a common bond

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Always in big woods 

when you leave familiar ground

 and step off
alone into a new place there will be,
along with the feelings of curiosity and excitement,

 a little nagging of dread.

It is the ancient fear of the unknown,

 and it is your first bond
with the wilderness you are going into.

You are undertaking the first experience, 

not of the place,
but of yourself in that place. 

It is an experience of our essential loneliness,
nobody can discover the world for anybody else.

It is only after we have discovered it for ourselves
that it becomes a common ground

 and a common bond,
and we cease to be alone.

And the world cannot be discovered

 by a journey of miles,
no matter how long, 

but only by a spiritual journey,
a journey of one inch,

 very arduous

 and humbling

 and joyful,
by which we arrive

 at the ground at our feet,
and learn to be at home.





~ Wendell Berry

from The Unforeseen Wilderness: 

Kentucky’s Red River Gorge