We are at the final stage of the intellectual journey towards a more fulfilling and rewarding life as a man. Your real journey, should you embrace the task, will probably take you a number of years. You don't rid yourself of a lifetime of negative conditioning overnight.
The final stage in the journey is to gather some of the real friends you have developed on the way and go wild, in the truest sense of the word. Head off into the wilderness, on foot and carrying those things you need to survive, if you are capable. Go fishing and hunting, even if it is with a camera. Enjoy the companionship and bonding that arises amongst a group of men when they are out in the wilderness together, relying on one another, supporting one another.
As Walt Whitman so elegantly put it.
I too am not a bit tamed, I too am untranslatable,I sound my barbaric YAWP over the roofs of the world.
It is time for you to find a suitable mountain top or precipice give air to your barbaric yawp. It is a scream of sheer exhilaration and triumph. Standing on a summit surveying the wilderness laid out before your feet you are a master of the universe, revel in your maleness.
On second thoughts, bugger waiting till the end of your journey, find every opportunity to be wild. Men are not built to sit at desks and worry; men are built to be immersed in wilderness.
The image is of the Routeburn Track in the South Island of New Zealand. One of the greatest wilderness walks in the world in The Green Man's not so humble opinion.
Addendum: (in response to Jonathans comment)
Those of you not acustomed to the traditions of bushwalking may be unaware of the fact that remaining clothed seems of far less importance to bushwalkers than most, swimming costumes for example are unheard of.
You could speculate that it arrises because you are
1. with people that you know and trust and
2. enjoying the privacy of being the only people for many miles.
Skinny dipping with your group in a mountain lake or on a deserted beach is one of the undeniable pleasures of going wild.
There are many jewels hidden amongst the leaves in this forgotten part of the ancient forest. Spend some time browsing and you are sure to find some. Click here or continue your search below
or read the most recent entries here.And I'm sure the Green Man would also suggest that such wilderness travel would be best undertaken in one's most natural state, i.e., sans clothing...correct? ;-)
Posted by: Jonathan at January 17, 2004 12:29 AMOn every possible occasion climate and undergrowth permiting.
The Park Rangers on the Routeburn may of course have a different view.
Posted by: GreenMan at January 17, 2004 06:15 AMWell, hey...sounds good to me! Of course, I've also been known to express my opinion that most parks (as in "great outdoors" parks, not city parks) should have at least one day a month declared clothing optional...
Posted by: Jonathan at January 17, 2004 06:57 AMOh, and I must say...for a post focusing on the need of MEN to "go wild," those two skinnydippers look awfully feminine... Perhaps they're the reason guys like to head into the wilderness? ;-)
Posted by: Jonathan at January 17, 2004 07:04 AMNot all bushwalking is male only! Have you learnt nothing of The Green Man's tastes?
Anyway it was serendipidous, it was the first appropriate image I encountered in google.
Posted by: GreenMan at January 17, 2004 07:06 AM
Stumble It!