This piece is a little edgier than some of our other content, so proceed with caution if you aren't willing to consider things that may challenge your beliefs and worldview.
We will be deconstructing the very nature of how humans exist on the planet and how we have become domesticated and are unconsciously participating in a giant experiment.
Remember this level of technology and control over life has never before existed. This is the first of many posts we will be creating in the coming months centered on human wildness.
Do you consider yourself a domesticated animal?
The truth is most of us are.
There is of course a wide range of expressions of domestication, but consider what makes up the daily life of so many humans. We locomote within a narrow range of rote movements on flat planes and interact with 90 degree angles (where in nature to level surfaces and 90 degree angle exist???). We eat food pellets (aka processed food) resulting from a long line of industrial processes.
Even those choosing to garden are mostly relying on highly domesticated crops. We spend most of our lives in human created and sanctioned cages called buildings where we are disconnected from the elements. We drink water in a highly unnatural state laden with damaging substances ranging from fluoride to pharmaceuticals.
We have forgotten how to breathe and praise technology over the magic of the Earth.
Canyon de Chelly: A remembrance of humans intimately integrated into Nature.
We are allowing ourselves to be complacent in a global factory farming epidemic known as modern humanity.
The results of which are wreaking havoc on the health, resilience and happiness of the human species. We are not living our lives as our ancestors did, we are forging a path more deeply domesticated than ever before.
Although I'm not suggesting we return to or romanticize the past, we do need to consider the deleterious effects that domestication has on us and mitigate it in a personalized way. Rewilding is the antidote to human domestication.
Consider the last time you acted as a wild animal. Does any animal feel ashamed of their nakedness? Do you recall the last food you yourself extracted & ate from a wild ecosytem? Can you use the full range of motion you are blessed with (squat, crawl, bend, balance, open, etc..)? Are you able to read the landscape/seascape around you?
Chaco Canyon: An ancient civilization that aligned with the celestial rhythms. Another example of a connected civilization; balancing domestication with what is wild/natural.
Do you consider yourself integrated with or separate from nature?
At the core of civilization is the idea that humans are creating something that is superior to nature in some way. By controlling or manipulating animals, plants, minerals, fungi and even air and water on the beautiful Earth, we are departing from the wild and entering the realm of domestication. This said we have always altered the environment to meet our needs even if by plucking fruits or hunting wild beasts.
Petroglyphs at Chaco Canyon marking a celestial event, a supernova more than a thousand years ago
But never before has domestication reached such heights where most humans don't enter into relationship with the world around them, rather we are creating a factory farm where domesticated humans are the result. We have forgotten how to move our bodies and have atrophied the innate connection and relationship to all living beings.
Many children don't experience the human norm of vaginal birth and breast milk and aren't allowed to be exposed to microbes in their environment (what kid doesn't put earth in their mouth?). We are not raising resilient children, but rather participants in civilization.
Many folks don't see the stars and don't spent time around fire. We are not eating real food but instead consume the kibble that the industrial food system creates. Genetic modification is one of the most arrogantly controlling and dangerous things we have ever done. We are allowing our food system to be dominated by corporations thereby sacrificing our sovereignty for convenience.
Sounds like a pretty bleak picture right? What can be done? This is where is gets fun!
Rewilding is the solution to many of the ills of the modern humans and everyone can participate in reconnecting to our wild human roots.
In the coming posts we will be discussing and exploring elements of the rewilding lifestyle where we will be remembering the wisdom in our bodies, the history in our DNA and our great capacity for health, vitality, abundance and happiness.
Join us as we share part of our journey and introduce some concepts, strategies and approaches that can bridge the domestic with the wild.
We are currently considering the feral realm as a factastic option for meeting our needs and living out our wildness.
banner by @radicalunicorn
Much of these idea were inspired, furthered or introduced through my favorite podcast, the ReWild Yourself Podcast. I would highly recommend appreciating this wealth of information that Daniel Vitalis has curated and is truly a fantastic resource for anyone who is willing to think outside the box and interested in engaging in their own process of rewilding.
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SUCH an important topic.. I was even going to make a QOTW on this.. It is damn scary to think that our relationship with the world might be totally changed past what we already have changed in a very short time.. WE may be all seeing computer generated worlds overlayed on top of the real one.. WE may not even know or care what is real and what is not..
From a VERY high perspective maybe it doesnt matter.. because EVERYTHIGN is an illusion and not really real.. but then.. we have to ask.. IS our connection to nature and the natural flow essential for our humaneness..
What stuns me is that this discussion does not seem to be happening.. High tech companies seem to be able to invent ANYTHING and put it on us.. and no one has discussing the implications.. its like were running blind into the future..
maybe we just have to have faith and trust.. or do we have to to push back and shout NO!!!..
Great insights @eco-alex! It is pretty scary that we could be seeing such a departure from Earth and natural life ways that we forget what the elements are and are caught in a web of technology. The virutual and augmented reality things just seems way too Matrix for my comfort.
This scares me too as we don’t know the limits and of AI or if we are literally causing our own extinction.
You’re right, maybe nothing matters in the ever shifting tides of the cosmos. But missing out on the unique blessings of human consciousness seems a shame to me. Forgetting to breathe, feel wind,smell and feel the world is a tragedy...
Thanks for the inspired and thought provoking comment.
I've thought so much about this. For years I've been rolling these things around in my mind, although the term rewilding is fairly new to me. I'm looking forward to following you in this series. I haven't had much opportunity to get anyone else's take on the subject, as most people get a this-girl's-cheese-just-slid-off-her-cracker sort of look in their eyes when I bring it up. Thanks for giving me a chance to explore this topic with you.
hahah well you wont find that look here. also this guy: http://www.danielvitalis.com/rewild-yourself-podcast/ has some wonderful thoughts on it and has really brought a lot of great community around the subject! looking forward to more explorations!
I'll look into his stuff. Thanks!
So is there a Call of the Wild capable of knocking us back into our instinctually evolved minds? Looking forward to more posts like this.
Good question @creativetruth! I believed that there’s a call within us all that reconnects us to the primal mind/body/spirit expression of your unique human self. Glad your engaged.
So good @mountainjewel! I will be following these posts. I really like the idea of rewilding being the antidote for our human domestication problems...
I was introduced to the rewild yourself pod cast earlyer this year by @sagescrub, and I love it... too bad Daniel Vitalis is moving on from that podcasts, but I'm sure we will still have plenty to learn from him through something else he'll be doing!
A book that might interest you: Sapiens (A brief histlory of humankind).
Thank you for sharing
So glad you resonate @senorcoconut. Such a great podcast, and there’s almost 200 episodes to absorb...really inspiring indeed.
Thanks for the book recommendation, I’ll check in it out.
Excited to share this journey with kindred folk like you ;)
Once again, thank you for sharing your journey. It is so inspiring...! I still have so many episodes to listen to.
Wonderful post. It has always bugged me the way our society tries to draw a line between us humans and the rest of nature as if we are not the same. The more distance we put between ourselves and the rest of the natural world the more we loose in terms of our health and happiness.
You really summed up what sucks about us humans! Well said. I’m happy you are drawing the link between nature connection and happinesses. Thanks for the great comment.
Wonderful post and series! I really look forward to following this. I agree with what you said.
Do you think some of us just have more of that natural wild connection than others?
The thing I have noticed is that most people I personally know don't really want to "re-wild". We see it a lot when they come and visit us to "relax and escape their lives for a bit". They are unhappy, complain a lot about their life, tell me I am "lucky" but don't really want to change their plan.
I on the other hand want more wild in my life and seem to be moving further and further away from the norms of society. Its very hard to relate to old friends and most family because my husband and I see the world so differently. That's part of why I deeply appreciate your writing. It helps me to feel not so alone.
I was born stubbornly resisting being "tamed" and that's what made me such an outcast generally. That's why I wonder, are some of us just tuned in at a different frequency?
When I am trapped in an environment that suppresses or constrains me I am overcome with this burning desire to escape. I used to flee to a secluded dock as a teenager and just scream and roar for a while. I'd lie there watching the fish, the sky, listening to the ravens and the rustling of trees and I'd just stay there for hours. I was pretty much alone in this behaviour though.
The feeling of being unleashed is intoxicating. thank you for exploring this topic. ♥
Yes Yes Yes. This is fantastic. It has been on my mind lately how it came to be that we are required by society to be embarrassed by nakedness.
When I have been ill I have gone into the woods the more remote the better. I build a campfire and lay near it in my sleeping bag. This has worked for me many times. The trees heal me.
Thank you for this site http://www.danielvitalis.com/rewild-yourself-podcast/ I love it.
thank you for your enthusiastic and insightful comment!! i love this personal experience you shared. a powerful testimony to the raw power of nature and how when we align ourselves with it, healing happens! many blessings and yes enjoy vitalis' site and podcast- truly so much to learn!!! <3
Looking forward to the next post! I have been saying this for a while now. We are being pushed into being something we were never meant to be...
thank @cecicastor for your support & for stopping by!
This is so true.
Great content, but let´s not deviate too much from couch potato paradise (Steemit).
For most people it would be already very beneficial to just do a few more walks through the forest and enjoy the therapeutical benefits of trees, no need to go all feral.
Hehehe. I hear you, and I belIeve each person has their own position to rewild from. You’re totally right, and even a 20 minute walk in the woods has so many benefits.
We haven’t evolved for 200 000 years to sit on our butts though!
I don´t sit on my butt, I transcend hunting and gathering. 😘
I love this for soooooooooo many reasons!!!!!!! please keep it coming ya'll!!!!!!! the images alone in this post....are breath taking! awe STRUCK! cheers to re wilding our asses! huge fan of daniel's journey and all he has shared along the way!
I hear you my friends this is something I write about too, it is such an important topic and we do need to recognize how alienated we are becoming because of certain advances that are occurring. Of course we need to keep moving forward but but we really have been moving off course of our natural path. great post xx
Right. On. I kind of like the idea of combining our tech world and the wild one. I like the idea of taking some kind of star trek scanner into the deep woods to identify things and learn all their benefits and properties. And then calling my mom because she'd never go out there with me. I really respect hunters, but I'm still not sure I could do it. Luckily we have amazing hunter and fishermen neighbors.
Love this. So much yes.