A bit Spiritual

[Long Stride]

Hard to put into words but does anyone else “ introduce “ themselves to an area of woodland that they are staying in?

I don’t mean talk to the trees but positive thoughts, that you are not going to do any harm to the plants and animals, that you are just passing through and will soon be on your way again.
A bit like asking for the woodlands permission to be there.

I always try to be another welcome visitor to the woodland rather than an intruder who will upset the balance of the area.

Maybe I do this is as I am usually on my own and it is a way of keeping at bay the “Jabberwocky” ( as mentioned in this thread www.bushcraftuk.com/forum/showthread.php?t=24855 ) or fear of what is out there that we can’t see.

Am I asking the trees for protection?
Is there something still inside us that connects us with our ancestors “fear” of the forest and caused them to leave offerings to woodland deities. ( I could be wrong here and would like to hear the correct reasons if I am)

Being out in the woods heightens your perception of things around you and how you fit in with them. It opens you up to being part of nature rather than sitting on the outside looking in.

The moment a wren stops its chirruping alarm call is always special to me as its silence means that it does not see me as a threat anymore.
Sitting listening and watching the woodland come alive as the wildlife get used to you is an amazing feeling.
Every piece of woodland is different – they have their own sights, sounds and smells.
The way sunlight passes through the trees as the sun makes its journey through the sky.
The sound of the trees moving as the wind changes direction.
The smell of the wild flowers or of the pine forest.

I also thank the woodland when I pack up and leave. Again, am I thanking the trees for keeping me safe and giving me shelter, or for allowing me the pleasure of experiencing a wonderful feeling in a wonderful place.

I am not a “tree hugger” unless I am tying a ridge line around a large tree.

So, why do I think I have to “ask permission” and say thank you?



Because deep down it feels the right thing to do.

Any thoughts anyone?

 

[copper_head]

yeah I completely agree with you there Long Stride, the woods arent generally the domain of humans anymore so its only right that we ask 'permission' from those creatures who do live there. Agian I am no tree hugger but I feel more connected to my surroundings in woodlands than I do anywhere else, and yes whenever its time to pitch camp I always take a moment to give out some 'good vibes' and let all around know im no threat.
I dont think this is necessarily a rational thing to do but certainly makes me feel more at peace, and enhances the experience for me as I then feel more at place and attuned to the area.
I dunno I suppose its how religious types feel at prayer, who knows maybe im just a hippy?

 

[Lodian]

Not as strong as you 2 but for me, when im at my local spot i often give the animals the right of way so to speak like if i see a squirrel and i konow its frightened by my presence i dont let my dog loose and chase after it(unless im hungry ) i tend to walk around or let it move first.
Perhaps its just me but i find after a day (now ive not been ou on my own yet always with friends but i tend to pitch away from them) nature does not see you as an intruder more of an inhabitant.

Ryan

 

[decorum]

Ah, the genius loci - meaning ‘the genius of the place’ which refers to an area’s presiding deity or spirit. Every place is supposed to have its own unique qualities; not just in terms of its physical makeup but in how it is perceived.

 

[Gailainne]

Interesting thoughts there, I dont think I consciously do it, BUT I always feel better in two locations, on waters edge, or under trees camping, preferably both, and its not unknown for me to enjoy the touch of old things, trees, standing stones, etc, whether I commune with them to any extent, I'm not sure, I like to think I have touched our and its past as well as present. My avatar is me sitting under such a tree, a magnificent Scots pine, right by the Loch side (Loch Lomond) I must admit that I have that photo printed a4 sitting in front of me at the office, along with a few others, it has chilled me more times than I can count, long may it continue.

I think I was lucky in that all my family enjoyed camping, so was introduced to it from an early age, and respect for the environment was part of that.

Giving out "good vibes" I think is part of that, respect for the area you are in, how you set up your camp, especially your fire, how you gain firewood, and most important how you leave your camp and fire site. "Leave it as you find it, as if you had never passed that way"

good motto to camp by, if not live by.

Someone who on occassion has actually hugged a tree, shrug so sue me

Stephen

 

[Jodie]

Just for the other side of the coin - no, not in the slightest - although I think your
(plural) attitude to your surroundings is great.

I've absent mindedly thanked elevators and hole-in-the-wall machines and if I'm
walking on a pavement and meet a pigeon I'll let it find its way rather than force
it out of mine but I really don't feel one iota of this spiritual business either outdoors
or in.

 

[w00dsmoke]

[FONT="Comic Sans MS"




]On SOTP folk asked what kind of paddler are you, and as my bushcraft is nearly always with my canoe nowadays, the response is appropriate, this was my response..."I prefer any paddling where I can commune with nature first, watch wildlife and for me my paddling is for my soul, if only Aldous Huxley had paddled a canoe before he wrote The Doors of Perception and Heaven and Hell. The older I get and the more chronic pain I endure, the significance of a paddle in my life increases and the more I long for those wild experiences under big skies. So I guess I am a spiritual paddler."
I do in a very consciousness expanding way, commune and become one with my environment when I am in the great green. I live in a Gotham City clone and with out the great green my soul will surely die.
[/FONT]

WS

 

[EdS]

I usually talk to the tree when I out and a bout. Mind you I also talk to myself at home.

 

[Goose]

I think I do it subconciously a little, I have caught myself meditating on the rare occasions I am alone outdoors for more than an hour or two.
I think prayer and meditation probably emerged from these feelings along with other practical reasons, maybe stop and brew up has taken over from stop and meditate/pray when woriied or lost?

 

[speckledjim]

I think that your comment about 'something still the inside us that connects us with our ancestors fear of the forest' is a very perceptive one. I think that there is definitely some inbuilt circuitry deep within our subconscious which still manages to find its way out into our waking lives. The purpose of which may have been once to keep us safe from dangers which we couldn't see.

I think the notion of treating Woodland with such higher levels of respect is one which is particularly good. Almost like a promise to the nature, and in return the offer of protection, and access to a place which remains almost a secret to those not of the animal kingdom.

Sometimes, when time is limited, the overwhelming feeling to always have to be 'doing something' takes over, but sometimes the best experiences are missed by focusing on one task alone to the exclusion of your surroundings. Do little, and experience much, is a phrase which I've used before.

The attempt to exclude feelings which could be described as 'spiritual', seems to me quite self defeating. To replace them with a stark cold rationality seems a poor substitute, and one which unnecessarily cheats us of our best experiences.

 

[Steve R]

A bit like asking for the woodlands permission to be there.

I always try to be another welcome visitor to the woodland rather than an intruder who will upset the balance of the area.

Pretty much.


I have always felt a connection with nature, I feel uncomfortable in man made surroundings, so I sort of stop and 'tune in' when I am out a kind of 'I'm home' feeling.

Nothing pleases me more than to stand among nature and just 'be'.


Best feeling in the world IMO.

 

[John Fenna]

The countryside/hills/woods are great places for healing.
I go to the "wilds" to get my head unbent, even though I live in the country!
When by mother died (many years ago now) I spent several days alone in the hills of N Wales to get sane.
I think it worked!
In solitude you can think, be and heal, thank Spirit/god/nature for this.
Respect the wild places that man has not destroyed, ask its permission to intrude.
Thank it for allowing you to take from its bounty, do not wilfully abuse it.
Become part of nature, harmonise with it and you will grow.
Abuse nature and you become a problem, like a weeping, cankerous sore on a beautiful face.....
Hug a tree today, thank it for being and show how you respect it!

 

[ganstey]

Whenever I go down to my wood, the first thing I do when I get out of the car is to say hello to the wood, and particularly the trees. I ask them for their protection, and make a promise to them that I won't knowingly do anything to harm the 'place'. When I leave I thank the trees for their protection, and wish them well until I return. When I'm with others I do this silently, when on my own I often do this quietly but out loud.

I consider myself very spiritual (although not religious), and this just seems the right thing to do. Some people think I'm mad, but hey, sue me

G

 

[Banjobill]

I'm not at all religious - in fact I'm rabidly Atheist....however I do 'feel' something when in a wood, or up in the mountains.

It might just be the realisation that as a species, Man is sure making a mess of what is a beautifull world, and I feel sorry for that.

I often try to imagine what it must have been like after the last ice age. I know it is a cozy, rosy view of things, as the early peoples weren't playing at it - it was a real fight for survival everyday.

I mean, who cannot be moved by a view like this:

Taken on my recent visit to Norway.

 

[Matt Weir]

I agree. For me walking into a wood or forest stirs feelings akin to walking into a church (I was raised catholic but I'm alright now*) and I can't help but touch a tree if it gets too close. I also feel a humbling mutual trust, a kind of 'you watch my back and I'll watch yours' with tree's and sometimes find myself giving a log a wee squeeze as a kind of thank you as I place it on the fire.

Soppy sods or respectful rangers?

*Please take this in the humour intended, I mean no offense

 

[Cobweb]

When i go out to the wood, it is like coming home. I try to be as unobtrusive as possible and also to open my perceptions so I can feel the spirit of the place.

When I decide to stop and set up camp I take a moment to feel the atmosphere of the place, whether it is welcoming or not. If it doesn't feel right I won't kip there. I'll move on.

Touch wood, I haven't had any trouble from being out on my own. I do worry about others finding me at night but I haven't been found as yet. As a female the worry is a little more than if I was a man as I know I am not as strong or quick and if there was a weirdo about I would worry about other abuses that could happen. I 'go to bed' with my knife and my axe so I hope I could defend myself if push came to shove but luckily it has never happened yet.

I am a practising pagan, I believe that all life is sacred and to quote Shakespear: there is more in heaven and earth... I believe that life creates life and spirits are real, they have no physical form but they are there nonetheless, like air, a gentle breeze you can't see but you know in your soul that something has met you, found you loving and passed by in happiness.

I will talk to the trees and the spirits of the place while I am there and thank them for keeping an eye on me. I wish them well when I leave. Logically, how can you not have spirits of the woods or forest when there is so much life around you?

I think that cities are soulless places. There is much human existence there but there is no soul, just people rushing from one thing to another and when not working, going out and forcing themselves to have fun in specialised clubs and pubs. No one looks anyone in the eye on the street and it is a place of extreme loneliness and isolation. The rat race is self perpetuating: Kill or be Killed. Trust no one, not even your children. Life in cities is little more than barely constrained violence, glossed over with the tarnished patina of civilisation and respectability. The social pressure to fit in can sometimes be too great. Take for example the book and film: American Psycho. Who knows if the person you pass on the street or furiously ignore on the tube right next to you isn't thinking about a mass rampage of slaughter and devastation just to escape the monotony and forced frivolity of city life.

Personally I grew up in a city. I hated every minute of it and most of the people I knew at school did too. I managed to get out and so did a few others. but most stayed and got their jobs with some corporation that thinks of it's workers as nothing more than a number in a book and wages paid/profit lost.

I know I am one of the lucky ones. I was introduced to the majesty and wisdom of nature at a young age by my grandfather. I learnt respect and humility from his tutelage which has seen me right in this life so far.
I now work for myself doing something I love and if it wasn't for him, encouraging me to be truly individual by being self reliant and aware of my surroundings (not just dressing up in 'shock' clothing and quoting Socrates) I would've ended up is some robot job forcing myself to 'socialise' with other strangers on a Saturday night.

The Woods and forests are more than just a place to get away from it all, I consider them home. More than the place in which I am writing this.

I believe that if more children are brought up with the outdoors, the respect that the older generations lament, would return.

--

S0rry for the long rant. Once I started I couldn't seem to stop.

 

[John Fenna]

Well said Michelle!
It all fits with my philosophy on life - everthing has Spirit within, a carrot as much as a man, so if you respect yourself respect nature and all life - in all its forms!

 

[Nat]

I always talk to the wood/forest when i 'm out and about, i don't care who's about but i always thank them when i leave.

If i need to cut a branch i always ask the trees permission if there is nothing readily available on the ground and let it know where i am going to cut so it can do what it needs to do. I did this when i had to cut the hedge at the back of the garden back to put in a new fence, but i reused everything to weave a natural fence stopping next door using the back as a toilet.

Theres things in them woods, as they say, that are older than anything else, so a bit of "How you do and thanks" goes along way.

Glad to see i'm not the only loon.

 

[BorderReiver]

I don't do anything deliberately,just relax as soon as I enter a wood and become part of it.
I'm just another animal passing through and have as much impact as all the rest of the fauna.We often stand and watch each other before going about our various activities.

Even though I'm an atheist,I still have "spiritual" experiences occasionally;watching a graceful deer running past;the play of light on the leaves of the trees;the stillness of a windless day in the soft autumn air.

 

[jojo]

Absolutely agree with you, Michelle. I am not "religious" in the accepted sense of the word. But I believe in that everything in nature has spirit.

I believe also that the reason some humans still feel much more at home in woodlands is a throw back to when we were animals living and evolving in woodlands. I love the light in woods, it's relaxing and easy on the eye, it provide cover, I think that when we are in the open we feel more threatened, much easier for predators to attack and eat us, which is what would have happened in our long lost past.

Maybe I am just a soppy old crank, but I don't care!