Ideas
Rewilding | Ideas
Rewilding
Feral is a delicious word. It means to be ‘in a wild state, especially after escape from captivity or domestication.’ For those of us living in the the modern world, feral is something we yearn for, and deserve.
Embrace Culture Shock | Ideas
Embrace Culture Shock
Culture Shock. It was market day in Tanant, a dusty Berber village in the foothills of the Atlas Mountains, Morocco. I was on my own and miles away from the tourist crowd. Stalls of fresh honey and sweet toasted almonds nestled beside hooked goat heads and enormous dried out cow tongues. People thrust hand-woven rugs and live chickens in my face. I saw a sheep being skinned to the side a blood splattered tent, and another being led calmly in. It felt like I’d been sucked into a maelstrom of brutal sensations, too raw and unfamiliar to understand. Leaving your comfort zone, I decided that day, is, well, uncomfortable.
Cowboys & Creativity | Ideas
Cowboys & Creativity
In the Great Basin of northern Nevada – a vast desert of scratchy sagebrush and bleached white, dried out salt beds – there are cowboys who recite poetry. Earlier this year I visited Elko, the town where they gather each January, and found it extraordinary that men who ride bulls and wrestle steers for fun, men whose macho swagger could run John Wayne out of town, would be inspired to get in touch with their feelings. But perhaps it shouldn’t have. Artistic inspiration can strike any of us, at any time, and recent scientific evidence suggests its blast is most potent when, like cowboys, we’re riding off into the sunset.
Interview Ryoei Takagi: Shugendo Monk | Ideas
Interview Ryoei Takagi: Shugendo Monk
Whilst walking the Kumano Kodo Pilgrimage Trail in Japan I had a rare opportunity to interview a Shugendo monk. The entire Kumano region is sacred to the followers of Shugendo who have lived and walked these arduous mountain slopes for thousands of years. read more…
Enlightenment In Nature | Ideas
Enlightenment In Nature
Here’s an idea: burn every self-help book you’ve ever read, ignore every piece of guru advice you’ve ever been given and just get into nature instead. I mean really get into it. Climb a mountain, swim a river, run a rocky shore. The spirit is not nourished by self-reflection, it’s nourished by the world itself. Immerse yourself in it.