If I were allowed only two words to describe the Way of Zen, they would be conscious living. Our modern lives tend to be quite un-Zen like: we tolerate a humdrum existence on the promise of a peak moment at some point in the future. It might be a concert, a movie, or connecting with…
Author: Tamarack
Why Harleys Rock
Three Harley-Davidsons just went rumbling by, and they enlivened something deep inside of me. No, it wasn’t the lure of the road or the biker mystique, and it wasn’t even the desire to get attention. It was something deeper than that. I quit thinking about it and let myself feel. Right away, I came to…
Abundance Everywhere
Recently, a woman asked what I would do in an extreme survival situation, such as being stuck in a place where I couldn’t find food or shelter. I thrive on challenge, so right there I looked out the window and caught sight of the big white pine tree about thirty paces out from the house. I…
The Original Symphony
One of my most memorable early-morning experiences occurred recently as I sat out in the backyard to await the dawn. Before I could detect any light, a single White-throated Sparrow broke the silence by singing his species’ classic pure-sweet-Canada-Canada-Canada in an Aspen grove bordering the yard (last year I heard a White-throated repeat Canada twenty-seven…
I’ll Take Shubert
I participate in a Zen blog, where we’ve been exploring whether or not we separate ourselves from something by labeling it. I replied that the question took me back to a discussion I had in college with a professor and another philosophy student. We were trying to get a Handel on whether Mo’z art reached…
More on a Child’s Need for Discomfort
In my last post I mentioned that children need to experience discomfort in order to learn how to find comfort. Leah, who maintains this blog, suggested that I elaborate on that statement, as it could be misinterpreted, and it is an important topic. It must be, as parents regularly ask me for guidance on just…
When the Tracker and the Tracked Become One
We modern trackers envision ourselves as enacting a drama between the hunter and the hunted. We are clearly the tracker–we have studied the science of tracking, we have honed our skills and sharpened our senses, and we focus all of our attention on the track that lays before us. A Native person sees himself more…
The Roots of Codependency
During a question-and-answer period at the end of one of my childrearing workshops, a participant sheepishly admitted that he was envious of all the attention children had received in the workshop. I asked what his childhood was like, and he responded that he had a perfect childhood–his parents gave him everything he wanted. When he…
Zen Tracking
Tracking is in our blood. It is the first skill we practice — find mother, find the breast. We track instinctively, because tracking is as old as animal life itself — picture an Amoeba seeking a Virus to engulf or a Snail searching for a bed of succulent Algae. We are designed to track —…
An Elder Describes the Old Way of Tracking
A few years ago I presented a course on feather reading at a traditional skills gathering. At the same gathering, a colleague offered a workshop where the participants would attempt to follow the trail that he created by walking through the landscape just before the workshop. The trail began on a sandy beach, where his…