A Conversation With The Earth Through Fire Making

Fire making is an essential survival skill and it is so much more. It is a very effective way to enter into conversation with the Earth in a real and meaningful way including a definite, clear end point. Learning to converse with the Earth is not only important for survival in the wilderness, it is also a doorway to knowing self, experiencing competence, and allowing yourself to relax and just be. Survival is important in and of itself, but it is much more to survive and also be happy, at peace, and to deeply know.

Transcript

Hello, In today's video, I'm going to start with demonstrating fire building. By the bow drill method. And then I'm gonna go on to a discussion about mindfulness. You might wonder how these two are connected. The process of making fire, Especially with a purely wilderness technique like the bow drill method. Is a process of having a conversation with the earth. And in order to have that conversation, In order to listen, Clearly enough and quietly enough to hear what the earth is trying to tell you. You require some mindfulness. This will grow over time into what the Apache called sacred silence. It is this silence that allows you to hear what the earth is saying. Is offering to you. And I put it that way, Offering, Not telling, Not demanding. Offering. So let's get started. So fire making. Is not the first survival skill. It's the fourth survival skill after shelter. Water, Food, And then fire. Fire is a comfort to have out in the wilderness. It is a skill. That's essential for. Making that connection. There are a lot of different pieces to making fire. The spindle. What type of wood you use. The bulb. The string. In this case, Rawhide. Hand holds. Which is generally made out of wood. And the fireboard. Making the fire pit area. Selecting the spot for it. Sheltering it if you need to. And how you actually build a fire. Do you have one? Dry wood or do you have wet? Configurations of the fire work best depending on what kind of wood is there. Each of these subjects. Is a piece in and of itself and I'll do a video about each one. The object here though. . . Is not to Pretend. That we don't have the gliders. Or that we don't have flint and steel. If we want to carry that. The object is to. . . Be able to go into the wilderness. With just your hands. And your mind and your heart. And make fire. When you can do that, Then fire is your companion. Whether or not you are sitting around it, Because you have that connection. To fire and to the earth. And to that process of receiving fire. In my time teaching fire. Making and doing it myself. It's been interesting from the standpoint of. . . Earth Mother will frequently give a beginner a fire. Basically terrible technique. You know, Marginal. Carving skills and so forth. But it's amazing. How often I've seen this happen. And then. . . And next time. . . They don't get it. And what I say is that. . . This is a conversation. That you are having with the earth. The earth is part of that conversation. It's the other side of that conversation. And so it can offer something of itself. And then it can require a little more of you to get that same result that you got last time pretty easy. So I can tell you the number of people that I have worked with who Once they get that one fire, They're like, Aha, I've got it. No problem. That was easy. And then. . . Once go by. No more fires. They're trying this and they're trying that. No farms. Because each time the earth requires you to bring your best. It requires me to bring my best. Even though I've built hundreds of fires. I don't feel like I'm guaranteed to get a fire. Each time. Because it's a conversation. And the earth is the other side of that conversation. So. Part of what we need to do in order to Master. Fire, And other survival. Skills, Is to learn how to have that conversation with the earth in order to listen to the earth and hear what the earth is saying, What the earth is doing. How that's affecting. What you want and what you might think you want. So. . . Fire making. Is a physical skill, There's no doubt about that. There's definitely a physical element to it. But it's also a spiritual skill. It's also about communicating. To the largest entity that we deal with, Which is the Earth. We live in the universe as well, Of course, But we touch the earth. We walk upon the earth. It is. The largest entity. In our local sphere. And when we are Learning. Physical skills. It is the counterpart of those physical skills. It is where we are practicing those physical skills. Being able to have that conversation with the earth. Is part and parcel of those physical skills. And it doesn't matter if you're making fire or if you're looking for shelter. Or if you're trying to find water. If you're able to tune in to what the earth is telling you, If you're able to listen and hear and understand. Vim. Life in the wilderness becomes. Elegant. Not just possible, But elegant. And that's what we're talking about here in this. Sphere. This is what I'm interested in. I pursued survival skills Not to be a macho guy. But to be able to have that conversation with the earth, It's the conversation that excited me. And honestly, Not just with the earth, But with. All the spirits. Have communed with the earth throughout all time. These are doorways that open. As we become. Receptive. To what they are saying. So this receptivity. Is a big deal. It's a big part of what this is all about. Maybe it's the whole of it, Actually. And it starts simply now. I realize in the insights. Community. There's a lot of people that may be tuning into this. Who are experienced meditators. Are able to quiet their minds. Are able to focus. Are able perhaps to be quiet. But I'm not going to make that assumption. I'm going to talk about this. Um. . . As I learned it. And as the wilderness supports the lesson. The lesson starts with you. In your own mind. And with practicing. Basically, You know what the modern world accepts and names mindfulness, Mindfulness meditation, Right? This is not new, Certainly not cosmic, Certainly not avant-garde, And yet. . . It is. It's the starting point. And so. When I was dealing with new people as I frequently were in my medical practice and when I was teaching Wilderness Studies. I taught mindfulness like this. To do a mindful meditation, You have to decide to do a mindful meditation, Okay? It's an intent to do a mindful meditation. That's the beginning. I'm gonna do a mindful sit at this point, Okay? You can do a mindful walk. Yeah, I like to call it a sit, But nevertheless, Certainly, Sitting is probably the place to start. So I would tell people to select a chair in their house. That they're gonna use as their location for their mindful sits. This chair then would not be sat in casually or otherwise because it is where they're doing their mindful sit. And so sitting in that chair is setting the intent. And the more you do that, The repetitive nature of it helps you to trigger into that intent. And then what you do is you sit down. And you simply begin to observe your thoughts. Now most of the time, Most of the time, For most of us. We are not observing our thoughts. We are fully engaged and involved in our thoughts. We are working them. Imagine you are on a river. And you are in the river, Okay? You are swimming or you're in a small kayak and you are going for it, All right? You are fully involved in the process of going down that river. Um. . . But that's not mindfulness, Okay? Mindfulness is being on the bank. It's watching your thoughts go down the river, But not being swept along with them, Okay? So it's imagining yourself on the bank as your thoughts are going by, All right? So you know what your thoughts are as they are going by, You're simply not hooked by them. And I like this word, Hook. That's going to play a lot of. Different roles, This word hook. Okay, So you sit down. At your mindful set, You're doing an intended mindful set, And you begin to observe your thoughts. Now what's going to happen? Well, Of course, It depends on your experience level, But for most beginners. Essentially right away. Some thought is going to come by that has a sufficient hook. That it drags them back into the stream and they are no longer observing their thoughts, Now they are pursuing their thoughts, They're problem-solving, They're grieving, They are frustrating, They are emoting, They are, You know, Involved with their thoughts, And one after another, Okay? And some time will go by before you recognize, Oh, I was supposed to be sitting here doing a mindful sit, Okay? So that's one. Now you move back to the observer, Okay? You move back to the observer, Dislodge the hook by recognizing your intent to do a mindful sit. And you move back to the observer. And observe your thoughts some more, Okay? And again, You're going to get hooked by something, OK? Might be stupid, Might be profound. If you want, Have a piece of paper nearby, Write it down if you're worried about forgetting it. Um. . . When you're hooked. Perhaps a moment sooner than last time, You will recognize that you've been hooked. And you were intending to do a mindful sit, And so you let that go. And move back to the bank of the stream again, Move back to an observer. Posture. And observe your thoughts again. Now at this time. . . Some thought might throw a hook at you and you might recognize it. You might. And in which case, Great. Just let that hook go. So I recommend doing this for three hooks, Three times that you're thinking pattern gets hijacked by some emotional thought. Or some task that you're supposed to do or somebody that, You know. . . Disrespecting you or whatever it might be, Okay? It doesn't matter what it is really. Three times, You're done, Okay? The mindful sit in the beginning. Might last a minute, Okay? Maybe two, All right? I mean three set, Three hooks, You're done. All right, Get up. Do whatever it was you were directed to do or go back to your day, Your task, Whatever it might be. Um. . . Tomorrow, Try it again, Okay? Three books. No judgment, Okay? The way to dislodge a hook. Is to observe that you have been hijacked by your thoughts, Your intent has been hijacked by your thoughts. And choose to return to the posture of the observer. If you. . . Beat yourself up about it in any way that your personality might like. You are not. Serving the purpose. This is not about judgment. This is not about right and wrong. This is not about better than, Worse than. This is not a contest in any way. I don't even recommend that you discuss this with your significant others or anybody else. Don't put any baggage on yourself about this. Being able to Use your mind as a tool. Rather than as an identity. Or as a whipping boy. Is a magnificent thing, I can just say. Stress levels. Adrenaline levels, Cortisol levels. Balance. Problem-solving ability, Creativity, It doesn't matter what. Positive human attribute you name. Having some mindfulness skill. Improves your ability. In all these ways. So this is something we're gonna talk about a lot. And the goal here. I'll just pre-stage the goal. It's a ways off from your first mindful sit, Though. Is being able to not only quiet your thoughts, Not only. . . Move to the observer. But to let your thoughts literally trail away. So that you have silence. Mental silence. Now you can do this through observing your breath, Okay? I'm not recommending that as your first step. Mindful sit, You know, Because people kind of move into obsessing about their breath and that's not helpful. You're not trying to obsess about anything, You're trying to Be the observer. And once you're the observer and you gain a little skill at seeing the hook come and or getting better at knowing what it feels like to be hooked. And being able to. Dislodge that quicker. Takes these thoughts and disempowers them. And as the thoughts get disempowered, You gain more control over yourself. Over your thoughts. And you can choose then. To enter the silence. Apache. In Tom Brown's school and Stockingwell's tradition, They call this sacred silence. Sacred silence. And the word sacred for the Apache always meant. Not church, Okay? It meant an essential aspect. For survival. Essential, Okay? That's why they call this sacred four of survival. And it comes in a sacred order, Shelter. Water. Food. If you don't do it in that order. And we'll talk about that as we go because no, If I walk by, You know, A perfect. Piece of wood that I can make into a bow drill, I'm not going to stop. Forget it just because I'm building my shelter now, Okay? It's obviously something you do. As a whole project. Need. Is there, Okay? If you have fire, But you don't have shelter. You're not safe. If you have food but you don't have water. You know, That's not gonna work. So. This idea of sacred silence is a large goal of this whole thing. Quantum wilderness. Series. And so it will be a recurring theme, But it starts right here. Mindful meditation, 3 hooks. Is sitting in an intended way. And working at it. See you next time.