German version of this article
“Why should I take part in a wilderness immersion experience like this? I don’t want to take a step backwards and live like cavemen!” These and similar questions and statements reach me again and again in various forms. It is the assumption that just because I guide such an experience that I believe we should all go back to living in the forest because it would be in line with our original human nature. I can relate to this conclusion, but I also feel very strongly that the answer cannot be so black and white.
The deeper I look into this question, the clearer it becomes to me that there are different needs as to why we long for a deeper relationship with the creatures around us, and therefore often also for a life in the forest. But not everyone wants to step away from society completely for the rest of their life. In fact, when it really comes down to it, there are very few who really want to.
So why is it still valuable to have experiences like the Wildmoon or similar immersion experiences?
I asked myself this question personally and came up with an interesting answer. Since I dove into this wilderness world more than 10 years ago, I have always had an inner conflict between longing for nature-connection and living a comfortable life.
There’s a part of me – I’ll call him “Wild” – that feels very nourished by this connection that I can feel much more intensely when I’m out there. He was not fed for so long time before, that for a while I desperately soaked up every single offer, every program, every course. It was not so different from someone who is about to starve, and, after the first hesitation, gobbles everything down. In the meantime, Wild is much better nourished, but still dreams of us all just living out in the woods and letting go of this complicated life in this environment, that’s anything but species-appropriate. From Wild’s perspective, it’s all very simple. But I don’t just have this part inside of me.
The part that is often perceived almost as the antagonist of Wild is the part that loves her comfort zone – I call her “Cozy”. Cozy loves to play around with technology and solve ever more complex problems. Cozy is grateful that today’s technology allows us to connect with people from all over the world and who also likes to stay in bed for a long time and stay warm without having to do anything for it.
After a long period of reflection, I came to the conclusion that these two parts, which at first glance appear to be completely opposed, actually want the same thing: Connection. And it’s not even a question of whether only life in the forest or only life in civilization fulfils this need. These are superficialities. Rather, it’s about creating a connection between these two seemingly contradictory worlds.
The comfort zone is very different for each of us. However, if we have grown up in a modern world with a lot of comfort, it is a much greater challenge to expand our comfort zone so that we feel just as comfortable out in the forest as we do in our apartment or house. It is difficult to permanently expand this basic comfort zone that we developed in our childhood. Difficult, but not impossible.
The value of both sides
Living outside for a few weeks, a month or longer at a time helps us to make do with less comfort also in the modern world, and sometimes even to realize that we not only don’t need it, but don’t even want it. For example, I no longer want to live in a house that is always at a stable, comfortable temperature and I am (at least most of the time) grateful that I have to deal a little more directly with how cold or warm it is outside with my wood-burning stove and what I need to do to get warm.
But the modern, comfortable world also brings us valuable things that I wouldn’t want to do without just because I want to nurture my need for deep connection with nature. It is the connection to other people who are important to me, but who would not want to live like this. It is the influence of constantly new and different ideas and perspectives that reach me much faster and fertilize my creativity, just to name a few.
What connects?
When we look at these two sides and how we can connect them, we first need to recognize where we come from. Both our direct history, how we grew up, and what we learned and didn’t learn (especially in terms of comfort), as well as the history that goes way back. The story of where we come from as hunter-gatherers and what led us to cultivate more and more land and to initiate the current development.
This includes recognizing that many of us are not sufficiently prepared to live in the forest permanently. That we need time to relearn this knowledge, these skills and abilities. But that we also recognize that our environment has changed and that our forests and meadows – if they still exist – have lost much of their diversity. As a result, important components for a sustainable life outside are missing.
But it also involves recognizing that there are developments of modernity that are valuable. It makes no sense to want to turn back time. It is much more about reminding ourselves of what is really important. To bring back the experiences that are an essential part of our humanity in order to strengthen our relationships with all the beings around us, as they are an important part of the nourishment for our soul and our body.
It’s true, that the forest is where we come from. But we don’t have to live there full time. Just peeking into this different world of being and relating every now and then, can be an immense enrichment for our attitude towards life, because it incorporates, welcomes and accepts this missing part of our lives. The longer you stay the deeper you go.
It is therefore not a question of whether we should all live in the forest again or not. It is much more about how we can strengthen relationships and connections with all that surrounds us – animate and (seemingly) inanimate – and thus co-create a world that nourishes us ALL. And experiencing a moon-cycle living outside can help us get closer to that connection.
