Specialisation

Visions of the Rewilding Renaissance Rewilding Mind & Heart
#1

This seemed like the most suitable forum to post this, so…

In my grand plan to acquire rewilding skills, I’ve always felt awkwardly obliged to try learning every last one of them to an “academic” level without exception. Not because I necessarily want to, but the little tribal sage in my head says that because dedicated labour specialisation is a defining characteristic of civilisation, and that primitive peoples lived (with the possible exception of the shaman) as jacks-of-all-trades, I somehow ought to cover the whole spectrum simultaneously.

This can appear overwhelming when I consider the working proficiency in hunting, foraging, tracking, flint-knapping, firelighting, hide-preparing, etc. I’d have to pursue to call myself comprehensive.

I wondered what all of you here thought of the specialist vs. comprehensive spectrum, where you’d currently place yourself on it, and where you’d like to be on it. I’ve often thought that inevitably some people would find themselves better at skill A than skill B, throughout the many millenia of human history, but how far would they indulge their talents? at how much expense to their other skills? How much would the close-knit tribal model take up some of the slack from individuals’ deficiencies? Could it work differently for post-crash humanity? Can allowances be made for the fact that non civilised people had a whole lifetime from birth to learn these skills, whereas rewilders have for the most part have squandered that childhood phase where learning is easy and constant? So many questions…

That’s my discussion provoker for today, so… consider yourselves provoked.

#2

I think about this all the time actually - it applies so much to us rewilders. I don’t think tribal people had to know how to do it all alone. It definetely would vary from region to region, and doubtless most or all of the tribe would have some level of involvement in food gathering / preservation, shelter construction etc., but where i live i understand that predominantly the women would gather the berries, weave the cedar clothes, gather the medicines etc. the men would hunt, make the canoes, split the cedar planks and so on. Different people did different things. I get frustrated everyday cause there is so much to gather - nettles seaweed salmonberry shoots, the garden must be planted, and i have to go set the rabbit traps and learn how to make/ shoot bows. It’s alot to do, and were i part of a tribe, some of us could go gather seaweed and greens while some of us went hunting and some worked on the dwellings.
I have a long and broad set of skills to learn, but keep in mind my limitations as an individual deprived of a functioning tribe. For now.

#3

I think this goes back to the reply Willem made in the More mental than physical? thread:

Hear hear! You can say that again!

Um. I didn’t mean that literally. But I have to say I still agree.

I like to call non-community oriented nature types “mountain-men/women”, rather than rewilders - civilization has a long and illustrious tradition of sending its members out into the ‘wilderness’ to harass and abuse the living community there. Sometimes these people look like they’ve gone native, but they’ve really just gone nutty. Hence the living in the log cabin all by yourself. With your bow that you’ve named “Wilson”, and that you use to hunt “long pig”.[/quote]

whenever i envision the aftermath that i’ll live through, i always picture it with other people maybe friends, neighbors, family. sometimes people that just fall together along the way. and i see different strengths coming to play as the group builds.

i definitely see that in my current group of friends right now. my best friend luke studies the shamanic and shares what he learns with me while i study the practical and share my learning with him. i think i see the same kind of thing happening between urban scout and willem–they’re in the same community, learning many of the same things, but they focus on different specialties, and they help bring each other up in what they have learned for themselves.

i hope i never have to do it alone. and i hope i’m not the only one around in a bunch of noobs after the fall of the civ, trying to teach people how to make rope and fire and purify water and keep themselves warm and hunt and shit. i bet there’s some hick a few houses over from me who could hunt circles around me. i hope he survives too. i’ll use my bow drill to light the fire to cook his deer on. and maybe there’s an old lady down the street who has been eating poke and pigweed for longer than i’ve been alive who can show us where to find berries not far from our own neighborhood. maybe there’s also some kid around the corner who has the potential to really become a master flintknapper.

i’ll definitely try to learn as much as i can–even if it’s only vague concepts so that i can pass the info along to someone else who can build on it. but i don’t plan on being a mountain-man.

#4

I like what everybody has said so far. How 'bout this too:

I see a presuppostion behind the “skill learning” paradigm, that we have these “tasks” to complete, in order to “prepare” for the crash, or simply to rewild.

Well, preparing for the crash aside, I would say, if a person specifically wants to rewild, one has to reclaim their child passions. Meaning, one has to go back to the beginning, before schooling, before work, before the grind, and re-member the child we once expressed.

And many indigenous cultures I know of make a difference between “childish” and “child-like”.

All this to say, before we decide what skills to learn, whether or not we ought to specialize, we might ask ourselves: what do our hands want to make? what does our child-spirit want to do?

To ask this, we may need to go out and reconnect with the child, get muddy in the creek, grab a friend and sleep in a sleeping bag under the stars just for the hell of it, climb trees whenever possible, sharpen sticks, build forts…

Think about all the things even urban kids do instinctually, helplessly, that feed right into original skills (blanket forts in the living room, anyone?).

I suspect many folks here approach rewilding already doing this, so my thoughts here probably apply to some specific subset of rewilders. But I’ve met enough panicky endgame types to inspire me to at least put this out there. In order to rewild, we need to rechild first.

Which really starts us on the unschooling path - which means following one’s passions and interests, learning to get the most out of them, make one line of inquiry lead into another, one adventure creates another…etc.

In this way, a person may joyfully end up tinkering with everything!, and getting quite the broad range of proficiency. Or, they might specialize in just one thing, that really makes their eart sing (I heard an interview on the radio with some potters the other day, and one of them said “Funny, most pottery types explain their hobby this way, ‘I just have to work with the clay. Even if I never get paid to do it, I just have to touch the clay’”.

So I think both paths work just fine, and I approach the skills this way. Which one calls to me? I chase after it. Right now I love exploring how my body moves in nature, different martial-arts for wilderness situations, useful ceremony, and endlessly tinkering with story telling. I’ve actually taken a bit of a break from a lot of linguistic type writing, though I continue to practice e-prime. Who knows about tomorrow? I might drop all of that and become obsessed with the hand-drill again, or make another big ball of twine from something besides nettle, or pick up where I left off with pressure-release tracking, or explore basket making for the first time.

As long as I can find my way back to the passion place (which, in all honestly, I constantly have to remind myself of, and find it challenging), I know I’ll learn all the right skills.

#5

Ah yes, this is a good subject. I broached it somewhat in a division of labor thread but it took a little different direction. I too feel overwhelmed at learning everything. So I would welcome a little divison of labor but not to a stifling point. I want to be able to break the rules. But for the time being I simply cannot rely on having a tribe. I’m not a people person. I am a lone nutter with a bow. Besides sometimes a bunch of nutters together can get into trouble too ala Jonestown. Hell maybe even indigenous people had/have lone nutters amongst them. Maybe they were the medicine people or the scouts but I still think people did things they were good at. At the very least, say, even if every woman tanned skins, the ones who were talented at it were probably revered and their advice was sought and they were choosen to make skins for special occasions.

I do think there are some skills that resonate with me. Things that I feel happy doing rather than frustrated. Things that I have taken to easily. It’s almost like in a past life I may have specialized in those things. I have gotten that feeling building quinzees, skinning deer and dry scraping buckskin, and especially exploring. I just love exploring and walking so far and climbing to the tops of hills. Then there are plants. I got obsessed and learned those like crazy all in one summer. There was nothing else I wanted to do but look at plants. Then there are the skills that I haven’t had such luck with or am just not as into, learning birds, flintknapping, hunting. But you never know until you try. And you never know…just because i haven’t had any luck learning flintknapping from books and videos doesn’t mean I wouldn’t take to it if someone showed me what the heck to do in person. Might lower the frustration level and transform something I hate into something I enjoy.

I had this really great week last summer where I felt like a kid. We covered ourselves in mud and grasses and went swimming in a swamp, we went skinnydipping near the boat docks, we climbed to the top of a hill and ran back down, we picked mushrooms, went in caves, floated down creeks, listened to coyotes and watched the meteor shower. I was fantastic. I never wanted it to end. I wanted to play like that forever. But I was in this mood. Then the mood left me. I couldn’t sustain the feeling…Just have to go with the flow whether you are feeling playful or serious or depressed or whatever I reckon. Let it run its course.

#6

Rechilding! I thought that word up a year or two ago Willem! Thought it was corny so never used it though. SO necessary to have that passion when you wake up in the morning, to have an intense desire driving you to get up, learn from and play with the day. For me its a balance. I take it farily seriously - learning skills - but at the same time its the only thing i’m compelled to do and it’s outrageously fun/beautiful.

#7

Some brilliant posts here…

My experience of “rechilding” has been in ephemeral bouts, like the last time it snowed (in my part of the world, snowfall is a BIG deal) I just turned into a kid and the whole world suddenly seemed inviting. But I hope I don’t have to wait until next winter while I cultivate something more permanent.

I would agree that the heart needs to lead the mind, especially for us rewilders with a whole civilised system lined up against us. Pragmatism and logic alone won’t cut it.

I realised while thinking about this, that I do have a tendency to observe the sky much more than my immediate peers. Stars, moon, sun, clouds… I can name most of it and figure out where it’s all going and how it can help me orient myself or plan my day, etc… maybe that’s my strong skill. It’s just been so fundamentally buried in my mind over the years that I barely notice it, yet I call on it every day. That’s surely what my heart’s gone after, because I’ve never seen it as a chore or a difficulty.

And as suggested above, perhaps I could attain a similar zest for other skills if only I were guided in person by someone who was strong in my weak skills (and they could learn from me). The perils of isolated rewilders huh… :frowning:

But I feel better realising that although a wild individual must indeed learn much, it doesn’t necessarily have to be all by his/her self.

#8

I like the sound of that I thought: Teach your skill by just doing your skills.

#9

I love it. Yes, yes, yes.

#10
To ask this, we may need to go out and reconnect with the child, get muddy in the creek, grab a friend and sleep in a sleeping bag under the stars just for the hell of it, climb trees whenever possible, sharpen sticks, build forts...

Think about all the things even urban kids do instinctually, helplessly, that feed right into original skills (blanket forts in the living room, anyone?).

I was thinking about this before. how kids are outside, love climbing trees, getting dirty, playing in creek. they crave it. they don’t have a tribe but something calls them to explore.
we all have an inner-tribal self, that is getting tired of being forgotten about…

and i think it is this tribal-self, that we as rewilders are recognizing, which is why we get such fullfillment rewilding. and unschooling.

ps i love climbing trees.

#11

Good ideas here. Unfortunately this is one of those areas I am not particularly educated enough on to make any statement.

#12

In regards To Willem’s Rechilding:
This made me happy!
It really brought wild little day dreams of really rekindling what is at the essence of being alive.
Yes, of course there are obviously the topics of Community,Survival,Sustenance, and Sustainability,
but we really need to be in touch with that most basic of instincts: to play, to be curious, to have fun.
It is rewarding and refreshing to see things such as your comment Willem.
It is refreshing in that it is things such as that, and the longing to play with my son, and to just be silly with my wife that really help to offset the mania that can come with spending countless hours on the endgame scenario.