[Steve]

It has been said that while at sea a sailor develops what is called “sea legs”. i.e. the ability to adjust and maintain balance with the shifting waves as they beat upon the vessel whether or not they are congruent with its own propulsion or at odds against it. They develop the ability to work within the ebb and flow of the rise and fall of the tides and even over time develop a sense of land in the distance while the contour of the ocean floor slowly escalates to pierce through the sea’s water barrier in the distance long before it can be seen. When on land however their baring is off and they find themselves unable to maintain even a straight gaze let alone stroll.

For most of us, flat landers, we also have forces that influence us. I will not say they are more subtle but they are more familiar. The earth beneath us has its own mass, composition and gravitational pull, the structures we live and work in there own buzz of preoccupation and pulse of activities. When attentive one knows whether you are on a firm foundation or one that bounces when another walks by, violently compressing your vertebra, or if there is even fresh air flowing in the midst or just stagnate dust simply being moved around. In both environments however we adjust to harmonize with our surroundings and adapt to our conditions with very little conscience thought of our own harmonics. How they are affected and/or affecting others and the environment we find ourselves in but not necessarily connected to.

This connection can be seen and appreciated with a deeper awareness when watching an artist deeply concentrating on the task of creativity at hand. When they are engaged with the medium with which they have chosen and the material with which they wish to depict the subject in, whether oil, acrylic, water color, charcoal, chalk, crayons, pencil or photograph and regardless of if its with bright pastels or muted shades of gray, but the life of the depiction is only brought out not merely by a talent but more so by the connection being made between all the elements in the equation. It’s the “in-betweeness” of what happens in the orchestration of each in a harmonic blend of them all, captured in but a moment, which makes it easier for us to see what so fluidly surrounds us in a constant stream and therefore so easily missed.

From our reading the quote from Allen Watts stands out to me, “you didn’t come into the world you came out of it, like a wave from the ocean, you are not a stranger here.” The question therefore I ask myself with regard to Nature Connection and its importance is how familiar am I with both the environment and myself and the attenuations of each let alone the “in-betweeness”. Here in Colorado I experience, like many the concept spoken of by John Mur when stating, “The mountains are calling” but I can also be completely disconnected while also in a high tech fast passed, heads down, and fractured world radiating only the glow from a computer screen, as the “digital creep” steals something from us all in exchange of convenience not connectedness.

To borrow from Richard Price, “Wilderness is a leaderless teacher, there is no one preaching change to us, the only personal transformation that occurs arises from within ourselves.” So in interest of identifying the challenges of growing as a human being and developing a connection with nature within and around me. The best I can formulate in simplest terms is a mantra like statement. I am but a witness and I strive to be a good one and forever in amazement, it makes life entertaining.