Reflection on American Camino #2 - Jonas Miller

I have been fortunate enough to experience a number of moments within nature where I feel so complete that all boundaries between self and environment dissolve into no more than a forgotten memory. Such instances are few, the true magic within them being the inability to expect or plan for that degree of immersion. 

When thinking back, I believe the most impactful memory of such a time occurred while fishing the Greenbriar River in West Virginia, near the town of Greenbriar. As typical for anglers, my attention at the time was completely narrowed in on my target of smallmouth bass, a species the river is known for. While trying my hand at a pool in the river that seemed to contain potential, I heard a disturbance in the regular flow of water from the river upstream of me. Not more than 250 feet away a mother black bear and her single cub were crossing the river. I was downstream and I knew that wind follows the flow of water. As long as I remained silent and still, it was unlikely that the pair would be disturbed by my presence. The hypothesis proved true, as the patient mother slowly helped her young offspring across the currents and into the brush on the river's edge. The moment the two vanished from my view, I felt a subtle friction on the side of my leg. A Northern water snake, no doubt preoccupied with the same pastime as I, had brushed against me as he made his way through the water. It occurred to me then that I had become such an element of these animal's wilderness habitat that two entirely different species, both of which are eager to avoid all human interaction, were completely undisturbed by my being in their home. Immediately a sense of completion washed over my body, just as the river washed by my legs. I was wholly incorporated within nature.

American Camino describes a similar instance wherein the complete immersion of body and soul into nature results in a feeling of shalom on page 87 and 88, along the shore of Nahmakanta Lake. I believe this feeling, which borders on the limits of indescribable by words, is one of the most pure emotions a human is capable of feeling.  

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