The Guardian Warrior Fellowship of the Old Ways

Hey all,

I think this website and vision is worth checking out as we make our way down the rewilding path.

http://www.guardianwarrior.org/

There is an article at the guardian warrior website titled: Nature Awareness; Sitting, Moving, and Relating that I think fits nicely with Urban Scout’s blog post titled: Kamana Two, Take Two.

You can read Scout’s post here: http://www.urbanscout.org/?p=59

And you can read Nature Awareness; Sitting, Moving, and Relating here: http://www.guardianwarrior.org/My_Homepage_Files/Page26.html

Take care,

Curt

Thanks for the link. Great site.

You’re welcome, Ando.

Yeah. Thanks Curt. Almost creepy how much that guy sounds like Scout.

I have to say, whenever I see a list of “recommended reading/resources” from people associated with a wilderness school, I always look to see who they leave off the list. Sometimes I get treated to someone who really supports everything going on and puts the word out there, but just as often not.

Especially when I see the word “scout” used in this fellows vocabulary, I cannot help but notice who he does not mention as a resource for learning scout skills. Sigh.

Can’t we all just get along?

Can't we all just get along?

that makes life boring. give me a little(not alot) strife. keeps me on my toes and makes things interesting

Willem,

I have to say, whenever I see a list of "recommended reading/resources" from people associated with a wilderness school, I always look to see who they leave off the list. Sometimes I get treated to someone who really supports everything going on and puts the word out there, but just as often not.

Especially when I see the word “scout” used in this fellows vocabulary, I cannot help but notice who he does not mention as a resource for learning scout skills. Sigh.

I see your point, Willem. You’d think having that resource available for learning scout skills would be nothing but positive. I wonder why it isn’t there.

Curt

just to clarify (just in case :wink: ): i didn’t mean ‘urban scout’ by my references to ‘scout skills’, but rather the other gentleman who talk a lot about ‘the way of the scout’.

yrs,
w

just to clarify (just in case ): i didn't mean 'urban scout' by my references to 'scout skills', but rather the other gentleman who talk a lot about 'the way of the scout'.

I wondered about this for a bit after reading your post, Willem. But I kind of figured you were talking about that survival school founder and instructor that has a lot of ink spilled over his persona and behaviors.

http://trackertrail.com/tombrown/controversies/index.html

And on the subject of wilderness school’s offering and not offering the works of certain authors and thinkers, I noticed that The Guardian Fellowship of the Old Ways did suggest reading Ishmael, by Daniel Quinn and The Culture of Make Believe and Endgame, by Derrick Jensen. I thought this was cool, and bold of them. I have been working with Wilderness Awarness School for about 3 years now, and I’ve always wondered why they don’t atleast have The Tales of Adam or Ishmael on their suggested reading list. I have suggested to a few of the instructors with little interest on their part. And a friend of mine mentioned that Tom Brown Jr. offered Ishmael (I think you mentioned this too, Willem) at his school, so that’s cool.

I’ve always had the idea that if I started a nature awareness school, or provided a space for that that type of learning, I would highly encourage students/partners/collaborators to read the works of Quinn and Jensen. I think reading their work creates a need to learn the skills that are usually available at wilderness schools, helps one to understand why those skills have been lost, and what to expect when we start to change our worldview and live out those new visions.

Take care,

Curt

I have to say, whenever I see a list of "recommended reading/resources" from people associated with a wilderness school, I always look to see who they leave off the list. Sometimes I get treated to someone who really supports everything going on and puts the word out there, but just as often not.

Especially when I see the word “scout” used in this fellows vocabulary, I cannot help but notice who he does not mention as a resource for learning scout skills. Sigh.

Hey folks, I actually created that webpage. I think Tom Brown is doing worthwhile stuff and has an important role to play with what he’s doing. I guess I don’t see how my not referencing one of his books is supposed to be a slam or a sign of animosity however.

Interesting to note how politically minded people tend to be with this stuff though…right off the bat another fellow took issue the fact that I listed books on Ninjitsu by Hatsumi and not from one of his rival schools.

Mostly I just listed books based on what I know. I’ve never studied with Tom Brown or read any of his books other than The Tracker (which is a good one, I may include a reference to it the next time I update the site).

Btw, do you think there is some important information that my readers will miss if I don’t list a Tom Brown book? Or is this just about being politically inclusive?

RedWolfReturns:

I think Tom Brown is doing worthwhile stuff and has an important role to play with what he's doing. I guess I don't see how my not referencing one of his books is supposed to be a slam or a sign of animosity however.

Interesting to note how politically minded people tend to be with this stuff though…right off the bat another fellow took issue the fact that I listed books on Ninjitsu by Hatsumi and not from one of his rival schools.

You probably have got me somewhat on this - I wouldn’t describe myself as ‘political’ so much as oversensitive. :slight_smile: I’ve run into enough anti-TBjr-ism that perhaps I’ve started to project it on others a bit.

Having said that, Tom Brown’s core teachings revolve around the skills of the “scout”, which from your descriptions also seem to match the skills of the Guardian Warrior. His book “Way of the Scout” has loads of stories about exactly the kind of activity that Tamarack Song describes his Guardian Warrior apprentices as engaging in.

So I highly recommend you read the book and see if it belongs on your resources list.

I like Tom Brown’s stuff too because he stresses the importance of (and provides specific instruction in) movement skills, such as fox walking, stalking, etc., something I see as severely lacking in the primitive skills world. Check out his field guide to Nature Observation for lots of good stuff that I’ve never seen written down anywhere else (along with stuff that I have seen other places, of course).

In any case, I feel relieved (though a bit surprised too) to know that you sincerely did not know of information Tom Brown might have that people would otherwise miss.

Thanks for your work on the guardianwarrior webpage! I do appreciate it a lot.

Well… I am aware of Tom Browns works, and been to his school, I would not reccomend either. I think that his works are simply put, “Culturally Outdated.”

Though not all of his works are this way, and I’ve yet to see people improve on some of them. But secondary to my primary reason, I also do not list his works for political reasons. Which I will not name here in public, but you can probably guess.

Hey Willem, I can understand the sensitivity. Anti-anyone-ism (doesn’t matter much who) can make folks sensitive after awhile. I know Tom Brown certainly gets his share. For myself, I’d just rather avoid the whole debate about pro’s and con’s of various guru figures, and just talk about the nuts and bolts of what people are actually learning.

I’ll take a look at “The Way of the Scout”, but I heard that his later books are not nearly so good as his earlier ones. Do you know which one in the lineup it is? I first tried to read “Grandfather” after a friend recommended it to me as I was first getting into primitive skills. The stuff in it seemed so stereotypically fanciful to me that I couldn’t get past the first 20 pages. It took me five years to get over that and read “The Tracker”, which I thought was a pretty darn good book.

I’m aware of a lot of the movement/nature awareness stuff from Tom Brown (and John Young) from conversations with folks who’ve studied with them, but much of that wasn’t included because we advocate a somewhat different approach. Not that there’s anything wrong with doing it Tom’s way…ours is just different and serves slightly different purposes.

The website is just the beginning anyway, under the fellowship icon there’s an email group for people to join to toss around more perspective and go into more depth on various aspects of training.

I am with you on that one Glenn. I tried to read the Tracker years ago, and felt the same way. Alot of it did seem steroetypical. Though, when I read it in toto later, I really enjoyed it. Funny how time changes all perspectives.

Yeah, it’s amazing how things can change in one’s life over time isn’t it? Life is all about flow it seems.

Nice signature quote at the bottom of your message, btw. :slight_smile: