Ancient Paths

Walking into the wild, we shed unintentional living. Time expands in the wilderness. Immersed in the wild, our senses fill the emptiness of unintentional living with the fullness of being alive.

Attention is vitality. It connects you with others. 
― Susan Sontag

Poet Mary Oliver wrote,

To pay attention, this is our endless and proper work.

Setting out we notice the dull prick of grit in our hiking shoe. Some time later, we notice the smell of rain quenching arid rock.

Bottom of Ancient Route Up
by Jim Krehbiel, 9/6/2016

In time we turn our attention to light, wind, water, stone, plants, and other animals.

Many of the paths we walk are ancient routes. Ancestral cultures and animals navigated these routes before we arrived. Bipedals, quadrupedals and centipedes alike, these routes are well-trodden. Descendants follow after our departure.

In Native American tradition, how one walks is a metaphor for how one conducts one's life.

Basketmaker Rock Art
by Jim Krehbiel, 9/6/2016

Anasazi is a Navajo word meaning ancient ones or wise teachers. Anasazi nomads, or Ancestral Puebloans, arrived in the Four Corners region around A.D. 200. We know little of these people except that they made baskets woven from fronds of willow.

Much of our conduct and most of our actions are ephemeral. A few remain. Our remains become artifacts.

Look for light
Listen for inspiration on the wind
Let water cleanse your soul
Set yourself on a firm foundation
Serve as the plants
Do not offend your fellow creatures
Live in harmony with all creations
― Anasazi Foundation

REFERENCES

• Ancestral Art, December 2003.
• The Seven Paths: Changing One's Way of Walking in the World, by Anasazi Foundation, 6 August 2013.