What it means to be deeply human

„Deeply human“. How does that feel? Raw, alive, free. Wild.

Whenever I step out of the modern world and am only with the land and the people around me, my awareness and my mindset shift. In a way, the world I live in becomes smaller – the few people I am with, the food we eat, the water in the lake that nourishes us, the forest I walk in, my own thoughts and feelings. The global world almost disappears from my mind, my perception. And at the same time this reduced world feels so much richer, so much more alive.

I feel rested living with the rhythms of the sun and sleeping on a lush-smelling bed of boughs with the night breeze caressing my skin. The wild foods – fresh fish from the lake, hunted just with line and hook, tender leaves and sweet berries picked by our own hands, rich in nutrients fed by the warm sun – give my body so much more than just a full belly! And I feel so connected to my body that carried me over the land and tunes into its surrounding with all its senses. My skin is loved by the warm sun and a soft breeze, or maybe a wild wind that ruffles my hair and feels like it is moving me and is one with my breath.

My ears tune in to every sound, both loud and ever so quiet, as I am not distracted by beeps and roars and hums of technology. I start noticing the bouquet of smells that lingers in the land – tree bark, wet moss, the tannins in the bog water, the sweet smell of the lake as I approach the water. The world around me feels so big because I open up to her richness, and I am reminded that this is what I am designed to be in, what I was born to. As I dig my bare toes into the soft earth I know I am home and I feel my wildness rush through me. „Primitive“ living – it is not less, it is more. I am required to use everything that was given to me as a human being, and it shows me what I can do, what I am capable of, how little I need because of the riches I carry within.

My thoughts and feelings? Richness, too. This is, when I can truly hear myself: my longings, my dreams, my wishes, and also my fears, grief, and deep wounds. I am given the space to befriend myself, and I am supported and held by the community that I belong to. I learn that there are humans who will listen and support me, and that neither the lake, the rocks or the trees around me will run away and abandon me in my tears, cries and roars. They will hold me and support me, and also they will listen with ears that are invisible to our eyes, but not to our hearts. And when I laugh more freely than I have ever dared to, all of them will be there, too, and I will know I can never be truly alone on this earth.

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