Article #4
Be awake
be Alert
Be alive
THE law of the wilderness
in a modern world!
We walk slowly through the bush. In front of me are two rangers with rifles. It is scorching hot, and all around me is nothing but the endless expanse of Africa, which looks inconspicuous but should never be underestimated. There are laws that help you survive, I quickly learn, but I learn even faster back home: these laws also apply in the modern world ...
BE AWAKE, BE ALERT, BE ALIVE
This is one of the seven "laws of the wild" that the rangers teach us in the African wilderness. And somehow I think that this law also fits particularly well into our modern times! We may no longer have lions on the streets and no immediate dangers to be wary of, but there are still plenty that we are not even aware of.
As soon as we turn on the TV, open the newspapers or scroll through social media, we read about the dangers all around us. The news is full of negative reports, and no matter how modern we are, this causes our reptilian brain to wake up, sound the alarm and automatically switch to escape mode. That's our nature too!
No matter how modern we are:
THE WILDNESS LIVES IN US!
"Be awake, be alert, be alive" may sound like a law for remote places with wild animals, where you could step on a poisonous snake at any moment and therefore cannot afford not to be "awake", but for me, this is exactly how it applies in this day and age.
This law of the wild is a small but subtle rule that challenges the active consciousness and asks: Do you simply run away because you see danger in every noise from the outside, or are you alert, vigilant and "alife", listening to your own nature, your inner voice and yourself. Do you trust your senses or do you allow yourself to be guided by the constant external noise? Do you see yourself from the outset as a victim who has to flee, or as someone who goes through the world vigilantly? Are you "alife" instead of "afraid"?
Maybe you're not hunted by wild animals in the modern West, but you're definitely hunted by constant sound. And there is another rule in the bush that stands above all others. It reads:
WHATEVER YOU DO, DON'T RUN!
If this article has inspired you, I would be delighted if you would share it with others,
and join me on my mission to create a new awareness of - our own - nature.
