Tuesday, October 07, 2008

"Wild Resilience..."



There is a great wealth of wisdom literature around about the ways and means people keep going when the going gets extreme and severe. Most reflects upon how and why and with what motives they draw their strength from - even long after most of us might have expected to have given up... Much of this writing defines principles of behaviour and describes strategies by which severe challenges may be met and overcome...
Yet what I find of most interest is that a great many of the examples used and the case studies applied involve those who would see themselves as adventurers...
The unique hidden gemstone in this literature is that we, ourselves as adventurers, are very often the 'subjects of study'. Be it climbers, trekkers, soloists, survivalists, kayakers, adventure racers, mountain bikers - all of us at one time have become the prime case example in such studies... The research typically looks at why we do it, how we bounce back, how it is we keep going, and going, and going; and also inquires about the paradox of us actually making experiences harder for the 'fun of it' out there...
This wild resilience we adventurers have is both puzzle and paradox to those who study us. Yet we know... don't we... the secrets of what is to be found out there... and within each of us as well...
Such examination and the wisdom literature that comes of it would seem to be of real and distinct value to all of us wild place wanderers who muse and ponder through tough times... but also clearly for anyone hoping to better understand human resilience in general...
We are an interesting wild bunch aren't we Dear Finders.....
DSD

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

I used to be a Tolkien nut, but am now hooked on advanture lit. I love the stories of survival and the human spirit.