E S S A Y S , A R T I C L E S A N D R E V I E W S
Exploring Second
Nature
Youth, Wilderness, and Rites of Initiation
by Flynn
Johnson
|
After years of working with young people
both as a psychological counselor at a college and as a vision
quest guide, I have had the privilege and sorrow of bearing
witness to a pain in many young people so great it can barely be
articulated. At one level, the transition from childhood to
adulthood is a difficult one for many. At another level, standing
on the threshold of the adult world, their vision undistorted by
the compromises we make as adults for the sake of social standing
and economic necessity, our youth feel the suffering in our world
more acutely.
Sadly, our society for the most part does
not acknowledge or respond to their pain. In the absence of a
response, many of our youth are lost and alienated, and abandoned
to find their own ways through the dark forest. More often than
not these rites of passage are self-destructive, involving drugs,
alcohol, promiscuity, violence, crime, and suicide.
Traditional, nature-based cultures offer us
an instructive perspective on this impasse. In these cultures,
elaborate rites of passage were created to meet the emotional and
spiritual needs of their young people on the threshold of
adulthood. These rites of passage enabled each community member
to enter this new stage of life with full consciousness and
support, unlike our culture where the passage goes virtually
unrecognized and unsupported.
In these cultures, the change of existential
status from a child to an adult was regarded as the most
important passage an individual would undergo in his or her
lifetime. It was seen as a second birth, a giving birth to the
individual's true self, and the renewal of the tribe was thought
to be dependent upon the successful completion of this passage.
It was also seen that to leave behind the safety and security of
the maternal matrix the young person had to be firmly grounded in
a new matrix.
The new matrix was Mother Earth, not in a
physical sense, because already within the context of a
nature-based society the young person felt 'at home' in the
world, but rather in a spiritual sense. Hence, a primary purpose
of initiation ceremonies was to introduce the young person to the
sacred myths and mysteries of the tribe, and to provide him or
her, through challenges, with an opportunity to experience
directly the power and mystery of a sacred Earth, or the
'Other.'
Drawing upon these traditions, particularly
the Native American and other wisdom traditions, the Vision Quest
follows a three-phase structure-separation, threshold, and
incorporation. This structure is archetypal in its origins,
mirroring the inner psychological landscape of young people but
also the dynamic of change itself. The separation phase
ritualizes a young person's passionate and often anguishing
search for an identity independent of his or her family and
strong enough to find a place within the larger community.
The young person leaves family and friends
behind and begins the four days of preparation, which precede the
actual vision quest. During this phase the young person is being
prepared physically, emotionally, and spiritually for the
challenge of spending three days and nights alone fasting in
nature. Myths and stories of passages are told to help
participants re-imagine their lives mythologically. Another
important feature of this phase is that participants tell their
own stories and are helped in clarifying their intention in
taking on such a challenge.
The day before their solos they go out to
find a vision quest site and then report how it went.
* * *
Linda, nicknamed the "Bionic Woman" because
of her vitality and strength, seems desperate in her eagerness to
win our acceptance. Linda tells us that her mother abandoned her
when she was a child. She says she has been dealing with
depression her whole life. She says she's looking for somewhere
in the world where she can feel "at home." When she went out to
find a vision quest site, her search was an ordeal. After leaving
a chosen site four times for one reason or another, she finally
found herself in some mud flats and decided to make it her home.
The wisdom she drew from her ordeal was, "I need to make a home
wherever I am." She states that her intention in undertaking a
vision quest is to learn to be giving.
* * *
Kevin is quiet, a thinker. There's a
stiffness to him, something weighing on him. He mentions trouble
with his parents, which caused him to leave home and live on his
own for a while. He found a site near Linda's. He chose a place
where two beavers were playing in the lake, drawn by their
playfulness. I reflect back to him that the playfulness of the
beavers may represent a part of himself that is seeking to come
out. He says that he used to be loud and rowdy, but it was all
show. Now he wants to be honest and truthful. Like many young
people, Kevin moves back and forth between extremes, trying on
different attitudes, as he seeks out the truth of his own soul.
His intention is to be open.
* * *
Bill has an interest in world religions,
especially Buddhism. He's amiable, but a bit aloof. His parents
are divorced and he lives with his dad. He has connected with
Kevin. Bill chose a site on a spit of land sticking out into the
western fork of the lake. A dream guided him to this place. He
intends to remain in his "purpose circle," a circle of stones
representing the power of one's true self, the whole time he is
out on his solo. He seeks awareness.
* * *
Paul is funny, gentle, and easy-going. His
parents are divorced. He found his site on an island. He chose an
opening in the forest, a soft, sun-filled glade, which captures
his spirit. He seeks clarity and focus in his life, and wants to
put the past behind him. He especially wants to discover how to
separate from his overprotective mother, without anger or
rebellion.
* * *
Maria is fiery, a compact ball of energy,
enthusiasm, and goodwill. This is her first time camping and
she's eager to learn new things. She's happy and loves her
parents dearly. She says she has had a blessed life. Maria also
encountered difficulty finding a site. She was looking for the
ideal spot, which she was sure she'd find because "Things always
work out perfectly for me." But other questers were in sight at
her first choice and the second spot she chose had already been
claimed by someone else. Almost to the point of hopelessness, she
surrendered to her situation and came upon a large rock with a
birch tree overhanging it. She decided it was time for her to lay
down on her "Promethean rock" and learn about suffering. To this
purpose she intended to stay on her rock the whole time. Maria is
a brave warrior: she faces her fear head on.
* * *
Emma, at seventeen, is the youngest. She's
always smoking and talking. She has multiple piercings. She looks
like she would be more at home in a coffeehouse in Greenwich
Village, yet she's doing fine. Emma's parents are divorced. Emma
went to the same island as Paul. She found a dead tree at the
edge of the woods and the shore of the lake. The tree formed a
natural seat, in which she lay down and fell asleep. She says she
felt held by the Goddess. Emma's intention is to discover who she
is, to discover her feminine soul, which has been put to sleep by
a culture that does not honor the feminine.
* * *
Carol is quiet but engaged. She is dealing
with a painful past of abuse. She plans on getting married in the
near future. She was brought to her site by an intuition and a
dream. She found a beautiful spot near a sandy beach on a small
cove. She told herself it would be her site if she found a
heart-shaped rock, representing her medicine name, "Big Heart."
She found one. Her intention is to let go of her painful
past.
With the completion of this phase, the
participants are ready to enter the threshold phase-the solo. A
threshold is a betwixt and between place, a border place of not
knowing, of dying to the old but uncertain about what is being
born. As such, this threshold phase ritualistically enacts where
adolescents find themselves in their lives. The solo gives them
an opportunity to look deeply into themselves, to reflect on who
they are, and what their destiny may be. This is something they
are doing anyway. The difference, however, is that this ritual
provides an experience which heightens the possibility of
insight, of awareness, of vision, of a heart opening.
As they sit alone, the rhythms and sounds of
nature can foster an opening to the interconnectedness of all
life, to the sacredness of all life. Finding moments of
stillness, they can touch, maybe for the first time, the simple
beauty of being fully present to themselves and the world around
them. This experience of being fully alive in the moment is in
itself vision. With this vision they return to their core being,
which is inseparable from the heart of the world.
The morning the questers return to base camp
is always a special moment for me. One by one they trickle into
camp, their faces shining with an inner peace. They are who they
are. I greet each one with a prayer of gratitude for his or her
safe return. They have undergone an ordeal, both inner and outer.
A child could not spend three days and nights alone in the
wilderness.
At dusk in the growing darkness we gather
around the fire. A full moon balances temporarily on the edge of
an eastern hill. Moonlight dances on the lake and illumines our
faces. The scene seems primal: a band of men and women gathered
around a fire on the shore of a lake beneath a full moon; living
close to nature, close to our own nature, and close to each
other. In a moment the stories of their vision quests will
begin.
Linda struggled with depression and thoughts
of suicide. But she built a medicine wheel and prayed to the four
directions. This strengthened her. Then while out walking she ran
across a wild blueberry bush overflowing with fruit. She felt a
strong desire to give to the other questers, so she gathered the
berries and as she did she thought of each person questing with
her. This selfless act lifted her depression. Later she stripped
naked, covered herself with mud, and then dove into the lake,
washing off the mud and with it her dark thoughts. She emerged
from her baptismal reborn.
Like many young people, Linda has a longing
to be of service to something larger than herself. The difficulty
often lies in finding that something in a world that glorifies
the ego and its appetites. Linda's gift lies in her heart's
capacity to give. When she gives spontaneously from love and not
to win approval, her depression is assuaged by the grace of
communion. I affirm her warrior's heart and strength and
will.
Kevin drew a bird on a large stone and
christened it "Flynn's Firebird," based on a Russian folktale I
had told. I tell him it isn't my Firebird but his, the firebird
of passion that lies locked up in his soul, waiting to take
flight in the words that shape his poems. I honor his inwardness,
his silence, and his struggle to be open and honest. I tell him
his silence reminds me of my youth, during which I took refuge in
silence because of the immensity of my inner anguish and
self-searching. Kevin spent a lot of time meditating on the
beavers near his site. He longs for the freedom and spontaneity
of his true self.
As intended, Bill did not leave his purpose
circle. He sat resolute, focused, aware, like the Buddha. He sat
under his tarp tepee gazing out across the waters of his soul.
Bill has a shining spirit and a keen mind. His sparkling blue
eyes carry images of windswept, snow-streaked mountain places
high in Tibet. He is an ancient soul who has come to the modern
world in order to restore the memory of peace and stillness to
our noisy, rushed lives. He recites one of his poems, leaving us
spellbound. The poem describes himself as a reluctant messenger,
who prefers silence to words, solitude to company, nature to
civilization. I marvel at the breadth and depth of understanding
of this eighteen-year-old.
Paul struggled with the thought of
returning. He thought it was stupid to be out on his island alone
without food. He reasoned that the ascetic path was not the way
of spirit. If all he could think about was food, how was he going
to be open to spirit? His mind was restless. At one point he
found a stick and beat it repeatedly against his cup. After a
while he began to sing to the rhythm. Sound and song carried him
to the interior of his wild heart. On his own he had discovered
an ancient technique for inducing an altered state of
consciousness-drumming and chanting. Through this experience he
gained greater clarity into who he was and this clarity helped
him to separate from his mother with love.
Maria spent most of her time on her rock.
She watched as the loons dove deep and then surfaced far away.
Like the loons, she dove deep into herself, into her fear of the
night, into her fear of the unknown. Maria possesses a courageous
spirit, that draws her deeper into life and deeper into the
mystery of herself. As she faced her loneliness on the solo, she
learned to distinguish between her natural tendency to get lonely
and her capacity to be alone. She realized that ultimately she
was not alone: all of nature was with her. Listening to Maria was
like witnessing a flower as it unfolds into the fullness of its
splendor.
Once again Emma curled up into the hollow of
the dead tree and slept. She slept almost the whole time she was
on her solo. She said she didn't want to look inside herself
because she was afraid she would find nothing there. My heart
went out to her. I wanted to take her into my arms and tell her
everything would be OK. But, even as she slept, Emma was being
held by the Great Mother. Perhaps it was too soon for her to
leave the womb of protection and innocence. Emma was like the
tattoo of a lizard at the base of her spine: her energies lay
curled up in repose deep within her, both awaiting and in fear of
the transformation into womanhood beckoning to her.
Carol wrestled with demons of betrayal and a
flickering self-worth. She stripped her clothes off and swam in
the lake, wishing to wash herself clean of her tainted past. She
swam furiously, the fury inside her erupting. She emerged from
the waters and set her mind upon the future, especially her
upcoming marriage. Yet her dreams told her that her demons would
not go to rest so easily. She was being called into a heroic
struggle with a wound that haunts her. But she carries her
heart-shaped rock as a reminder of the purity of her own heart
and her capacity to love and be loved. She is "Big Heart" and
nothing can take that away from her.
After hearing the stories we hold a Sweat
Lodge Ceremony, an ancient ritual of death and rebirth, in order
to symbolically mark the transformation each quester has
undergone. In the heat of the sweat we pray, sing, laugh, tell
stories, and howl like a pack of wolves. Linda sums up the
feelings of us all when she says, "I can't stop smiling, I'm so
happy."
Flynn Johnson, M.A., founder of The School
of Natural Wonder, has been leading vision quests and other
experiential, nature-based programs for the past eight years. He
lives in southern Vermont with his wife and son. For information
please call (802) 896-6271, or visit
www.schoolofnaturalwonder.org.
Thank you for visiting
the EarthLight Magazine web site.
Your subscriptions and contributions make this web site
possible. We invite you to
subscribe to EarthLight
and
receive a wide range of these informative and inspiring
articles, reviews and interviews every three
months.
|