Poetry is a great gift for us to connect with the natural world.
If humanity is to move forward in a direction that is symbiotic with the natural world, we need to acknowledge our wild selves and integrate them into our daily lives, rather than having them trapped in a cage and ignored.
Ian McCallum is a medical doctor, psychiatrist, analytical psychologist, and specialist wilderness guide.
A director of the Wilderness Foundation, a trustee of the Cape Leopard Trust, a former rugby Springbok, and the author of multiple publications including two anthologies of wilderness poems: Wild Gifts (1999) and Untamed (2012). His book Ecological Intelligence – Rediscovering Ourselves in Nature – won the Wild Literary Award at the World Wilderness Congress in 2009.
Listen to Ian recite a poem that speaks about the movement from being lost to being found – from disconnection and disorientation to connection and placement.
‘Lost’ – by David Wagoner (1999)
Stand still. The trees ahead and bushes beside you
Are not lost. Wherever you are is called Here,
And you must treat it as a powerful stranger,
Must ask permission to know it and be known.
The forest breathes. Listen. It answers,
I have made this place around you.
If you leave it, you may come back again, saying Here.
No two trees are the same to Raven.
No two branches are the same as Wren.
If what a tree or a bush does is lost on you,
You are surely lost. Stand still. The forest knows
Where you are. You must let it find you.
This poem speaks to the greatest transformation that needs to occur across humanity today … we need to acknowledge that we are all animals, that we are nature and part of these great systems and ecosystems.
The Rising – by Ian McCallum
One day
your soul will call to you
with a holy rage.
“Rise up!” it will say …
“Stand up inside your own skin.”
Unmask your unlived life …
feast on your animal heart.
Unfasten your fist …
let loose the medicine
in your own hand.
Show me the lines …
I will show you the spoor
of the ancestors.
Show me the creases …
I will show you
the way to water.
Show me the folds …
I will show you the furrows
for your healing.
“Look!” it will say …
the line of life has four paths –
one with a mirror
one with a mask,
one with a fist,
one with a heart.
One day,
your soul will call to you
with a holy rage.
I would like to credit – and thank ReWild Africa for this post, as well as their challenge …
Take 30 minutes in your week to sit somewhere where you can hear a river flowing or a bird calling and write some things down. A lot of possibility arises from quiet moments in nature.
ReWild is a film company that exists to support solutions for ecological restoration. It believes in working collaboratively with individuals and organisations which value both people and planet. See co-founder Alistair Daynes’ Google Trekker journey ReWild aims to shine a light on solutions for a wilder world, to collectively regenerate and transform the world we live in, to create a positive, large scale impact through film, education and experiences.
SOME VERY GOOD NEWS!
A High Seas Treaty agreement has just been reached by 193 UN member states, after almost 20 years of talks.
Encompassing over 60% of the ocean and 43% of our planet’s surface, the “high seas” are the oceans outside of national boundaries and jurisdiction.
This agreement is a crucial step towards enforcing the 30×30 pledge made at COP15 in Montreal (protecting 30% of the ocean by 2030), as it should provide a legal framework for establishing Marine Protected Areas (MPAs) on the high seas. Currently, only about 1.2% of this area is “protected”.
Which is why this is is one of the most significant environmental agreements ever!