This piece is a little edgier than some of our other content, so proceed with caution if you aren't willing to consider things that may challenge your beliefs and worldview.
We will be deconstructing the very nature of how humans exist on the planet and how we have become domesticated and are unconsciously participating in a giant experiment.
Remember this level of technology and control over life has never before existed. This is the first of many posts we will be creating in the coming months centered on human wildness.
Do you consider yourself a domesticated animal?
The truth is most of us are.
There is of course a wide range of expressions of domestication, but consider what makes up the daily life of so many humans. We locomote within a narrow range of rote movements on flat planes and interact with 90 degree angles (where in nature to level surfaces and 90 degree angle exist???). We eat food pellets (aka processed food) resulting from a long line of industrial processes.
Even those choosing to garden are mostly relying on highly domesticated crops. We spend most of our lives in human created and sanctioned cages called buildings where we are disconnected from the elements. We drink water in a highly unnatural state laden with damaging substances ranging from fluoride to pharmaceuticals.
We have forgotten how to breathe and praise technology over the magic of the Earth.
Canyon de Chelly: A remembrance of humans intimately integrated into Nature.
We are allowing ourselves to be complacent in a global factory farming epidemic known as modern humanity.
The results of which are wreaking havoc on the health, resilience and happiness of the human species. We are not living our lives as our ancestors did, we are forging a path more deeply domesticated than ever before.
Although I'm not suggesting we return to or romanticize the past, we do need to consider the deleterious effects that domestication has on us and mitigate it in a personalized way. Rewilding is the antidote to human domestication.
Consider the last time you acted as a wild animal. Does any animal feel ashamed of their nakedness? Do you recall the last food you yourself extracted & ate from a wild ecosytem? Can you use the full range of motion you are blessed with (squat, crawl, bend, balance, open, etc..)? Are you able to read the landscape/seascape around you?
Chaco Canyon: An ancient civilization that aligned with the celestial rhythms. Another example of a connected civilization; balancing domestication with what is wild/natural.
Do you consider yourself integrated with or separate from nature?
At the core of civilization is the idea that humans are creating something that is superior to nature in some way. By controlling or manipulating animals, plants, minerals, fungi and even air and water on the beautiful Earth, we are departing from the wild and entering the realm of domestication. This said we have always altered the environment to meet our needs even if by plucking fruits or hunting wild beasts.
Petroglyphs at Chaco Canyon marking a celestial event, a supernova more than a thousand years ago
But never before has domestication reached such heights where most humans don't enter into relationship with the world around them, rather we are creating a factory farm where domesticated humans are the result. We have forgotten how to move our bodies and have atrophied the innate connection and relationship to all living beings.
Many children don't experience the human norm of vaginal birth and breast milk and aren't allowed to be exposed to microbes in their environment (what kid doesn't put earth in their mouth?). We are not raising resilient children, but rather participants in civilization.
Many folks don't see the stars and don't spent time around fire. We are not eating real food but instead consume the kibble that the industrial food system creates. Genetic modification is one of the most arrogantly controlling and dangerous things we have ever done. We are allowing our food system to be dominated by corporations thereby sacrificing our sovereignty for convenience.
Sounds like a pretty bleak picture right? What can be done? This is where is gets fun!
Rewilding is the solution to many of the ills of the modern humans and everyone can participate in reconnecting to our wild human roots.
In the coming posts we will be discussing and exploring elements of the rewilding lifestyle where we will be remembering the wisdom in our bodies, the history in our DNA and our great capacity for health, vitality, abundance and happiness.
Join us as we share part of our journey and introduce some concepts, strategies and approaches that can bridge the domestic with the wild.
We are currently considering the feral realm as a factastic option for meeting our needs and living out our wildness.
banner by @radicalunicorn
Much of these idea were inspired, furthered or introduced through my favorite podcast, the ReWild Yourself Podcast. I would highly recommend appreciating this wealth of information that Daniel Vitalis has curated and is truly a fantastic resource for anyone who is willing to think outside the box and interested in engaging in their own process of rewilding.
