After selecting a salmon river in Alaska for the first property of our intentional community network, it didn’t take very long for me to get very tired of hearing, “it’s too cold.” as a reason for people to stay in their comfortable lives. And let’s face it, comfort is alluring. We, mammals that we are, likely have a preference for comfort in our behavioral makeup. Additionally, the technoculture reinforces this drive to comfort. We generally work for comfort, and not survival. This strikes me as yet another evolutionary mismatch–the behavioral equivalent of sugar and bread addiction. Since I started the feralculture project (in my mind) in 2012, I always thought of it as a fusion of adventure and community.
If it’s not fun… if we’re just in it for comfort, we’re limiting ourselves–isolating ourselves from fully experiencing human animality. It’s my belief that we’ll continually lose sight of this because comfort – mind-numbing anesthetic comfort seducing us into lives of economic abstractions and externalized quasi-pleasures – strikes me as one of domestication’s most insidious symptoms.
Anywho, there’s some perspectives in this piece that I like, and that we could probably all use as refreshers from time to time.
Adventure re-connects us with nature.
"Nature was the default setting that our brain was exposed to throughout our time! So our being hardwired to explore means that the hardwiring occurred when natural environments were what we were able to explore. This of course has meant that an affinity for nature has been developed in our brain, and this in combination with our engrained desire to seek adventure makes the two the perfect combination, reconnecting our brain with its default input.
Sure, we could look at pictures and view beautiful natural environments from a distance, but then we’re missing out on all of the things that being immersed in nature has to offer us!
Exploring incredible natural environments makes us feel good, and repeatedly doing so increases our connection to nature, improving the way we view it — crucial to both us humans and every other part of nature when you consider our impact.
We are becoming increasingly detached from the real world with our connectedness to nature deteriorating as a result of our separation. We underestimate the impact it has on us, neglect it in our lives, the connection fades, and we become apathetic. Re-connecting with nature is important, and an adventure will help to re-establish this ever-important connection we should have with nature."
Adventure expands our mind.
"How often do we get bored? Sitting at home, on the couch, with “nothing to do” and no attempt to do anything about it.
What a waste! It’s a choice we’ve made, to remain bored, and it’s a wasteful choice. How dare we waste good adventure time! Our physical and mental potential as adventurers is being wasted if we do not seek new experiences in life.
Have you ever heard the term “use it or lose it”?
Well, this certainly applies to our brains! Constantly testing our brain and exposing it to new stimuli helps to strengthen our brain, by improving it structurally and by routing neural connections. The opposite, too, occurs when we do not expose our brain to new stimuli and if we cease to test our brain. Going on an adventure is a constant new stimulus for our brain! Solving the problem of where to place your foot on the rough terrain or which path to take when there’s a fork in the road. Viewing a vast, texture-filled landscape that extends far beyond the four boring walls of our close-quarters homes and offices. Having some time to think and imagine with an endless supply of jumping-off points exposed to us while we experience new situations. One of the great things about being a human is our incredible ability to use our imagination! I couldn’t imagine losing the capacity to do this. We have mental potential as adventurers too."
From: “We Need Adventure” at Evolved Human.