I spent this last weekend camping out in the desert with a few friends as a means to unplug and get back to the basics.
The desert is a very existential place… Wide open landscapes with sparse vegetation, unfamiliar exotic animals, and the overall isolation from the rest of society all contribute to a unique environment where outside distractions are minimized.
One morning, I decided to take a solo hike up a nearby mountain away from the rest of the group.
It was just me and my thoughts.
I sat down on a rock about halfway up and looked out over the barren valley.
Inhale… Exhale… Stillness… Peace…
No unnecessary material externalities… No stress imposed by bureaucratic constructs…
I closed my eyes and began to meditate.
“This is what’s left when everything else dissolves. This is all I will ever need.”
I was examining the raw naked base of existence without the everyday superstructure we take for granted.
Socialization in the modern world depends on reconciling our primal nature with technological/societal developments. Changes within the zeitgeist do not negate our nature, but merely impose extra memes on top of this base that we must learn to navigate through. One could potentially throw this artificial reality into the wind and live on a park bench at no expense to personal happiness. That feeling of fulfillment comes before everything external, and it can be accessed at any time.
I’ve experienced moments like that before, and I will definitely experience moments like that in the future.
The beautiful thing about spiritual realizations is that they don’t cost anything, and are available to anyone who is open to them.
When the deepest personal foundation within an individual has been fulfilled, the rise and fall of the extraneous ceases to impact the emotions. The person can then shamelessly focus on what really matters (his personal mission). There is nothing left to lose after neutrality has been internalized. An individual who loves himself is free to share this internal value with others through the medium of his choice.
Spending time out in nature refreshes the mind via the removal of distractions. Such experiences put us back in touch with where we came from. The accompanying existential contemplation allows one to feel the illusory nature of societal-imposed stress and worry on a much more visceral level. I didn’t necessarily learn anything new this weekend… Instead, I ended up refining my philosophy by exposing myself to an environment conducive to deep reflection.
The post My Weekend In the Desert appeared first on Mister Infinite.
