Large Fierce Mammal

“There was a time when I was actively involved in teaching what were then, and in some circles continue to be, called “survival” courses – educational programmes intended to provide instruction in the skills necessary to live temporarily outside the shelter of “civilized” comfort. As the years went by, I came to realize that teaching wilderness “survival” was a wrong headed approach because it engendered an adversarial mindset wherein the Human was cast simultaneously into the role of victim and ultimate victor, and everything in Nature either threatened or could be exploited to serve the goal of staying alive. Yet Nature is at once far simpler, more complicated, more direct, and far more subtle than that. Living in the world is not simply a matter of staying alive, and so my approach to teaching and living evolved ….” ~ Worldly Wisdom Wednesday – That First Step on The Path

Welcome back, Goode Reader, to this fourth chapter. Today, we’ll establish two foundational principles that will define our course as we travel together on this meandering but far from directionless path that is The Goode Fyght.

The first is encapsulated in the opening quote about “survival”. Learning, or teaching someone, to survive as I understand and apply the term is based on acquisition or conveyance of the skills required to stay alive and healthy enough to live beyond rescue (self or otherwise) and subsequent medical intervention in a short term life threatening situation. A form of situational trauma care for people who find themselves simultaneously up Shit’s Creek and short of propulsive resources. It is NOT about learning the basic skills our ancestors (and others presently living outside what most North Americans consider “civilization”) would have considered the essentials of living into the foreseeable future. Depending on the situation and anticipated duration, those latter skills may permit anything from subsistence to thriving, but nothing so meagre as mere “survival” unless you have, or have been, seriously fucked up somewhere.

Secondly, and for similar reasons, I have set aside the term “self-defense” as it is presently applied to what can more accurately be described as “fighting”. This is not to cast a jaundiced eye upon anyone who uses the term, for it’s a very specific legal reference to any act of conflict resolution by violent means, and if one would remain unencumbered by incarceration, that must be understood. Going forward here however, we will be treating “self-defense” and “fighting” as two components of a conflict resolution continuum. With that in mind then —

“I’ve written extensively here over the years on the subject of physical conflict as expressed in the Nature of all things, many times making reference to the fact that, outside of predator on prey encounters, the kind of fight to the death scenario between creatures of like kind that Humans practice is rare indeed. This is because, in Nature and the Way of the Wild, the death of a creature is meant to serve a purpose higher than that another of its kind simply wants it dead.

Every creature in Nature must learn how to use its Naturally endowed force multipliers with competence and efficiency; first and foremost to avoid any combat that may end its life, but failing this, to ensure that the encounter will be short and decisive. The emphasis on brevity should be obvious – the more prolonged the battle, the greater the chance of failure for even the superior combatant. The predator seeks the quickest kill so that its exposure to the defensive efforts of the prey, and potentially crippling injury to itself, will be as abbreviated as possible. The prey seeks safety in situational awareness before the predator’s attack leads to contact, but in the gravest extreme is prepared to fight to the death, for sewn into its nature is the knowledge that this is where the encounter will lead absent immediate action of the most sincerely fierce kind ….” ~ In Ferro Veritas – Chapter the First

Until next time.