(All images by Dale Barrigar)
“You’re soft as glass / and I’m a gentleman / and we’ve got the sky to talk about / and the world to lie upon.” – Townes Van Zandt
Getting back to nature is not what most people think it is and this MISUNDERSTANDING causes too many people to not get back to nature when getting back to nature is probably the single most important thing many of us could ever do right now.
Too many people believe that “getting back to nature” equals what Ubiquitous Advertising (and now social media in all its octopus-like tentacles and forms) has told them it is.
In order to get back to nature, you do not need to purchase expensive hiking boots and a new backpack and the right clothes and the right walking stick so that you look like you are a nature buff.
You do not need to climb Mount Everest or fly on one of “their” toxic airplanes to a “nature” destination that is filled with tourists just like you.
You do not need to swim to the bottom of the sea nor hike back into the literal wilderness so far so that you do not see any other humans for forty days or more and end up dying of starvation.
You do not need to purchase a mountain bike; do not need to buy rock-climbing equipment; do not need to buy expensive guns in order to slaughter animals with, or a boat so you can hunt down fish; nor do you need to purchase a jeep; a surf board; or a tent and camping gear, in order to get back to nature.
If you are outside right now, glance up into the sky and really notice it and what it’s doing right now; then step to the nearest green thing around you (even if it’s been made that way by humans) and notice how this green plant grows and interacts with its environment, giving back good and taking bad out (you can FEEL this around a plant if you want to). We wouldn’t be here at all without them.
If you are inside, move to the nearest window somehow and open it if you can. If you can’t, it’s okay. Study what is happening in and through the window, whether it be sun, clouds, night, moonlight or starlight or whatever the light (from the sky) is doing.
Even if you couldn’t open the window, you have gotten back to nature when you noticed (and engaged with) the natural light (or its opposite, darkness); and the natural light is always there, even when it’s combined with a human-caused light, which is, after all, also part of nature, because humans are part of nature.
If you can’t move right now, turn away from what they call “the world” and enter so deeply into yourself that the world falls away and there is nothing but self, so much so that “the self” disappears – and you realize that you have been here all along and always will be even after whatever else happens happens. (And it is going to happen anyway whether you like it or not. This is part of what they mean when they say, “Let it be.”)
Nietzsche famously wrote, “Stare into the abyss long enough and the abyss will stare back into you.”
Most people misunderstand that quotation and think it’s a negative, and terrifying, thing.
It’s actually the most positive thing one could ever hope to imagine.
Dale Barrigar
Hi Dale
Couldn’t agree more. I walk everyday. I am fortunate to live in a place that has lots of greenbelts and I see Deer everyday. Big year for Twin Fawns. One of my huge peeves is (and forgive my language): PUT DOWN THE GOD DAMN PHONE! I mean Jesus, I see people walking past Deer and Wild Birds oblivious because they have their plugs in and are hooked over the thing. Somehow they do not get greased by cars.
Now, the fellas, in the picture, are very interested in “who” is in the tree. I’d lay a 100 to 1, If they were around here, that the interesting party is either a Squirrel or a Raccoon. Looks like Colonel is asking Boo for a boost. Dogs do not gaze into phones!
Leila
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LA
Yes, it’s true that dogs do not care one iota about phones, although they do watch a little TV every now and then when there’s nothing else going on. Boo enjoys Megyn Kelly’s podcast even tho’ he doesn’t agree with (all of) her political opinions.
It’s funny how much they love humans. We evolved side by side and they will always be there. If they were ever gone, WE would be gone.
The fellow in the tree that they can’t seem to get enough of was shaking his fist at them and laughing his head off! (Mr. Squirrel.)
DB
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Ha! I figured it had to be a Tree Rat. Why is this boldface happening? Guess I hit something.
Leila
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Sometimes the tree rats literally seem to be testing fate as they run directly out in front of the Huskies! And I mean they are aware that the dogs are there because they are looking them right in the eyes before suddenly veering off, hitting a tree and leaping out of reach. After seeing this happen so many times, it leads me to believe some squirrels are bolder than others and sometimes do these things literally on purpose, for fun-and-adventure or simply to test themselves I don’t know. Bold little critters! Colonel has sent too many of them to heaven when they pull this shit. Boo has let every single one of them go, every single time. (Bandit hardly cares at all and just thinks everyone is ridiculous.)
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Good essay, Dale. Very zen. Sometimes just watching our bird feeder calms me. I like the photos, too. Dogs … talk about zen!
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Hi Dale
This is very meditative. It’s soothing to read. So much wisdom flows from your words to enlighten us from the markability of nature to actual nature.
People really do believe they need false idols like Winchester rifles and bass boats to go destroy nature so they can feel like the big man or woman, but this is false. I don’t want to hold a five-pound bass up for a picture. It’s not a trophy; it’s a living creature–but there was a time when I was that person.
When you pointed out that artificial light was also part of nature because humans are part of nature, it seemed like an epiphany. This division between humans and nature seems wrong now. Why do people want to conquer nature?
I spent the day on one of our nature photography trips down to Rockville for the Covered Bridge festival. The car broke down on a gravel road an hour from home. And when we were out there among the weeds, soybeans, and the combine. There was a sort of unexpected peace. We were stranded, but we were stranded in nature.
Glad you wrote this–I thought it was great!
CJA
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Gotta love some Townes. Those leaves are coming along nicely.
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PS Great pictures of your dogs! Those are some beautiful creatures!
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