20 April 2008
I’d rather…
Posted by Robin Easton under: Hobnobbin' with Robin .
GREETINGS EARTHLINGS!
Sometimes people find it hard to understand why I’d rather be hiking miles through wooded mountains or empty desert than “doing lunch” or shopping the mall, or talking hours on the phone and doing “live chats” on the computer and back-and-forth emails. Although I’m very outgoing and good with people and comfortable on the phone, I’m not a phone person. Honestly? I find long drawn out conversations on the phone draining. It’s a good tool, but not attached to my ear. I have so far avoided a cell phone. I’m also not much of a reader and at one point in my life chose to go years without reading, just to clear my mind and learn to think with my heart…to find the bare bones of my existence. At that time I still read, but I read the Earth and Life instead. I don’t have a TV, by choice, and I don’t listen to the radio or read newspapers. And for many years my diet was that of a monk and my belongings were so sparse I could have carried them all on my back, and sometimes did. (However I assure you I am no monk and actually love people and am fascinated by almost everything…but I digress.)
Because I am so outgoing people tend to think that I am a highly social person, but I’m not. I’m actually a very private person, a very wild (or feral) person who prefers to be with Nature. To others my desire may seem unfriendly or socially incorrect, but I am not unfriendly and genuinely love people. I just can’t help myself; I’d rather roam the wild places by myself than with a friend or a group of friends. Although…sometimes that is nice because I love my friends dearly. They are kind, brave and beyond compare. They have tolerated my solo ways, which must be hard for them. They are heroes that have shaped my life like the desert wind shapes rock. I could not have made it through this life without them. Nonetheless it can be difficult for them to understand my greater hunger…to be in the wild…to BE wild…or die.
I understand that I bewilder them, and that they sometimes relate my time alone to some defect in my character, : ) some defect in my psychology, my physiology, my ology. But I realize that it can be hard for us to understand something we have not yet experienced. I know this because there is much I have not yet experienced and do not understand. Likewise I cannot undo what Nature has done to me…for me. I have traded breath with a wallaby; her gentle face inches from mine. She will not forget my scent nor I hers. We are one imprinted upon the other. I have heard the thoughts of poisonous snakes and felt their smooth skin as they slowly slid between my fingers. They taught me to move with care and respect. Leaches and ticks have clung to my legs and taught me extreme patience and self-control. Birds in flight reminded me to play as I learned their song and spoke their language. Many of these wild creatures taught me to be aware if I wanted to survive and live fully.
Most days, like today, I don’t know what to write here. It can take me a whole day to do this. If I could feel it to you that would be easy. I have written a book, a whole book, but I did NOT write that book; it wrote me. And now I am told that I am a “writer”. But I am NOT a writer. I am a LIVER. I am EXPERIENCE. I am the rain that falls on a rainforest one hundred million years old. I am the mist covered rock on Tasmania’s rugged west coast. I am the snow that floats silently to Earth on a winter’s night in northern Maine. I am the Alaskan tundra that sprouts three foot tall spruce trees, hundreds of years old. I am the towering white ghost gum trees of northern New South Wales. I am a slot canyon in New Mexico. In my belly lives the Earth. I am in love and have no words. ~ Robin
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This Site: © Robin Easton
Website: http://www.nakedineden.com
Blog: http://nakedineden.com/nakedinedenblog/
16 Comments so far...
amzolt Says:
20 April 2008 at 5:47 pm.
As always, your writing is phenomenal…
I noted in another post of yours the ineffable pull nature has on you.
You post prompted me to go look up this quote:
“Nature is God’s Will and is its expression in and through the contingent world. It is a dispensation of Providence ordained by the Ordainer, the All-Wise. Were anyone to affirm that it is the Will of God as manifested in the world of being, no one should question this assertion. It is endowed with a power whose reality men of learning fail to grasp.”
Tablets of Bahá’u’lláh, p. 141
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Lilly Says:
20 April 2008 at 7:51 pm.
You are YOU, Robin. And the most wonderful thing about it all is that you know exactly who you are and what you want. Celebrate this fact. You can be alone with your own thoughts and be your most comfortable and alive. This is usually the one thing that many people find extremely hard to do. I also agree with you that sometimes we cannot understand others because we haven’t walked in their shoes or shared their experiences. We all are different, and thats what makes us unique. However, underneath it all, we all have a beating heart and we all want to be loved, respected and appreciated for who we are.
I believe that unless we can be truly alone and comfortable with ourselves we can never be truly in the moment with anyone else either. Your experiences may have given you a deeper understanding of life than others may ever contemplate. Enjoy the things you can share with your friends. We don’t have to fully understand each other but we can appreciate the ties that bind us together. I think its just called maturity when all is said and done. Time allows us to be more comofrtable in our own skins. I crave alone time more than I do with others. I know how that concerns some people. And I know that it must be difficult for you when you are having to walk in between two worlds as it must seem.
It’s funny but most people also assume that I am very social but I am not. I am an introvert in many ways but the types of jobs I have done have forced me to be the opposite. You are in a good place, a really good place. Never doubt it or yourself. Our time is precious – emails, phones, shopping in malls and watching TV etc are not ‘your thing’ nor do they enrich your life. You have chosen wisely, hats off to you. You dont need these things to feel secure or better about yourself. Perhaps you are just a more evolved human being. Smile broadly because a lot of the rest of us are still chasing to find that level of contentment within ourselves.
You are inspirational and honest and raw. You are real. That is what I am striving to be. But, I draw the line at letting a snake run through my fingers. The last time I tried that was at Steve Irwin’s Zoo and I think I broke a speed record running away. The 200 year old tortoise was more my thing. But, on the other hand, give me a lump of clay and a paintbrush (and a few bottles of red) and I could happily be on my own in isolation. Robin, please share with us (in a post maybe) about where your special place is that you would go to in a second to feel that everything is alright with the world. I have ‘my place’ in my head but in all my travels I have never come across it yet. I am still looking.
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Whiteotter Says:
21 April 2008 at 6:48 am.
Robin, Thanks so much for your words today. You are so correct in writing these posts. I have made a commitment with myself to post a photo every day, and let me tell you that has been quite a challenge for me, but it IS getting easier. “If I could feel it to you that would be easy” Just to let you know, for me, you do! I can completely relate. It takes me days to write my posts; I just don’t have the gift with words that my husband does, and I honor the fact that he really wants me to do this on my own, in my own words and own feelings. I am sure your friends and family understand, for this is all part of who YOU are, and they love YOU.
I am not a people person, and have never been comfortable in crowds. The only person I enjoy talking to on the phone is my Mom. But I do have to add that this experience of blogging HAS taught me so many things that I never thought of. I have learned how to interact with strangers, all be it from the comfort of my own home, but mostly it has shown me that there is more good in human kind than my secluded life ever allowed me to see prior to blogging. I have also learned to be gracious. Thanks Robin for posting, for with out this “thing” we would never have met someone like you.
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Mel Says:
21 April 2008 at 7:25 pm.
Dear Robin,
Don’t think about ‘what’ to write. If you don’t feel it, just don’t.
Your writing is beautiful and powerful, I can picture places in my mind and almost feel the wind, earth and water of your posts.
You are an extraordinary person, unique and caring, enjoy your passions, don’t stop because others (dear or not) think you are crazy 
… from personal experience!
I like to be alone sometimes, but I hate to be ‘left’ alone. I think most people can’t understand why someone could choose ‘being’ alone because they are afraid of being ‘left alone’.
I’m glad I got to meet you (virtually at least!)
Hugs,
Mel
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soulMerlin Says:
23 April 2008 at 1:39 pm.
Dear Robin – I have re-read this post quite a few times, not because I didn’t understand it, but because it linked with so many things that I have read, heard and experienced.
When you say, “I have heard the thoughts of poisonous snakes…” it relates so much to conversations I have had with a psychic medium called Ken, who spent a lot of time in India during the 2nd World War and who told me of his experiences with snakes…and he said exactly the same. He also said not to sleep next to an ant hill because of their collective brain.
Feral = “returned to the Wild” your love of the wild is so potent it catches me in my throat.
“If I could feel it to you that would be easy. ” ~ You did both Robin. You felt it and you wrote it.
…and you wrote it so well ~ “I am the Rain” “I am the Snow” – this is so spiritual, so shamanic. It makes me ache for the remaining wilds of my own country and resent the times, like now, I have to work in an artificial dark box of a theater. But I know that it is my path.
It’s just that you’ve made me walk on yours and feel your love.
Thank you for a lovely post
Henry
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Mhawk Says:
24 April 2008 at 12:46 pm.
Robin, you have truly explored some of the places I someday hope to visit. “I cannot undo what nature has done to me”; you hit the nail on the head with this phrase. Every one of us has the opportunity to belong in the natural world rather than living beside it. I believe that all we need to do is open our hearts, minds and souls to the opportunities nature offers and our bodies will naturally follow. Thanks for sharing your thoughts lady of the forest..see you on the trail sometime…. Hawk
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horatiosalt Says:
25 April 2008 at 10:00 am.
you may not be a ‘writer’, but you’re most definitely a poet…
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Getty72 Says:
25 April 2008 at 3:33 pm.
Robin, you write so beautifully. You are truly somebody whom I could listen and talk to for hours and hours, sharing travel experiences. You have lived and seen so much, that I have so far only ever dreamt about. I can relate to every word that you have written in this post…. about being more comfortable in the wilderness, about your respect for other living creatures and about how you learn from them.
I look forward to learning more from your precious and poetic words…
Warmest wishes from a new friend ~ Graham
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ScottCarlin Says:
27 April 2008 at 8:39 am.
Robin, your message of Wild resonates within the core of me, as I’m sure it does with many of your readers! You have had the courage to follow that wild to it’s fullest extent, and with it I’m sure has come many challenges, but has also reaped many amazing and enriching rewards beyond that of the ordinary experience. I am in great admiration! Thank you for your amazing voice to share your life with us, and in between living, please keep writing about it!!!
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Robin Easton Says:
27 April 2008 at 1:53 pm.
My dear friends, I cannot tell you how deeply touched I am by your comments. They are AMAZING comments. I shamelessly tell you that I have read them several times; they are that precious. As each comment came in I felt connected to someone in the world who “understands” and “knows”….good people, alive, caring people. I felt each of you connected to and strengthened a part of me. This blogging as been a weird : ) or unusual experience for me, one that has taken, and still takes, a bit of getting used to. But I can honestly say that each of you who have posted here have touched my life and heart and helped me to feel more grounded in a cyber world that I don’t yet understand…not with my heart and soul. I may never understand it, but connecting with each of you is beginning to make blogging a more HUMAN experience for me. I thank you from my heart for that gift. It is received with more gratitude that I can express here. Robin E.
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Sandpiper Says:
28 April 2008 at 11:18 am.
Hi Robin, I really enjoyed this post. I can relate to much of what you’ve written here. I seem very social because I am a friendly sort of person, but I’m actually quite shy and spend a lot of time doing my own thing. I don’t like talking on the phone either. My sister and friends don’t understand why I’m not into “doing lunch” or shopping, and I don’t have a hundred pairs of shoes. I would rather be out taking a picture of a bee on a flower than shopping, any day of the week! They think that’s strange, while I think it’s strange when people don’t notice and appreciate the nature & beyond all around them. About eight years ago, I began to connect to wildlife and nature lovers via the internet and it’s been an amazing ride that eventually took me to “the bush” of Africa, an unforgettable experience. Sometimes I feel frustrated when searching for wildlife where I live. There never seems to be enough…or maybe it’s just that I can’t get enough of it! Thanks for being you.
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lizh Says:
29 April 2008 at 5:50 pm.
Robin, your love of nature is so inspirational it moves me.
I can sooo relate to your occasional anguished writing days, especially this time of year. I’m finding it hard myself to concentrate on anything but ‘doing’..be it hiking, exercising or just being one with the glorious world.
Totally enjoy the ‘you’ you are… and never wait when ‘life’ is calling…
Thanks for sharing this special piece of ‘you’ with the rest of us…
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skylar Says:
7 May 2008 at 10:56 am.
Namaste’ dearest of souls! You speak to me, as I know then you must also do to others. You truly have a gift of simply relaying life, and *living* like not many I know. You speak to me, I soooo get and understand your energy. When I come here I can *feel* it strongly like no other.
I feel like if we were in a room together, we would be communicating with no words, just energy and just knowing. Than you Robin , truly for your gifts.
humbly
sky
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Ophelia Rising Says:
12 May 2008 at 5:11 pm.
Yes, yes, yes, I know what you mean, I feel what you’re saying, I know how there can be no words! I love your writing and your succinct tales of what it really feels like to be human, a “natural” human, how we are, REALLY. Forget the computer, cell phone, whatever – tapping into this, as you do, is tapping into the human race, and connecting profoundly to the mighty souls of generations past. I admire you, and all your gifts.
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Liara Covert Says:
27 September 2008 at 5:26 am.
You are always inspired to write something extraordinary. I savor each of your reflections. You come across as being very natural. This appeals to diverse readers.
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Liara Covert Says:
6 October 2008 at 6:19 pm.
I believe it is meaningful to add that contrary to what you say about yourself in this post, you have no character defects. To consciously choose solitude as a means for deeper self-reflection is an initiative that reflects your unconscious desire to reconnect with all that you are. You are beautiful, talented, extraordinary and inspiring!
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