Guerrilla camping
On this journey, I've left one of the biggest, most crime ridden cities in the world and taken up life on the road in search of nothing (or everything?), so why has sleeping alone in the wilderness had such a huge impact on my life? Surely it's safer to rest one's head alone in the jungle than in the depths of Brooklyn right? So why can it be so difficult and terrifying? I believe the answers lie in the history of humanity and the conditioning of the first 24 years of my life.
Human beings, as a species, have conquered the planet and now dominate life on earth due to our collective intelligence, or teamwork. Harnessing fire, developing languages, art, industry, culture, technology, and all of the other great accomplishments of our species are based on our collective abilities to reflect on things learned from past generations, then build on those things leaving more knowledge for the next. For example, take an average modern person and put him alone on an island and he will most likely not even be able to produce fire (one of the most primitive human accomplishments taking place over 400,000 years ago), let alone complex technologies and industry. My point is to illustrate how much we rely on one another for the comforts of our lives and this is evident as we all live in or near cities, towns, and villages surrounded by other people. This group security that we all have come to take for granted makes going to sleep at night very easy, and has done so for humans, and most other mammals, for a very long time.
Understanding this evolutionary conditioning is key to conquering the fear of sleeping alone in the wild. When we really think about it, sleeping in the forest is very safe as animals typically will not attack anyone unprovoked and a confrontation with a dangerous animal can be easily diffused by simply remaining calm and not panicking, Here in Indonesia I'm often asked how I can sleep in the jungle when the jungles are full of ghosts and evil spirits. I simply reply that I don't believe in the existence of such things. I do, however, believe in malaria and snakes and for me, it's the immense vulnerability that can make it so terrifying.
I think of it this way: Why am I doing this? Cause I want to. What's the worst thing that can happen? Death. Am I afraid of that? Not really. So quit being such a baby and go to sleep!
I've now slept alone in the wild in New Zealand, Australia, and Indonesia and I can surely say that sleeping among the beauty of nature, with fresh air and the songs of insects or waves hitting the beach, is one of the most amazing experiences one can have, shattering the mental constraints of domestication.
Human beings, as a species, have conquered the planet and now dominate life on earth due to our collective intelligence, or teamwork. Harnessing fire, developing languages, art, industry, culture, technology, and all of the other great accomplishments of our species are based on our collective abilities to reflect on things learned from past generations, then build on those things leaving more knowledge for the next. For example, take an average modern person and put him alone on an island and he will most likely not even be able to produce fire (one of the most primitive human accomplishments taking place over 400,000 years ago), let alone complex technologies and industry. My point is to illustrate how much we rely on one another for the comforts of our lives and this is evident as we all live in or near cities, towns, and villages surrounded by other people. This group security that we all have come to take for granted makes going to sleep at night very easy, and has done so for humans, and most other mammals, for a very long time.
Understanding this evolutionary conditioning is key to conquering the fear of sleeping alone in the wild. When we really think about it, sleeping in the forest is very safe as animals typically will not attack anyone unprovoked and a confrontation with a dangerous animal can be easily diffused by simply remaining calm and not panicking, Here in Indonesia I'm often asked how I can sleep in the jungle when the jungles are full of ghosts and evil spirits. I simply reply that I don't believe in the existence of such things. I do, however, believe in malaria and snakes and for me, it's the immense vulnerability that can make it so terrifying.
I think of it this way: Why am I doing this? Cause I want to. What's the worst thing that can happen? Death. Am I afraid of that? Not really. So quit being such a baby and go to sleep!
I've now slept alone in the wild in New Zealand, Australia, and Indonesia and I can surely say that sleeping among the beauty of nature, with fresh air and the songs of insects or waves hitting the beach, is one of the most amazing experiences one can have, shattering the mental constraints of domestication.
1 comment:
wow! amazing photos mike! and i really like the way you write. two thumbs up! :)
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