Teaching in the Wild

These days, the common approach towards teaching in wilderness is one of inquiry into how things are put together and how they relate to one another. As part of our cultural legacy we possess many sciences — biology geology, astronomy, chemistry, physics, and all of the more specific fields within these broader studies. I can recall, from my childhood education, dissecting frogs, learning about glaciation and the three different basic types of rocks, catching butterflies and putting pins through them, counting the rings of trees, and having my head stuffed with a lot of facts, obscure names, and jargon that I have mostly forgotten. While this type of education is valuable and has its place, to be sure, I am interested in approaching the subject of wilderness education from a different angle.

What is it that we have to learn from nature simply by being out on the land and letting the land come to us as it were? Through the acts of attention and receptivity, we discover facets of wilderness that cannot be taught in books or discovered through scientific inquiry. In a stance of openness, our relationship to nature becomes real, immediate, and personal. After all, it does not take any conceptual knowledge to be able to appreciate a stunning sunset.

If we relax our minds, open our hearts, and enter into quiet dialogue with the landscape that stands before us, our understanding will silently deepen of its own accord. Insight and clarity come naturally. Within a simple and singular approach, there is nothing to do and nothing to figure out. The purity of being, being with ourselves and being with nature, leads us to the experience of gratitude and of joy and of peace. There is no greater teaching than this.