I had this in the highs and lows of a solo trip in the Norwegian wilderness: unknowns, and solitude. A powerful and humbling experience. The problem is that you rarely know how much higher you have to climb, two hundred meters, five hundred, a thousand, before the unknown turns known. So you keep going.
The natural world can be a teacher, one that helps you think differently. It is said that civilization, and the mind, is three days deep. After three days in the wild you see clearly what matters, and which missions are worth the trouble. You attune to the particular intelligence of the natural world, and your mind starts to work in another way. I think we all need to find this source for creativity. As Einstein put it, you cannot solve a problem with the same mind that made it.
Some things the trail taught me
- Follow your track. Read the signs.
- Solitude and silence are teachers. They point to what matters most: family, and love.
- Attend to the next thing. Then drop back to a gentle ease.
- The unknown is part of the track.
- Take care of your feet. Otherwise you get nowhere.
