Reconnecting to the Wild

from Disorderly Conduct #6


“Civilization is raked leaves and mowed lawns”

With civilization all around us, and the context most of us have developed within, how can we reconnect with our wild selves? How can we begin to go feral?

The way one can start to re-align oneself from the “civilized” framework towards a more “wild” existence are infinite and can manifest themselves in many physical, mental, emotional, and spiritual realities. Even in the middle of an urban nightmare we can start to connect to a more natural way of being. One can think of urban gardens and permaculture as methods to understand natural cycles, feed one’s body with real nutrients, and free up some land buried under the concrete of modern construction. There are many plants that grow well in the cracks, which have a wonderfully destructive force on the infrastructure of civilization. Urban hunting and gathering can start to hone our diminishing survival instincts, as well as make us less dependent on the system for our needs. Graffiti, broken windows, fire, and rubble can be seen as ways to deconstruct the standardized aesthetic of the city, and of course the spontaneous dynamics of a riot can do a lot to de-stabilize the civilized mentality of ‘the trains always running on time’. We can start to explore wild areas, re-learn our knowledge of wild plants as food, medicine, and guides. We can start to acquire the primitive skills that all people once used as the way to provide all the necessities of life. We can start to comfort and care for one another as the naturally communal beings that we have always been, despite the alienated and fractured “life” that this culture tries to force upon us.

In a more general sense, the line between learned behavior and unmediated experience is one which can be explored. For instance, symbolic thought and linguistic communication can start to be seen as very limited ways of thinking and modes of expression. We, as human-animals, once lived and communicated and understood our world much differently. We depended on instinct and direct experiences much more, and we relied much less on symbols or abstract concepts like language. Our ancient ancestors must have communicated with far more expressive qualities. Although we have moved to a more symbolically-dependent and abstract way of communicating, there is still some less-mediated experiences we can still have which offer a glimpse into other ways of expression and understanding. More can be learned about each other through non-verbal communication, like touch, smell, taste, body language, sexual experiences, etc. than through endless conversations. More can be learned about wild areas through experiencing them directly, than through a biologist explaining the scientific significance and functional details. Forming bonds with non-humans can be an important aspect of this re-learning of our ancestral modes of communication or natural expressions. Relationships with non-human companions can give great insight into the realm between the domesticated and wild worlds, which we may often feel stuck between. We can learn (without taking) from the many indigenous peoples who are still earth-based, and still connected to the plants and animals around them and live based on mutual respect and openness.

Many of these suggestions are in no way the end-all, or path towards total liberation, but instead, ways for us to more deeply realize and go beyond intellectual understanding of the limited condition that the human experience has become, and to help one strive to become wild once again.

For the Destruction of Civilization!

And For the Reconnection to Life!