There is sound reason why animals in the wild don’t have issues with chronic pain or chronic diseases: they instinctively honor the natural laws of life - the laws of nature. They have not learned, or been coerced or fooled into any other way of living. Animals in their wild habitat live outdoors, in full contact with the natural elements, twenty-four hours a day, every day of their lives.
Think of it! They are receiving the benefits of ‘grounding,’ 24/7. They are breathing only the fresh outdoor air, ingesting only the foods of their natural design, and benefitting from natural light only. No rubber-soled shoes, no toxic houses, lights, buildings, or cars; no computers, cell phones or other technologies; no junk food-stuffs, cooked foods, or food meant for another species. No drugs or vaccines. No analytical mental stress, no insomnia, no artificial pressures and stress, and no imagined shame of feeling ‘not-enough,’ or ‘unlovable.’
Can you even imagine? How do you think it could feel if YOU could fully honor Mother Nature and shed all of the non-natural from your life? How big of a difference could it make for you? I do realize that at this point it’s essentially implausible for any of us to live fully in the wild again (we have forgotten how!), and even if we could most of us would not choose to. We would certainly have to give up a lot of comforts and conveniences, not the least of which would be our part in the fabric of modern human society.
But what are some ways that you COULD embrace your wild side again? Would you get serious about adjusting your life to include these things more, if the benefits could amount to the release or prevention of chronic pain and disease, free up massive amounts of natural vibrance and energy, and increase your happiness and well-being? How much are these things worth to you?
I’d like to offer a powerful and illuminating exercise:
First, make an honest and thorough list of all the things you do in your daily life that you don’t see any wild animals doing.
Next, highlight the things on this list that feel essential to you in your human life.
Now, look at each one of the ‘non-essential’ things on your list, and decide how you could transform it into something more ‘wild’ (natural), or eliminate it altogether.
And finally, take each one of your ‘essentials,’ and to the extent that you can or are willing, refine them to a more natural version (for example, flexible ‘barefoot’ shoes, natural housing and cleaning materials and fabrics, natural coffee substitute, more uncooked and homegrown fruit & veggie meals, etc.).
Some folks like to take the position that we are NOT wild animals, not meant to be like wild animals, and have made our lives better with our brilliantly creative and super-functional modern discoveries. This may be a valid argument on some levels, but to be even a little bit honest about this, we need to evaluate our overall health and well-being to see if we are truly outsmarting nature’s wisdom. I don’t have the statistics at my fingertips, but I promise you (and you probably realize it already), our overall health and well-being status, at all ages, has been in steep decline for decades, in conjunction with our adoption of more and more unnatural lifestyle and sick-treatment practices.
Are the animals still living in the wild smarter than we are? I think they are simply still in tune with their natural instincts, and still living in their right relationship to the natural world around them. I don’t think they spend any time or effort trying to devise better or different ways to live or eat than what Mother Nature has encoded in them, and provided for them. Nature’s way works! And wild animals in the wild don’t suffer chronic pain or chronic disease, so they don’t have reason to reject their natural ways.
Do wild animals have pain? Yes, of course they do. Pain is an inevitable part of being alive. Wild animals experience acute bodily injury and dis-ease, even within their natural habitat and proper lifestyle. After an acute injury, an animal in the wild either heals or dies. Healing might mean they lose an eye or live without a tail, but anything much more severe than that and they will likely perish of starvation or in the jaws of a predator. The laws of the jungle can sometimes be harsh, for sure - but they make sense.
A wild animal does not use its injury to conjure up a victim-story, to get attention, to avoid unpleasant or unacceptable emotions, or to be excused from the necessary tasks of life. A wild animal does not identify with its pain, or invent meanings about the pain, and therefore does not cause itself the kind of mental suffering or dysfunctional emotional defense strategies that lead humans into states of chronic pain, distress., and disease.
As with acute injuries, a wild animal that contracts an acute disease in its natural wild environment will either heal or die - it will not suffer endlessly with chronic disease caused by unnatural lifestyle or deranged mental states.
My perspective is that humans are not designed to head ourselves in the wrong direction, but we ARE gifted with a brain capable of very high levels of imagination and creativity, and we seem to be driven more by our sense of free will than by natural instinct. I think we are designed to know our spiritual essence consciously, and to have a deep conscious desire to grow this capacity, and deepen this potent relationship.
These inherently human qualities - imagination, creativity, and a conscious desire to know and expand our spirituality, cause us to question and experiment with our perceived reality. This is a beautiful thing, and can bring us great joy, meaning, and sense of purpose. It can also cause us to superimpose immature, reckless, or unexamined ideas on the infinite, timeless wisdom and intelligence of nature…and then we always pay the price (“Nature’s laws can’t be broken, only proven.”).
I invite you to try a different kind of experiment:
For one whole day (longer if you can!), live as naturally as you can.
Eat only nature’s uncooked plant-foods, in their whole natural form.
Live the whole day out in nature (night too, if you can!).
Don’t wear any shoes or restrictive clothing.
Don’t use any technology (such as phone, computer, machinery or car, other than if needed to get to your chosen nature area).
Walk for exercise (barefoot), find your shade under a tree, and rest on the natural ground when you are tired.
If this sounds radical to you, it’s just a reflection of how far you have strayed from your more natural human lifestyle. What will you do all day? Don’t worry about it….I am sure that you will naturally find interesting things to do. Bring a journal and writing implement if you wish, some water and simple eating utensils if you wish, and some fruit to eat. Keep it ultra simple so that you will engage with the natural world, and tune into your Self and your relationship with the natural world.
I would absolutely LOVE to hear from any of my readers who engage with this experiment, or the list-exercise offered earlier in this post. This is very simple, VERY powerful stuff! If you apply it seriously, it is guaranteed to bring deeply felt positive and transformational healing experiences. I want to hear about your journey!
Very potent stuff, Ellen - yes, heading into nature, especially doing it alone, is powerful medicine... Wonderful for contemplation, recharging, awakening. Here's a little video I made that gives a feeling - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VoT_r32uX10