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ShareThere is a lure in the outdoors that you may try to resist -- you may succeed for a while, and claim to not have experienced it, but you probably have not opened your heart to it.
You don't have to travel around the world, or to the Himalayas, to know what I speak of.
A small beach will do. And as beaches everywhere do, the one I talk about has a clump of coconut palms, three or four strong. Clouds gather on the horizon, and the monsoon clouds advance. Boats take shelter and holidayers seek cover. That's when you notice it-- the hypnotic sway of a coconut palm in the monsoon breeze.
It is impossible to just walk by it, and inexorably, you are drawn into its spell. As the wind lashes the leaves and makes them thrash about in an unbridled ecstasy, you cannot help but feel a pang of lust -- the wanton call of the elements. It is an instinct so basic and it has been burned into our DNA.
But then, human civilisation has taught us to suppressour instincts. Perhaps it has dehumanised us, somewhat. We have been programmed to resist that urge -- "come inside", "don't stay out" and "stay indoors" seem to have become the epithets we raise our young with.
We did grow up hearing our parents tell us to come into the safety of the home, not spend time outdoors as it would have been 'dangerous'. But many things about the outdoors have changed. It is much safer to be in the outdoors today than it was some years ago. The irony is that perhaps the city, along with its people, is far more dangerous today than a walk by the ocean.
Have we forgotten what it used to feel like to stay outdoors, seduced by the sounds, sights and smells of the open skies?
There is lust that can make us rise out of the mire we seem to live in -- a lust for nature, a lust for life. Step out into the open and embrace the elements. You'll feel like a part of them, because you are.
Dinesh KS is the co-founder of Wildcraft, an outdoor and adventure gear company.
