The wilderness can change a man.

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Sourdough

"Eleutheromaniac"
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The wilderness can change a man.
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There is a real transformation that can metamorphose within a man who is alone in the wilderness. He can exit the wilderness fragile, very fragile, he is no longer sure where that which is himself ends and that which is not himself starts.

Everything is kind of fuzzy, and has a softness about it, all things appear slightly blurred to the eye, like after one has been crying, and it can be hard to distinguish where one object stops and another object starts.

He feels weak and vulnerable, but centered. In fact he is stronger, but the feeling of weakness, and vulnerability comes from the loss of arrogance.

There is a clarity about the perfection of everything. Sounds are crisper, colors are different, there are so many more (new) colors now.

He feels as if he is looking through things and through people, this is a very uncomfortable experience, he tries to focus, but he just looks through everything.

Part of him wants to go back to the way it was, before being alone in the wilderness. But he also enjoys the bliss of how it is now. He wants to weep for no reason, but for the perfection of everything.

He has change, and can not change back to that which he was before, being alone in the wilderness.

I know not of drugs, but being alone in the wilderness, for long periods will change your perception of the universe. The universe is the same, but you have shifted to a place where you can see, with new eyes, a new heart, and a new empathy for all life. You have been born a second time, and are a child of the wilderness.

There was a time long ago, that a man was encouraged to go into the wilderness alone for a extended period, so that he might find wisdom about life. Sad it is discouraged today. Welcome home....welcome home. Home from the wilderness, for he is free to return at any time to your true nature.

NOTE: I wrote this based on my six months alone in the Alaska wilderness, in the early 70's. I was proving up on my federal homestead land grant.
 
I believe you are right about the change. There is no use for the mask you wear in public. Your true nature emerges and your instincts rise to the surface. You are both at peace yet aware that you are not necessarily at the top of the food chain. Switching between predator and prey like a fox or cat. I never spent months in the wilderness but it was not uncommon to spend a week or two. I never did any drugs but I don't see how anything could be more real than being in the woods where you follow the game trails because there are no other trails or strike out across the hills hidden by the forest yet exposed to the world around you. It has always been my favorite place.
 
I figure that about 25% of the occupants of the big cities are going to head for the woods - to die. They will die from the violence that comes with them and the uncaring wilderness. I don't want to be any place that those people will go. The wilderness - places that it takes three days to walk in - will keep you clear of most of those good folks but you have to know where to find food and how to get it without announcing that you are there. You can't farm so you will have to travel with your food source. That means you have to know a wide range of plants, when they can be harvested and where they grow. The animals will move where their food is available, where they can find water and where the minerals they need are available. Living as a nomad is hard work and you will spend all your time getting the food you need. Sometimes you will have plenty and other times you will not but you always have to keep moving.
 
Best keep plenty of arrows and extra bows and learn how to use them and make traps. Ammo may not last long.
With bear best be able to run like Thorpe. Or play dead, till game over.
 
We find that 60,000 rounds of XM855LC1 take up less space then 60,000 arrows

Thats true. But if it is human predators sometimes you may need silence as to not draw attention. But of course I'd rather have the guns than arrows too.
Hubby is good at everything so he hit target first try, not me I just hit my arm and got a big whelp on forearm from bow string.
 
Thats true. But if it is human predators sometimes you may need silence as to not draw attention. But of course I'd rather have the guns than arrows too.
Hubby is good at everything so he hit target first try, not me I just hit my arm and got a big whelp on forearm from bow string.

Aiiiyiii!!! Yep, after my first (and last) bruised arm experience, I never forgot to wear an arm guard. I would gladly sleep with that thing on if I had to, lol.
 
I loved the OP, and can relate to it.

The wilderness changed me too...for the better.

I posted my feelings on this elsewhere, but it fits here too:

When I dropped out of so-called civilization and moved to the country, I think I must have gone feral. Now, each time I visit the city, I feel a bit wild-eyed. Maybe it's culture shock, remembering how mindless the rat-race is. I hurry home, breathe in the clean country air and feel grateful that I am just a simple country mouse, not a city rat going after big cheese. They can keep every bit of it. I am privileged and blessed to wake up to birdsongs, not sirens; to watch fireflies and stars, not street lights and flashing signs; to sit on the porch shelling peas, not waiting in line for a can of peas...

A woman named Brooke Hampton once said, "Life sucks a lot less when you add mountain air, a campfire and some peace and quiet."
 

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