Get Lost Sometimes

After nearly 2 years of living and working in a remote Canadian First Nation community, I had never known how the natural environment could shape us, mold us, transform our psychology, alter our emotions, even bring us to places within ourselves where we could challenge and question our internal belief systems about who and what really are. Many people that know me, will tell you I spend many hours in the outdoors and it's not uncommon to find me having a fire in the woods with my coffee, biscuits, and a good book. This is how I get lost sometimes.

My goal with exploring this idea of being lost is born from observing the world change with myself already living in a remote community and having learned to adapt to various levels of isolation. My hope is to not dwell in another attempt to bring awareness and explanation to what we would all agree already, which is our global experience of being severed from many of our freedoms or ideas of freedoms. The fact that we are recognizing and are experiencing a severe shock to our total systems is clear as we witness each day our struggle to come to terms with constant change. In addition to this understanding is that we may also have to work through long periods of mourning our past Pre-Covid 19 life as we knew it. In a deep and profound way, the Pandemic has caused me to reflect deeper on what being disconnected and lost means. But is this really a negative thing?

So, some positivity. I found it interesting that some of my good friends and other folks have actually embraced a positive attitude towards this major upheaval. Although the outcome has been frightening and tragic on a large scale the loss of life and strain on all our systems. Let alone the impact and consequences of our health care systems. On the other hand, people have been attempting to tap into a new understanding of themselves, family, work, and the overall meaning of life. They have talked about how this shift has forced them to change their perspective on many things they may have otherwise never contemplated. I am not suggesting that the pandemic has been a positive event overall for obvious reasons, yet what it has created in some areas is a new appreciation for things. Certainly, there have been many challenges for all of us and we have had to meet them in our own way. Look at travel restrictions for families and loved ones for example. Maybe how we had survived before through change has helped us become more resilient. Or maybe we've had to look into our own fears and insecurities. None the less we have all been learning to cope in new ways and survive. In some of my own reflections, I have been digging deep into Stoicism. I've had this idea that our time now in the world is the time for us to depend on philosophy, art, science, creativity, imagination, music, and laughter. We have a great responsibility to engage more in ethics, logic, and critical thinking. Which if we would agree has been lacking in many areas for so long in our society it seems. This will be our survival and we need to abort our lust for material, security, and comfort. Don't get me wrong having wealth and security are by no means necessary. I believe we have almost forgotten the importance of connection through openness and creativity.

So how will we survive together? First, we identify that we may have actually been lost in some respect Pre-Covid19in our humanity, and perhaps see how a global event such as this can bring forth a brighter understanding of humanity and ourselves. I've heard people say such things as " our world was actually speeding up way too fast originally". This may be true. We may have been in desperate need to alter our attitudes now to see where we all share common suffering of apartness and a sense of being lost and disconnected. This upcoming hope for a revival of connection will be like a renaissance I feel. It will help us dig into a deeper meaning of true altruism. An idea and eventual practice of being lost together for the greater good. We need to stay focused on how we can nurture a new evolution of hope. In time we will go through an expansive process that will be difficult yet will help with the maturation of a new condition of humanity. First, we learn how to be lost together in our disconnection and then we can learn to fully survive together.

As I sit here this winter in the First Nation community of Attawapiskat my plan is to spend as much time being in the natural world as possible. This is my responsibility, my survival, my philosophy. My suggestion in these days, if it is possible for you as well to take time to look around you. The trees, water, the clouds. and land. See the animals and listen to what the natural world is speaking. Look into what the natural world is teaching and healing you.

Peace and Love

Lee Lyttle