Discovering The Awe In Going In

There is a lot that he said that I am able to personally relate to and understand. Here's a quote from him.

“I only went out for a walk, and finally concluded to stay out till sundown, for going out, I found, was really going in.” John Muir

We all owe a debt of gratitude to Muir. Even if we are unfamiliar with his name and the important lasting work that he did. There are others, too, that are equally significant … people whose names and life-works are unknown to most … yet the lives they lived and purposes they fulfilled … their contributions … are still paying dividends forward in the lives of lovers of the outdoors and future lovers of the outdoors.

Unfamiliar with John Muir?

We are the Google Generation. A world of knowledge is at our fingertips. Go ahead. Exercise a few keystrokes and Google him.

Shirli and I consider ourselves extremely fortunate.

Somewhere, along the way, through the tangles and jungles of situations and circumstances associated with navigating the normal courses and rites of passages that are part of life in these modern times, we discovered and tapped into the going out is really going in realization that Muir mentions. An aha moment here. An aha moment there. A collection of aha moments over time that evolve and captivate.

I am of the opinion that we are all born with an inherent propensity for the outdoors. I think it’s something ancestral … something genetic … passed down in our lineages … common in all of us … tracing ancestral pathways and linking us to the far distant past and those ancestral primal others that occupied space and time. Life has become so demanding and frenetic in these modern times that it’s hard for people to slow down long enough to detect the throb of this propensity within the fibers of their beings; let alone spend time yielding to its beckoning.

The awe discovered in going in has no opportunity without going out. The awe discovered in going in has only a slim margin of opportunity unless we slow down and silence all the supplanting noises and modern everyday contrivances that most modern campers and woods goers surround ourselves with when they go out.

Most of today’s campgrounds, and the rigs that occupy them, are little more than extensions that do not interrupt or run counter to modern lifestyles – roll in, roll out the slides, attach the cords and hoses, turn on the tube, and conduct business over the phone and on a laptop via the free Wi-Fi offered as part of the camping fee. There is also a growing number of “campgrounds” that cater to those that pull or drive their rigs and refuse any camping clientele with intentions of erecting a tent. It can be a little challenging these days in this part of the world to find a spot in a campground to pitch a tent when you are motoring the distance between two destinations. In campgrounds where tents are “allowed”, it’s a rare thing to find as many tents as there are pulled or driven rigs.

Don’t misconstrue this to be an accusation or attack against anyone. It’s their dime and time. I’m good with that. This is, however, my observation and I’m sticking to it.

I will admit that there is a lot that I can teach people regarding the skills needed to go out, enjoy the outdoors for what it is, and get back to four surrounding walls after adventuring outdoors. The admission is not a prideful statement. The elements in a suitable basic outdoors skills set float back and forth over the opaque lines formed by labels such as camping, bushcraft, woodcraft, and survival.

 

These are skills. Skills can be taught. I enjoy teaching them, especially in a mentoring style. It’s personally very gratifying to have the privilege of investing myself in the lives of others … particularly in youth … in a way that’s a lot more personal than meeting a group or an individual for a weekend crash course. Part of the personal gratification is in watching them develop confidence in themselves as their skills and knowledge expand.

Going out is one thing.

Going out can be taught.

Going in is another thing altogether.

Going in is something that is caught.

People either catch it or they don’t. Catching it is something that I have no control over. There is a huge host of things running interference where the awe of discovery is concerned. As much as it is my desire to see people go in, the best I can do is introduce people to settings where the catching is possible.