The Bush Philosopher
The Bush Philosopher
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Every month get a slice of home made bush philosophy from Inspiration Outdoors…
This Month – Waiting for Lightning Bolts
You know in the cartoons when the dim witted protagonist (usually a dog for some reason) has an epiphany and is lifted up in the air bathed in a golden light as a 1000 angels strike a chord? This about sums up my initial expectations of hiking in the bush. I was expecting some sort of lightening bolt to come down from the heavens hitting me in the top of the head blessing me with some sort of permanent wisdom. Alas, hours, days, weeks and years have since passed but any skerrick of wisdom learnt has been ground out mainly as a by-product of poor judgements. I have had some fantastic and life changing experiences walking the trails but never anything akin to the floating dog. Of all the great experiences though, there has definitely been a common element to the best of them.
Curiosity can be inspired by others, it can well up from within or it can be faked. But from wherever it has come, curiosity has always accompanied my highest moments in the bush. It is the combination of intellect and awe, of left brain and right. For me it usually starts with some sort of meditation on the processes within nature. In the office or street this sort of thinking is usually dismissed as cliche, but in direct experience in the bush, it is transformative.
When you think about it, it is not really surprising or ground breaking to think that experiences are more fun when you are genuinely interested. And maybe that is all it is – being fully engaged if only for an hour, a day, a week or, indeed, years.
