[MD] Clouds

[Heather Perella]

     [Dan]
> I think the word for me is "attention." I've been
> going to those mountains 
> since 1995 and have never been surprised by the
> unexpected. My senses seem 
> heightened out there and the deeper I go into the
> wilderness the more 
> acutely aware I become. Actually the "I" slips away
> altogether and there is 
> only those beautiful mountains. Walking and scanning
> the way I do tends to 
> put my mind into quiet mode and when I stop to camp
> I often have to make a 
> real effort to begin my internal dialogue once
> again.

      Yes, this happens to me.  I was saying how I am
aware (attentive), and I need to use my wits to be
nimble, to have direction.  To just be attentive
doesn't move me anywhere in particular.  Once focused,
and using wits to pin-point something (a direction to
walk perhaps), during this I am attentive though to my
wits.  Attentive is an all-encompassing event.

 
 [Dan]
> Which is perhaps why zen monastaries are located in
> remote areas.

      Yes, the quiet.  All happens in this quiet, but
we need to be fully attentive of this quiet without
distractions.  Remote areas embody quiet even where a
raging river flows by.


> [Dan]
> The first time I went I wasn't smart enough to have
> any fear. Now I am 
> respectful of all I see. There are some dangerous
> animals out there but the 
> most dangerous (imo) are humans. They are so
> unpredictable that will I avoid 
> them at any cost. A gun would do me no good in an
> encounter with one of 
> them.

     sure.

      [Dan] 
> Too, I'm the guy who traps a bee or a spider in a
> glass to let him outside 
> rather than smashing him with a shoe. There is no
> way that I could line up a 
> living being in the sights of a gun much less pull
> the trigger. Better I 
> think that I forfeit my own life.

     I don't think, thinking, avoids something wanting
to use you for their purpose, such as other people,
and I just think certain animals, if they charged
towards me, I would have hoped to have thought to have
a weapon to kill them.  Hey, if you found a way to
avoid certain animals that would kill you if you
happened to walk in their path then that is excellent.
 I don't kill the spider in the house either.  I do
kill flies.  I've tried to not kill flies, and one day
while walking a horse fly (a fly that stings) stung
me.  I let it go and watched its' mouth stuck to my
leg.  It was painful.  Then the fly left my leg, but
came right back for another bite.  I said no more, and
killed it.

 

> [Dan]
> I've never been to grizzly territory. I go to the
> Gila National Forest in 
> southern New Mexico just northeast of Silver City.
> There are black bears, 
> big cats, wolves, and deer yet I've never had a run
> in with any animal. I 
> see them way before they see me. I've also learned
> to trust my instincts. If 
> I suddenly become nervous there's a reason though
> perhaps I haven't 
> intellectualized it yet. So I cut back and circle
> around until I spot 
> whatever might be bothering me.

   I would to since it helps.


 [Dan]
> Give us this day our daily bread.

  Yes!




 [Dan]
> Hold your lighter in the palm of your hand for a few
> minutes and it will 
> work fine. But by all means bring an extra. The
> biggest bummer I've had is 
> to run out of lighter fluid half way through my
> trip. I do like my sub-zero 
> sleeping bag. Its the best investment one can make
> if they are serious about 
> winter camping. When it gets very cold though each
> breath I take draws the 
> cold air into my bag and I often wake with frost in
> my beard.

You know what, I believe I ran out of fluid with all
the tries.  Maybe with the not much fluid and the
cold, the lighter had to work harder to light.  I have
a sleeping bag, but that walk, I didn't want it.  I
brought one blanket and a small, school-sized
backpack.  The wits of using the leaves, this is where
wits and being nimble come in handy.  As I said
though, I must be attentive to what me wits say, or as
you pointed out, what our instincts say so we may
circle around to find out what's going on.

thanks.

another blue sky, snow on earth day,
SA 


 
____________________________________________________________________________________
The fish are biting. 
Get more visitors on your site using Yahoo! Search Marketing.
http://searchmarketing.yahoo.com/arp/sponsoredsearch_v2.php