Sunday, December 19, 2010

The Call of the Wild

Today, while walking my dog, it was below freezing outside, and the gray sky gave way to a wind that bit at my cheeks. The winter storms have left behind a blanket of snow in this metropolitan world. When the light reflects off of the snow, it glitters all around and reminds me of the beauty in nature. No one else is seen, aside from my dog, Hector, and myself. I imagine that they are all tucked away inside, hiding from the cold. I, on the other hand, embrace it. The chill on my skin reminds me that I am still alive, invigorated, and I feel the warmth of nature's love embracing me.

 Jack London wrote in The Call of the Wild, "So peremptorily did these shades beckon him, that each day mankind and the claims of mankind slipped farther from him. Deep in the forest a call was sounding, and as often as he heard this call, mysteriously thrilling and luring, he felt compelled to turn his back upon the fire and the beaten earth around it, and to plunge into the forest, and on and on, he knew not where or why; nor did he wonder where or why, the call sounding imperiously, deep in the forest...It filled him with a great unrest and strange desires. It caused him to feel a vague, sweet gladness, and he was aware of wild yearnings and stirrings for he knew not what."  Once one comes to the realization that the shallow world around us suffocates life, you are never the same again. To feel such a yearning for real meaning makes old ways of life impossible.

Once you strip everything from your life, money, technology, possessions, etc., what do you see that is left? Do you see an emptiness? The essence of our beings is not material possessions or even money. It is unconditional love. The universe offers us this love every minute of every day. A quiet moment in nature can reveal this love to us, but too many of us rarely, if ever, feel it. External circumstances can be allowed to dominate our lives, but that means that it will also determine our happiness. If we allow outside influences to control us, then we will never feel the flow of fate that guides us in the direction our lives are meant to take. How many times have we weighed the options around every decision we make? When was the last time we  let the universe guide us on our journey?

Just as I now wander the streets in winter, reveling in nature's perseverance through man's evils,  I struggle with this ubiquitous need for revelation. All I know that we need to find an outlet for this awakening and feel the unconditional love of the universe that guides us in our paths. I feel the road beneath my feet, the chill of winter's breath on my cheeks, and Hector's gentle pull to keep moving forward.