Large Fierce Mammal

The scorpions will make nests in your shoes if you leave them there. And be sure not to lean too far back on the seat in the outhouse, or let your testicles swing up under the wood. Black Widows. ~ Amarante Cordova, The Miagro Beanfield War

In last week’s Worldy Wisdom Wednesday, I talked about the  essential ingredient of mindset as it applies to the life of anyone embarking on the Path of understanding the Way of the Wild. Today I will build on that, but first we’ll review some lessons from last time because they’re the foundation of everything.

The “Environment”, as the word must be understood, encompasses the Earth in its entirety, and there is only one. Every space, regardless of size, that exists beneath, on, and above the surface of the planet – however near to or far from anything – is part of it, and everything that lives coexists inside it. Each living thing exists to fill a niche in Nature, and wherever it lives will share the portion of the Environment it occupies with others of its kind, along with still others of other kinds that either compete with it for a share of the same niche, or serve a supporting role. Regardless of role, this portion of the Environment in which a creature lives is its range, and within that range it will coexist with others to which it will be predisposed to be accepting, fearful, indifferent, or predatory.

We’ll be addressing the concept of range in more detail as we move forward, but for now you must think on what I’ve said about the Environment, and most deeply on your place as a member of the living multitude within it – not above all, but among all. As a member of that group of creatures in Nature that are called Man, you are at the top of the food chain wherever you live, but that is not the same as being above all things, and this matter is the next vital lesson to understanding the Way of the Wild. The Way of the Wild as it expresses itself purely in Man is not at odds with any other thing. Were it so, evolutionary development of our kind would have long since spiralled downward into nothingness, and we would have been heaved into the realm of extinction, self-inflicted or otherwise, millennia ago. This is not to say that conflict, up to and including *GASP* fighting is not a part of the Way of the Wild – FAR from it! But we’ll be getting to that on a Wednesday soon to come.

Everyone is familiar with modern usage of the terms “environmentalist”, “environmentally friendly”, “organic”, “all natural”, and “green”. In my own life and range, green is a colour and nothing more. Water Hemlock is not only green, organic, and all natural, it’s one of the most poisonous plants in North America. Every one of these terms, the meaning of each of which has been completely subverted, intrinsically accepts and promotes a separation between the place where humans live, and that where everything else lives, for the singular purpose of influencing human behaviour, individually and culturally. This fosters entire fields of human endeavour in which arguments play out, research budgets are expended, well meaning people are burnt out by misdirected expressions of their passions, political and business agendas are realized, and the reality of Nature gets lost as the juggernaut of exclusive human growth hurtles on.

So the last thing I will leave you with today is growth. The Natural kind that enlivens and strengthens everything, and the kind that, even though organically grown, is out of balance with Nature and therefore not at one with the Way of the Wild. Once again we are confronted with two competing brands.

Think on this and what’s been discussed here today. Comment with your observations and questions in the mean time, and meet me here next week. Oh – and don’t touch that Water Hemlock, even if someone hands it to you saying, “Hey! It’s totally organic and all natural! How bad can it be?”