http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qRw1-y1Txxs

Ask yourself, what draws us to this activity?

And, with all due respect to the southern parts of the great state of California, I’m talking about surfing Ocean Beach in San Francisco, and all points North.

Being in nature, where man belongs, where man came from, is a no brainer. Yet, we miss it, daily.

Technology is great, technology is evil. Technology allows us to share our thoughts here. Technology allows us dispatches from the farthest reaches of the earth. Technology gives us wetsuits and surfboard leashes, weather reports, warm cars with 8 speaker stereophonic surround sound as we drive back home from the sand. All nice stuff. Yet, let’s try it without the nice stuff. Without the nice stuff, both our bodies and brains will be pushed to the limits (and, might I add, not on some goofy reality show). By that very definition, we will be successful, we will grow, we will expand our souls to the flanks of the universe.

Be in nature. Be nature. For most of us, it’s only minutes away. Just this morning I watched a frolicking sea lion out on our milky bay waters and… felt a tinge of jealousy.

A perfectly natural response, I’d say. A perfectly natural response, based in survival of the fittest, starting with the survival of your own mind.

Haha, I always dance by myself like a madman. I’m gonna make it even more of a point to dance like a madman when I’m around people. Love it

For a slightly different perspective on the same conclusions as “Iron John,” try reading “Wild At Heart” by John Eldridge. Eldridge quotes Blythe frequently, but comes at the topic from the perspective of a Christian. If our culture in general has a tendency to put the Wild Man in a cage, the Christian sub-culture has perfected it to an art form. Modern Christianity has elevated being a “nice guy” to the highest goal of manhood. Eldridge busts this myth and shows how we have been designed by God to be distinctively MEN, not women, and that genuine masculinity is necessary in our society and for the advancement of God’s purposes here on earth.

Right now I am preparing to hike the backcountry of Glacier National Park with 7 other guys from church. One step closer to releasing the Wild Man from the cage.

I was 17 a while back, full of strength and optimism and a disdain for all things orthodox. Older, calmer people dimissed it as youthful energy. “Oh, when I was your age…!” they’d say with nostalgic smiles. Now I am 31. I have a wife, who doesn’t totally understand my need to dance in church; I have also a newborn son, who keeps me up all night and day with his eating and pooping and general awesomeness. And as much as I hate to say it, I AM slowing down. My wildness – my ability to dance with abandon – is fading. I hate losing it, but find it a difficult thing to reclaim.

The problem as I see it is two-fold:
1.) As we men get older, “wildness” becomes less and less socially acceptable, at least in part because
2.) The “wildness” we witness in a great many men is accompanied by selfishness and an inability to commit to anything (think “life of the party”); it is driven by a desperate searching, rather than a deep confidence. This is not the wildness the author speaks of here, but a restless, noisy couterfeit.

I’m going to work on the steps Brett suggests – talking to strangers and joining a martial arts class or taking up running. I’ve been meaning to go camping alone for months; I’ll make that happen this summer. I sure appreciate the encouragement. However many well-meaning hunters and runners and gregarious I know, I am still hard-pressed to find one who can mentor me in the ways of the Wild. When I finally find this more mature version of my old madness, at last wrestle it to the ground and make it mine, when I find that path, I will make it a point to go back and clearly mark the way for those coming after me.

Perhaps this is the final step toward living the full life of a Good and Wild man.

Thanks for this article brother. I have been living wild My whole life. It’s nice to be given some recognition. Also encouraging is how many people like this article. It would be good to see other people not always worrying what someone else might think if they would, for once, get off their ass and Live a little!