Wilderness Message
This message creates a level playing field for the well-being of everything in Nature and not just for human beings. It is the pure meaning of justice and fair play. Using our common sense it demands minimal destruction to what is around us as we journey through life.
This message should be the natural basis of human civilisation
Where did it come from?
(from Colin) “The concept came to me after six years of a lifestyle of mainly long solo expeditions. I have no doubt that it arose from my unconscious because of the spontaneous and natural manner in which I wrote it down.”
I used it for the first time in 1998 at a New Zealand outdoor adventure conference. The reception from the audience (c700) was heart warming.
Over the last 10 years reaction to the “message” have been fascinating. The majority of adults I speak to appear to be happy with it. The same has been true of classes of 10-11yr olds.
In contrast I have found strong resistance to the “message” by ‘important’ people such as chief executives, even when they work for organisations directly concerned with wild Nature. In particular they take exception to the final section,
“Everything in Nature is no more or no less important than anything else.”
This is hardly surprising. It is not difficult to see that, as the more important your job becomes, or the higher your status, the more likely the temptation to succumb to an expanding ego. Egotism is a vice.
The “message” is Natures gift to the man-made world. It is up to us to implement it in all aspects of our lives. It should be the basis for the whole of education aswell as for political and commercial decisions.
To continue on our present arrogant course of regarding ourselves as separate from, and superior to, Nature is to face the distinct possibility of Armageddon.