the jurys out on whether or not there is or isnt a god. However i do believe there is life after death in some way or another because i have experienced the sighting of a spirit or at least what i believe to be a spirit. Theres probably a scientific explanation for what i've experienced, maybe its an energy thats left behind when somebody passes over, i dont know. What i do know is that i dont relate it to god or religion in any way but for me it was a spiritual experience.

 

[Corso]

For me I think its more getting 'further away' rather than 'closer too'

In so much as getting to the woods (or many other past times) allow that bit of head space away from modern trappings.

I feel the same peace when I'm fishing, shooting my bow, training in MA, or just going for a nice long walk.

maybe sometimes that peace is given a spiritual link (as an explination) but for the most part I feel its just turning the (stress) brainwaves down enought to realy notice what's around us.

 

[_mark_]

In some UK woods I feel welcome and at peace, in others I feel unwelcome, sometimes even a sense of hostility?

 

[Gray]

In some UK woods I feel welcome and at peace, in others I feel unwelcome, sometimes even a sense of hostility?

aah yes, for me thats definitely spiritual. Never experienced it in woods before but i have in some old buildings were I've worked in the past. I cant connect it to religion though.

 

[Swallow]

For me I think its more getting 'further away' rather than 'closer too'

In so much as getting to the woods (or many other past times) allow that bit of head space away from modern trappings.

I feel the same peace when I'm fishing, shooting my bow, training in MA, or just going for a nice long walk.

maybe sometimes that peace is given a spiritual link (as an explination) but for the most part I feel its just turning the (stress) brainwaves down enought to realy notice what's around us.

aah yes, for me thats definitely spiritual. Never experienced it in woods before but i have in some old buildings were I've worked in the past. I cant connect it to religion though.

I only mentioned the word religion and in doing so what I was trying to point to was that it about connection according to the root, and so a process of getting somewhere.

What I was trying to point to might better have been expressed by a Point Break quote

You still haven't figured out what riding waves is all about have you? It's where you lose yourself and you find yourself.

Also not mentioned so far is that fire flickers at right frequency to put your Brain into the Alpha Wave state. A daydreamy sort of state.

 

[rik_uk3]

Camping in the woods is a different sensory experience than being at home IMHO, the brain is bombarded with different smells and sounds et al and rushes around trying to balance it all out, its not 'spiritual' its just different from 'normal'. Ever had the whole family away for a weekend and spent time alone at home? It 'feels' very different, the usual stimuli are not there.

What we should really be saying is that its just blooming nice to get away for a break.

 

[santaman2000]

For me I think its more getting 'further away' rather than 'closer too'

In so much as getting to the woods (or many other past times) allow that bit of head space away from modern trappings.

I feel the same peace when I'm fishing, shooting my bow, training in MA, or just going for a nice long walk.

maybe sometimes that peace is given a spiritual link (as an explination) but for the most part I feel its just turning the (stress) brainwaves down enought to realy notice what's around us.

Isn't that pretty close to the same thing as a "spiritual retreat?" Or a "religious retreat?"

 

[Samon]

For me I think its more getting 'further away' rather than 'closer too'

In so much as getting to the woods (or many other past times) allow that bit of head space away from modern trappings.

I feel the same peace when I'm fishing, shooting my bow, training in MA, or just going for a nice long walk.

maybe sometimes that peace is given a spiritual link (as an explination) but for the most part I feel its just turning the (stress) brainwaves down enought to realy notice what's around us.

Isn't that pretty close to the same thing as a "spiritual retreat?" Or a "religious retreat?"

Enter.. the man cave! I use my shed as a place to sit down in, clear my head and drink my beers. I used to do that in the wilds but I moved and no longer have them as close as they once were (7 minute walk now, instead of 3! lol), but find time to get away from the noise this way instead.

I don't think I'm alone in thinking 'spiritual' anything sounds a bit.. hmm. So I'd say Corso hit the nail pretty well there, atleast for me anyway.

I do have a simular question to the OP though, do men need time in their man caves/retreats more than women? I genuinely think we do..

 

[Elen Sentier]

... time to get away from the noise this way instead. ... I do have a simular question to the OP though, do men need time in their man caves/retreats more than women? I genuinely think we do..

I find I need even more time-out than my man does and perhaps a lot more than most people. I would loathe to live in a city or town or even a village, or indeed have any neighbours at all (we don't). I need a lot of space. Perhaps I'm unusual in this ... or maybe, as a friend told me recently when I told all friends to leave me alone, I'm just more honest and up front about it

 

[Corso]

Isn't that pretty close to the same thing as a "spiritual retreat?" Or a "religious retreat?"

I wouldn't say so no. They are manmade constructs designed by others which seem to be designed to make the participent believe they are having an experience when in all honesty they are just being allowed to 'be' without the baggage. Adding all the fluff just helps the illusion, justfy the expense and feed the need so people come back.

 

[Swallow]

I wouldn't say so no. They are manmade constructs designed by others which seem to be designed to make the participent believe they are having an experience when in all honesty they are just being allowed to 'be' without the baggage. Adding all the fluff just helps the illusion, justfy the expense and feed the need so people come back.

Aren't you always having an experience? And isn't it only our thinking that seeks to categorise those experiences?