“…it felt like something primeval in me came home.” - Khimbar
Khimbar, you hit the nail on the head. Civilized life affords very little opportunity to run the basic level programming. All of our survival problems are solved for us so completely that we aren’t even aware of our needs.
Several times a year I take groups of inner city kids out into the bush for a three-day survival course. I use the various survival skills as object lessons for life. When they first get there they are totally out of tune with the rhythm of the planet and their own needs. They have no real concept of thirst or hunger, they expect to have light to see by until midnight, and they want to play until it is time to go to bed. They’re never too keen on listening on the first day.
The second day they have made enough mistakes that they have all suffered in some way and they start to listen. The second day they start to get in touch with the “basic programming” that is designed ( “design” is a function of intelligence) to keep them alive. I think there has to be a certain shock to the system of having your needs suddenly exposed that forces a person to get in touch with those buried “programs”.
By the third day they really could stay for a week as they become capable of providing for themselves. They are different people running Homo Sapiens 1.1. There is always the tendency to become self-centered and lazy. Attitudes can sour and tempers can get short as the small measure of misery starts to work its magic.
I am always amazed at how much time it takes to get things done right. Surviving is hard work and if you don’t do things in a logical order then you will suffer. I haven’t incorporated friction fire into the equation for them yet. That’s coming as soon as I can teach them how to identify the right woods in our area. I’m getting pretty good with a bamboo fire saw but I’d like to teach the bow drill. Bamboo is not available where I teach the course.
I tell them at the orientation that “You will forget what you did on many weekends of your life but you will never forget what you did this weekend.” Whenever I get together with former students the details of their ordeal are still fresh in their minds and they talk non-stop about it. The pathways to that primeval self are still there long after they return to civilized life.
What experiences have helped you access your primeval programming? Mac
Khimbar, you hit the nail on the head. Civilized life affords very little opportunity to run the basic level programming. All of our survival problems are solved for us so completely that we aren’t even aware of our needs.
Several times a year I take groups of inner city kids out into the bush for a three-day survival course. I use the various survival skills as object lessons for life. When they first get there they are totally out of tune with the rhythm of the planet and their own needs. They have no real concept of thirst or hunger, they expect to have light to see by until midnight, and they want to play until it is time to go to bed. They’re never too keen on listening on the first day.
The second day they have made enough mistakes that they have all suffered in some way and they start to listen. The second day they start to get in touch with the “basic programming” that is designed ( “design” is a function of intelligence) to keep them alive. I think there has to be a certain shock to the system of having your needs suddenly exposed that forces a person to get in touch with those buried “programs”.
By the third day they really could stay for a week as they become capable of providing for themselves. They are different people running Homo Sapiens 1.1. There is always the tendency to become self-centered and lazy. Attitudes can sour and tempers can get short as the small measure of misery starts to work its magic.
I am always amazed at how much time it takes to get things done right. Surviving is hard work and if you don’t do things in a logical order then you will suffer. I haven’t incorporated friction fire into the equation for them yet. That’s coming as soon as I can teach them how to identify the right woods in our area. I’m getting pretty good with a bamboo fire saw but I’d like to teach the bow drill. Bamboo is not available where I teach the course.
I tell them at the orientation that “You will forget what you did on many weekends of your life but you will never forget what you did this weekend.” Whenever I get together with former students the details of their ordeal are still fresh in their minds and they talk non-stop about it. The pathways to that primeval self are still there long after they return to civilized life.
What experiences have helped you access your primeval programming? Mac