The Mindful Hiker

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12/13/09

The Tiger Woods situation is an important one, and should be reflected upon by everyone. It's an issue of commercialism vs. morality. If the marketplace rules over morality than the bar of societal morality gets lowered. And when that happens the consciousness of the society lowers, leading to all sorts of negative consequences. So rather than talking about how well Tiger is handling the situation, we should be focusing on his aberrant behavior and not letting him off the hook so easily (especially if he comes back and starts winning tournaments). His infidelities were serious, undermining his own family, and the faith and trust his fans put in him. He showed tremendous immaturity and lack of good judgment. His sponsors should take a good look at this when considering renewing his contracts.

His sponsors have one thing in mind: money. And when decisions are based on money alone, morality takes a beating. And when morality gets beaten down, society is that much less human and insensitive to the welfare of others.

Contrary to what many observors have said, Tiger Woods, in relation to this episode, is our business. And we should not let him sweep this under the rug, without pressure to give us a full explanation and a full accounting as to how he will rectify these "transgressions" and his life. Kids who look up to him need to see how an adult who's gone astray returns to the fold with honor, honesty, and humility instead of hubris.

11/22/09

The anniversary of President Kennedy's assasination, perhaps the darkest day in U.S. post war history. It affected my life and still does. I must admit, I'm still a bit dazed. I never fully got over it, nor has the entire country. You can tell from the rise of such characters as Nixon, Reagan, Bush, even Clinton, and now Palin that the country is still depressed over Kennedy's death, and wandering aimlessly through time. Obama was a bright spot, but he is being attacked relentlessly by those who want to see him fail at the expense of the country at large.

We are a country without a sense of direction, without a moral compass, steeped in hypocrisy and ennui. We are slipping into a country of separate camps, polarized, angry, throwing tantrums like children who want it all, but expect the funds for that wanting to come from somewhere other than their own pockets. They want to cut funding to the poor, to education, to infrastructure, to safety, to affordable housing, to the welfare of children, and yet they want all those things.

John F. Kennedy wasn't perfect but the man had style, wit, intelligence, and vision. He represented hope. He represented vigor. He represented a new era of consciousness. He was shot dead at the peak of his power and influence. We still don't know the whole story of who was involved. And in that not knowing, we have not yet been able to come to terms with his death.

11/8/09

Today, I wrote to Connecticut Senator Joe Lieberman urging him not to vote with Republicans to filibuster the health care reform bill. In fact I recommended he vote in favor of the bill. What prompted me to write was a poster at a recent rally by radical conservative Republicans in Washington. The poster linked the health care bill with Nazi health care at Dachau concentration camp and showed a picture of Jewish bodies piled up in a mass grave. This demonstrates the kind of distorted mentality of these conservative reactionaries. Many in my family were murdered in the Holocaust. Their memory has been besmirched by this poster displayed in front of the Capitol building of the United States. I suggested to the Senator that his name will be forever linked to such vitriolic propaganda if he sides with the Republicans and votes for a filibuster to the bill.

I urge you to write to Senator Lieberman and advise he drop his opposition to this vital legislation. When writing, mention in the first paragraph any connection you have with the state of Connecticut. The more so, the more your letter will influence Mr. Lieberman in his decision around this. Please use the link above to get to his website where you can email him through his Contact Me link. I'd appreciate it if you let me know if you do write to him.

Thank you so much.

11/6/09

The commander at Fort Hood, Texas, where the recent massacre occured, when asked if the soldiers on base carried guns, answered, "Of course not: this is our home." What do gun rights advocates say to that? They want to legalize guns everywhere: in our National Parks, on airplanes, for teachers at school, in bars. Can you imagine the carnage? What does the NRA say to the Army--the Army--barring guns at Fort Hood? The guns that were used in that bloodbath were not military issue. They belonged to the deranged shooter.

China produces a coal plant per week for its energy needs. It is also among the world's leaders for developing and using alternative, sustainable sources of power. Let's support the latter and protest the former. Polluntants from those coal plants are falling on the cities of the West Coast of the United States.

The Dalai Lama has never returned to Tibet since fleeing in 1959. Why not? He is a great human being who espouses peace, but he lacks courage. He could better insure Tibet's autonomy by returning in very public fashion. China wouldn't touch him. World opinion-not violent protest--would force China's hand to grant Tibet the autonomy--not independence--that the Dalai Lama wants.

10/24/09

Bill McKibben, who has endorsed my book The Mindful Hiker, is the founder and driving force behind 350.org, a non profit organization that purports to lower the amount of carbon in the atmosphere to sustainable levels. I urge to visit that web site, study what they are doing, and support their efforts to save this planet and all life upon it. Global warming is upon us. Human beings are not the sole cause of it, but have contributed significantly to it. That's common sense when you see the amount of carbon we have put into the air since the start of the Industrial Revolution. That amount has increased dramatically since then. We have the power to change that through individual and communal action, and bring the carbon ration down to a sustainable 350 ppm. Right now it is aout 380 ppm, so it is attainable.

You can minimize your personal carbon footprint which will help reverse global warming and cut down pollution which affects our quality and quantity of life.

Please, do what you can to help.

7/23/09

Once again, health care reform is on the docket, and once again it is being opposed by almost all Republican legislators and even some Democrats. This has been the case since FDR's presidency. Insurance companies, too, the richest companies in American, oppose such efforts at reform. Please contact your representatives and voice your support for President Obama's efforts to reform this broken system. It will only happen if we, the people, speak out.

Thanks.

12/29/08

Some of my backpacking buddies and I cleared brush at the Riddell Preserve last weekend. This 400 acre property is managed by LandPaths, a non profit that helps preserve open space in northern California. Our group was led by David Hansen, President of the Board of Directors of LandPaths. LandPaths needs help in continuing their great and valuable work. Click here to visit their website and make a donation.

10/10/08

With global warming spinning out of control and species dying at an alarming rate, who you vote for in this next election is more important than ever. McCain and Palin are nothing but negative and mean-spirited politicians who have little regard for protecting and healing this planet. McCain is 72 and has had four bouts with skin cancer. One quarter of all US Presidents have died in office. That would leave Sarah Palin as President if you voted for them this time. Given her record and how she has conducted herself as a candidate, that would be very dangerous indeed for this planet.

Obama and Biden are much better choices. Earth will be in better hands, as it sorely needs to be.

4/28/08

As for this presidential race in the U.S., which candidate will be the best advocate for our home planet Earth? John McCain is beholden to too many conservative interest groups to be an advocate. Hillary Clinton doesn't talk much about what she would do to repair and protect the environment. She seems to pander to whatever group she is standing in front of. Barack Obama seems to be most likely to be an advocate for the planet, inspiring people to get involved. I encourage a vote for him in the primaries, and, if nominated, in the general election. You will see many negative attack ads leveled at Obama in the course of this campaign: You can be assured, they are all lies and distortions.

1/1/2008

A very Happy New Year to you all. Let's dedicate this one to our Mother: the Planet Earth.

10/12/07

Another even more massive oil spill has devastated the Black Sea in Russia, sending a half million gallons of heavy crude to the bottom, affecting wildlife for years. Ships' captains ignored the warnings of a terrific storm and were tossed and capsized and torn in half. Is oil worth all this degradation? Once we lived without it and got along. Now we can't live without it and we are smearing the Earth with our careless management. Our addictive desires have run amok. Like the ships that crash into bridges or sink in a storm, we are out of control. The ship pilots and the companies they serve are merely scapegoats for the rest of us who demand the drug. We all have oil on our hands and the solution in our hands.

10/10/07

A massive oil spill has hit San Francisco Bay, caused by carelessness and ineptitude, caused ultimately by our continued dependence on oil when there are so many other safe alternative sources of energy. What will it take for humankind to wake up and change? When will we emerge from the fog of denial and delusion? Of course, we need leaders with vision and courage--leaders who have the wisdom to say what needs to be done and the sacrifices we all will need to undertake to solve the problem. Perhaps one answer is in the price of oil: almost $100/barrel. Gas at the pump could eventually go to $10/gallon. Then a trip to the mall goes into the family budget. As always, it may be the pocketbook that dictates action. One way or the other, balance will return.

7/30/07

Some good news: Spanish scientists are certain they've discovered why bees are dying in alarming numbers: a fatal virus from unaffected Asian bees has infected hives in Europe and North America, causing the mass die off. The solution: a mere $1.40 antidote per hive and it's fixed. Finally, a cheap, simple solution to a potentially serious environmental and agricultural problem. Bee well.

6/25/07

Sad to report that Colin Fletcher has died. The author of The Man who Walked Through Time and The Complete Walker died June 12 in Monterey at age 85. He died of complications of injuries after being hit by a car in 2001. I had been trying to locate him to send him a copy of my book but even in this computer age he was hard to track down. Fletcher was an inspiration to hikers everywhere and will remain so through his books.

5/27/2007 Memorial Day Weekend

As I write, men and women soldiers are patrolling the violent streets of Baghdad and Kirkuk. However misdirected and ill conceived this war is, these troops must be honored for their bravery and willingness to serve their country. I do believe many joined and went with the intention to fight terrorism, and thus protect our country. These were good and honorable intentions and I thank those soldiers for their sacrifices and service.

I also believe this is the wrong way to fight and defeat terrorism. Such military action looks patriotic and politically expedient but in the long run only worsens the problem. We need an intelligent approach that examines the root causes and directs resources to dealing with those causes. It’s a job for police, intelligence, and diplomatic agencies, not so much the military whose major mission, as I heard one army spokesperson say, is “to kill the enemy.” Their methods are too clumsy and gross.

George Bush and his cronies are simply not smart enough to solve this problem. They are steeped in medieval thinking of good versus evil and God being on one side but not the other. Ideally, he and his crew should be impeached for the lies they told to get us into this mess. That probably won’t happen given the lack of backbone among many Democrats and the blind loyalty among Republicans.

As for who can extract us from this dilemma, I liked Obama initially but I’m now leaning to Al Gore. I think he can restore the respect the U.S. once had in the world, marginalize terrorists and their extremist ideology, bring intelligence and creative action to solving our environmental crises, and withdraw from Iraq without causing a genocide.

More on the site soon about my wife’s trip to Spain to walk the Camino de Santiago; and my backpack trip to the Ventana Wilderness near Big Sur, California.

4/22/07 Earth Day

We can right the wrongs we have heaped on the environment. Through individual and enlightened government action we can see what the problems are and put our good minds to solving them. Politics should not be a factor, nor should economics, nor should blind conditioning. The only factor to consider is how we can fix the problems. The situation is that serious. This is our home. At our home this week, the water heater died. It was a crisis and we fixed it immediately. We didn't dither with teeth gnashing or chest beating or family meetings. We did what we needed to do to get hot water back into the Shire, as we call our home. And that is exactly what we need to do with our home planet, Earth, on this Earth Day, 2007.

Yesterday, in the rain, at Hood Mountain, I saw the first wild rose of the season, a delicate jewel within a lattice of tiny leaves. My wife gets ecstatic at the sight of this flower, and it's no wonder. If there is anything more pristinely beautiful, I haven't seen it. This pink gem would get my vote.

The other day, at Spring Lake, I saw close up the pileated woodpecker, a huge and regal bird with red marking on the head and more that a foot long. It chopped powerfully at a dead trunk and I pity any insect hiding within.

We must preserve and protect this natural world around us.

4/20/07 Thoughts on the Virginia Tech massacre:

Given this guy’s background, I think the only way it could have been prevented would be through gun control laws. The mental health system essentially doesn’t work with people like this, people who pass under the radar, who others want to forget about and pass on down the line to someone else to deal with. Only thing they never get dealt with, especially Asian families who tend to shun therapy. I’ve worked with people like at the college. In fact this is the kind of guy they’d send to me. At our school what would happen is that he’d get sent to the vice president who might suspend and bar him from the campus, and then require he bring verification that he is seeing a therapist before being admitted back in. what happens is that the person either complies and brings in a note or we never see them again. Is that the answer? For the college , yes, but the person will probably act out somewhere else. The big thing is to prevent them from getting an automatic gun. The NRA has thoroughly blocked that, however crazy that may be. So it’s a societal problem. Violent video games and a media that uses violence to catch people like fish in a net perpetuates the problem. When I get someone like this I try to see the person as much as possible to reconnect them to people. But this guy got very isolated and withdrawn and that’s a really dangerous thing. This was a pattern from childhood, at school and at home. But a lot of times people like don’t even apply to disability or counseling departments at colleges. This opens up the possibility of implosion or explosion. Most often ,it’s implosion and they take it out only on themselves, but sometimes like this guy they act out and others get hurt.
Who’s to blame? Tough call, but the college should have been more on top of it, given the harassment complaints and the reports from his English teacher. There was enough there to insist that he seek therapy and show proof of this. The college is trying to duck out of their responsibility in this thing. They also dropped the ball around communications after the first shooting. The whole campus should have been closed, coordinated by the police. They botched it. To have a killer on the loose and not to have taken direct action was just bad police work.
So there definitely were missed opportunities here. People just don’t want to directly deal with a character like this, mostly of out fear of what he might do if they get involved. even mental health pros try to avoid such people. Which means there are more such monsters out there, sorry to say.
My solution: Until the mental health system can be properly funded and improved, ban the sale of handguns and assault weapons. Stop their illegal trafficking. The second amendment, I believe talks about militias owning guns not private citizens. Anyway, this is a new time when only cops should have guns. The society, as a whole, is too sick.

4/2/07

The fractured rib is healing, without me doing much to assist, just leaving it alone and not aggravating it. The body works like that, as does Mother Earth. Leave it alone and it repairs itself quite well. Of course, by leave it alone I mean don't abuse it in the first place, a concept we humans just don't quite understand. We go ahead and make a bloody mess of body and earth, and then lament how much trouble we're in. The climate change crisis is a human crisis, but the solution is for humans to back off, stop the abuse, and let nature heal itself. In Tai Chi, the action is often one of yielding, and that is now what is needed. If we come in with aggressive, high tech solutions, I fear we will muck up things even more. It's time to conserve, play some defense, protect our cities against rising waters, adjust our eating, work, and recreational patterns, meditate more, and stop any further abuse. That is true for our bodies and our Earth.

2/12/07 (Lincoln's Birthday)

A steady rain today, after predictions yesterday of no rain today. It shouldn't seem that hard for a trained weatherperson to look west and see what's coming a day ahead. I think the ancients with their keen sense of nature got it right much more accurately that we moderns with all our computer models. I wonder if in 500 years we will have lost our ability to perform basic mental functions, being so reliant on machines and computers to do our thinking for us. I begin to see evidence of this today. Some of the college students I work with have received a high school diploma, yet can't do basic arithmetic or write a clear English sentence. They are pushed through high school like a herd of cattle. A sad situation, indeed.

On the other hand, I see students who are quite sincere about improving this old globe of ours, and exhibit great intellgence and creativity in their studies. So we keep the faith. We have hope.

Speaking of hope, Barack Obama threw his hat into the presidential ring. I see alot of the Kennedys in this man. I still want to read his books and see how he weathers the rigors of the campaign, but I am leaning his way at this early stage. I see no one else who offers hope of changing the way things get done in Washington, and who has a chance of getting elected. At any rate, this should be one corker of an election.

12/31/06

We saw salmon spawning in a West Marin creek yesterday. They struggled upstream past small rapids and snags of blown-down trees. They rolled on their sides, made some headway, fell back, and tried again, successful this time.

This is where they were born, now returned after a fantastic journey to the sea and back. Only one in a thousand survive, passing a gauntlet of sharks, seals, river otters, storms, fishermen, and other seemingly impossible obstacles.

Now they were looking for an ideal place to place their eggs and die. Yes, they die at the end of the cycle. They die and their offspring are born and carried down stream to the ocean where they grow and mature, if they can survive. And they return again to perpetuate their species.

We stand high above a bank on a trail watching along with families who’ve come to watch. Children are excited but don’t seem to understand what is happening. To them the salmon are secondary to a day’s outing with mom and dad. But who knows, perhaps a seed will be planted and one of those kids will grow up and help preserve wildlife from the ravages of human ignorance. People helped bring this creek back to life, probably inspired when they were young at the sight of wildlife repeating ancient cycles of life and death.

To the salmon, and all of you, a healthy, sustainable New Year, and millions more to come.

11/13/06

I am elated by the Democratic victory. It reaffirmed my faith in the American voting public that they could discern the atmosphere of fear perpetrated by many Republicans and could finally say, "What crap! We will not be deceived and lied to any longer." This election stopped the descent of this country into Fascism, scuttling the plans of an evil leadership. The foundation and infrastructure of Fascism was being built from the so-called Patriot Act to the Bush strategy of disemboweling any legislation he didn't agree with. Once again, the American system rose up and stopped tyranny in its tracks, this time in our own very White House. Like any tyrannt or bully, Bush and his cronies backed down fast. Rumsfeld, the mad engineer of Iraq, resigned, this time accepted by a defeated Bush. Rove went whimpering away, muttering something about the Republicans coming back in '08. Cheney was silent. Melman, the head of the RNC, resigned, before it could be revealed that he too was another closeted, gay man in Republican clothing. Bush admitted to the "thumpin'" , yet continued to support Bolton as UN chief, again refusing to face the reality of a failed foreign policy.

And now Nancy Pelosi has her day. I pray she brings a new era of congressional ethics and respect. I pray she paves the way for a Democrat to take the White House back in '08, kicking the Rove traveling political theater of the absurd out the back door and down the steps.

I like a John Edwards/Barack Obama ticket. How about you?

10/4/06

We took a great ten mile hike Monday at Point Reyes, meeting up with native and fallow deer, a bobcat stalking through the high grass, a still-vibrant creek running though Bear Valley, and some incredible late afternoon light at Arch Rock, overlooking the ocean. Times like this bring rejuvenation, a healthy antidote to the lies and hypocrisies and deceit of the political world, to the increasingly crazier crimes perpetrated against innocents, to a culture gone nuts with consumerism, to environmental crises that have Earth teetering on the tipping point of irreversible chaos. For these precious moments in the salty, clear air of the sea, sitting with my wife, gazing out at the crashing surf and fishing boats bobbing a mile or so from shore, and the sight of the distant Farrollan Islands forever sentinels to the northern California coastal waters, I am at ease, my mind quiet, comforted by nature in its grandest form.

I need these breaks from the tumult. Otherwise, I get very spun out. I get anxious and depressed and almost hopeless in the face of man’s inhumanity to man (which includes women). I know there’s a lot of good in the world, but the bad gets the press, mostly. I absorb that press so can’t very well avoid the stressful news. So I try to balance it all with regular visits to nature.

That is the real world, where sentient beings, except for the normal routines of predation, live and let live. Human beings have warred since we came down from the trees and perhaps we warred in the trees as well. In nature, there are no wars, only the daily struggle for survival and caring for families and dealing with the elements and desperately trying to navigate the impediments humans have erected. I am brought back to roots when I return to a place where roots are something tangible and elemental.

And wherever in the world you may be, at any given moment, there is always some natural place you can retreat to, even if only to look up at the sky or down at the soil, or feel the cool air of morning or the warmth of the noon day sun or the first rain of the season, as I did this morning when I stumbled out to get the paper at 5:30. And when the caustic news from the front page slapped me awake, the memory of those gentle rain drops reminded me of what was real versus what was contrived and contorted.

The power and grace and redemption of a raindrop is one of the world’s great wonders.

7/11

Soccer is a beautiful sport, but what happened in the final game was ugly--very ugly. I'm sure you've all heard about it by now so I won't repeat the details, but just to say that anytime we humans react without filtering our reaction through some moral and ethical filter, trouble lies ahead. Even if Zidane was insulted by the Italian player (and we don't know this yet), he should have filtered his reaction in the context of the event and what it would mean for his country and all the young players the world who look to such a player as a model for behavior on and off the field. It's a great responsibility and an honor to be in such a position. Zidane should apologize for his violent response (isn't a soccer player's head a lethal weapon, and as such subject to an assault and battery charge when something like this happens?) and instruct children to never react in such a way. I really hope he does this--for his sake and for all soccer fans everywhere.

And again, to Italy, congratulazioni, for your great victory!

July 4, 2006

I am a walker in the same sense Henry David Thoreau was a walker: Walking is not anything separate from life. It is integral to life, especially walking in nature. Yesterday, I encountered a rattlesnake on the trail--came quite close to it--and I marveled at its wildness, the ferosity of its rattle as I almost stepped on it. It was the first time, in all my wild hiking, I'd ever seen a rattlesnake in the wild. The snake was large but what I will remember most over the years was that rattle. What a wild noise! What a warning to stay clear. It was completely real, that rattle--a true expression of the rattlesnake being itself.

Perhaps that's what it is about nature that draws me more than anything: Every aspect of it is a true expression of itself. There is nothing false about nature. Unlike human beings, everything about it is true. We attach the judgments "good and bad" to much of it, but it does not concern itself with such separating trivialities. It is what it is, a fact that evokes awe in we humans who are so far from this reality.

This evening, we will be climbing a prominent hill above Santa Rosa with a group of other nature lovers--part of an organization called Land Paths--to share food and watch the fireworks below. But you can bet if we hear a rattlesnake along the way, we will remember it long after the fireworks have fiizzled out.

Have a happy 4th!

And to Italy, congratulazioni, for your World Cup semi-finals win!

I hope you're all watching the World Cup soccer matches. Although teams win and teams lose, every game, and every country, is a winner. I am just discovering soccer. There is great respect and good will among players in this graceful and beautiful sport.

7/7/06 reply

Stephen- We have lived on a few acres in Sonoma Vly for about 30+ years, on the east, sunny side of Hwy 12. Locals have known this to be rattlesnake territory for years. When the kids were little I and the neighbors would kill them, Duh! Now we remove them to higher ground, they don't jump out of a bucket, like a Kingsnake. After finding one it's amazing how you start at a moss covered branch! Ciao Roger