Find
Your Wild
“In
Wildness is the preservation of the World.”
Henry
David Thoreau
When was the last time
you saw a woodchuck? A family of them live in a drainage pipe next to
my friend Anna's house. Her security cameras pick up their nightly
trek out to forage for food. I now have a possum who comes every
night to munch cat food on my front porch. When I turn on the light
and put my head out the door, he just looks back at me with a placid
countenance. I am always impressed with his primitive appearance—like no other animal. He's probably thinking the same about
me. The wild things have moved closer to humans, and I for one am
glad of it.
Thoreau discovered his
own wildness. While he lived in the cabin on Walden pond, he wrote
that he frequently “found myself ranging the woods like a
half-starved hound with a strange abandonment, seeking some kind of
venison I might devour, and no morsel could have been too savage for
me.” Anyone who has spent time in the woods hiking or camping
has a vague understanding of what it's like to become one with one's
own wildness. When we spend lots of time in nature, we better
understand how pretentious many of our city behaviors are. So many
things that we think we “need” are not only non-essential, but
ridiculous in any other setting. I am most conscious of that when I can't go out
of the house without putting makeup on my face.
It is our wildness, and
not our civility, that feeds curiosity; that fuels our desire to keep
learning. If you don't believe me, take a dog for a walk on a leash.
They spend the entire time pulling against the restraint, with their
noses to the ground following scent after scent. Their wild-wolf
nature kicks in even though they know they're tethered to their
human. We have a similar wild instinct that we've forgotten. But a
little exposure to nature brings it back—for instance, we always appreciate food
cooked on an open fire more than in an electric oven. When possible
we will stand outside on a freezing cold night over a fire-pit, or in
front of an outdoor fireplace to roast meat or make s'mores, even
though we have a perfectly good gas stove inside a warm kitchen. Part
of us craves the wild. My great aunts used to make Brunswick stew in
an iron pot over an open fire in their back yard—in an ordinary
neighborhood—two blocks from town.
Don't let what is wild
within you die. Keep it alive by finding ways to pay attention to
nature--and to yourself in nature. Even if it's only to take a walk in a botanical garden, or
put out seed for the birds—find a way stay in touch with the
natural world around you and within you. That residual wildness within
is where our fierce strength and our fearless nature reside. We never
want to lose that.
In the Spirit,
Jane
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