BASIC SURVIVAL SKILLS & ORIENTING
Survival training involves far more than just learning basic survival skills necessary to endure hardship. The mechanics of constructing a shelter, finding food and water, and building a fire are crucial, but they’re only part of the whole. The art of survival is a dynamic philosophy unto itself, a doorway to greater understanding of yourself and the world in which you live.
Sadly, the conveniences our civilization has devised have separated most of us from nature. Because we no longer have to live directly from the earth, because we no longer have to hunt and gather our food, many of us no longer understand the web of life. People buy apples in a supermarket, but fail to acknowledge the tree from which the fruit was plucked or the energy drawn from the soil to produce that fruit. They buy bread but fail to see the wheat, first growing green in the fields, then turning golden and ripe, and finally falling at harvest. They buy meat neatly packaged in plastic trays, never thinking of the animals sacrificed.
This is not only regrettable, but also dangerous. As a species, the more we remove ourselves from nature, the more likely we are to unthinkingly abuse and destroy it. And as individuals, we place ourselves at risk each time we enter the natural world without full knowledge of the ancient truths and realities of that world.
Granted, you may never be faced with a life-or-death situation. You may never need to actually use any of the
