12,000 Years Ago
Paleo-Indians have been on the hunt for 3 days, west of the Delaware Water Gap,. The great Ice Age glaciers have receded back north, revealing a harsh and wild land. A mammoth separated from its herd is slowed in the muck of a glacial lake while the hunters close in with finely crafted weapons. These people can run for hours, eat a wide variety of plants and wild game, are tall, strong and vital. They skillfully make shelter tools clothes and gear, interpreting the land for their daily survival. They are connected across thousands of years with their traditions, communal, spiritual and ancestral ties.
Today
A family of 5 sits down to a fast food meal of fries, soda and burgers. They had no part in its capture, and swipe a debit card. Long lived and sedentary, they seem oblivious to the struggle for existence around them. Stress, health, work and financial issues often dominate their thoughts. Highly disconnected and often feeling alone, they wouldn’t last a month in the wild. The trash goes into the bin and they drive away in 7,000 pounds of steel and fumes.
ReDiscover Your Wild Side (TM)
Our modern lifestyle wreaks havoc upon the face of the Earth. The reefs are dying, oceans are emptying and become the final resting place for our plastics trash and pollution. The forests are filled with small trees and silence, as the sounds of animals vanishes. Life great and small spirals towards extinction. We struggle against tiny pathogens and invasive species. Our homes and lives are filled with unused trinkets and junk from constant shopping experiences. Our feeble attempts at recycling and green energy are failing.
But the call of the ancients still echos across time. Our souls have forgotten how to practice a centered life that is spiritual and natural and communal. The more of our Journeys you join, the more you see the world in the ancient, significant, communal and spiritual context going back to those who first trekked across the New World. This is the best hope to return the Earth to its stunning and unspoiled wildness. It can restore our souls and our purpose.
