The Fire Circle was an enlightening experience, and the most interesting thoughts I’ve had had almost nothing to do with the event in itself. Since the event was taking place on a day that was ‘sub optimal’ for the event (miserably raining) I thought a lot more about the connections that we people have with the land, and how we enjoy to sever them whenever the land does not serve us.
During the break (before the drum event) there was some discussion as to whether the event could be migrated inside. This argument has some reason to it. If the outside state is undesirable and there is another environment to move the event to then it would be better to have it where it is less undesirable. The key word to be wary of is ‘better’ since it refers in this case only to the comfort of the people. If a drum circle is an event where we can connect to each other and the land then how does our comfort improve this situation. I believe that it does not, and the contrary, suffering is far more binding than comfort.
There should be little reason to argue that suffering binds people together more than comfort since there is a great degree of reasoning that supports it. Soldiers who outlast Boot camp, who have gone through a great deal of suffering, have camaraderie far greater than many others. People who study together for a difficult test, have too much work assigned to themselves before things start to go wrong, or are in a dangerous situation have a much stronger bond with each other.
Running out of space for a full telling I will simply state that me and a few friends went tubing one day and ended up needing to walk for around six hours back to our vehicles. We were far closer together in that time than nearly any time before, and I would believe that it is because that there was a great deal of (lower level) suffering there.
Modern homes are things that divorce us from the land. Even if they look nice they still are nicely climate controlled and allow us to encounter the wildness of nature on our terms. Looking at a wintry wonderland through a double paned window with a hot cup of coco and a heated blanket is not the same as experiencing the winter itself. But it gives us a false feeling that we are connected to nature. When nature forces us to change our behavior, be it heat, cold, or a loss of water of electricity we suddenly feel as if we lose something we are entitled to. Should we not instead adapt ourselves and our buildings to the change of seasons, as was done by many indigenous peoples? If we are to understand the land then we ought to at least suffer a little to learn it, which is something the rain on the fire circle taught me.
The rain did not stop the fire, though it tried its best.
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