Archived podcast for paid Subscribers only. Please login to access.Most of us have drifted far from the embrace of nature, but not everybody, and Tamarack Song is one of those people who has found the truth path of consciousness that is on offer everywhere in the natural world. This week on Dreamland, we join him on a journey through the forest, learning about its secrets and the powerful reconnection to ourselves that is on offer.
No matter how far from our roots as natural beings we may go, we never leave the embrace of nature, or the justice of its balance. Tamarack Song is a true seeker, a man who has learned nature’s way of ‘thinking without thought,’ and found in the secrets of the forest, the secrets also of the human spirit.
Tamarack Song’s website is TamarackSong.org.
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This big and wonderful topic
This big and wonderful topic is a key for modern humans, integrating the mammalian limbic brain and the cortex with higher functions. I argue that an overly rapid transition out of the Stone Age, before Homo sapiens had mastered that evolutionary phase, is one of the major causes of failures in civilization. The limbic brain is all about the mammalian species that communicates with intuition and the cortex is about abstract reasoning and symbolism. Both parts of the composite human must be developed fully within its own realm of existence: The species and the soul’s higher mind. The species is the cart and the higher mind is the horsepower that opens higher realms that frogs, coyotes, and other creatures do not consciously navigate as humankind does.
Bringing the creature of the species to peak performance can only contribute to greater breadth of the composite human.
Sorry, Whitley, but I’m not
Sorry, Whitley, but I’m not drinking the Kool-Aid with this guy. Behind the enchanting storytelling and primitive wisdom is a man who isn’t being 100% honest with his audience or himself.
That is one of his blanket criticisms of human beings, by the way, that humans–all of us–are dishonest and “never speak from the heart.” Oh really? Well my heart is telling me that someone is a little naive about human nature. I realize that he makes some admission about this criticism of his being a projection of his own “issues.” There may be some wisdom in him yet.
The real problem I have with this free-spirited tracker is that he is even more confused about the natural world. Your guest may be a good storyteller, Whitley, but some of his critics tell quite a different story about him. One such report can be found here: http://astheteachingdrumturns.blogspot.com/
Mr. Song says he no longer operates these survivalist schools–and that’s probably a very good thing! He says its because the folks coming to him for teaching were not getting into the “spirit” of the experience. To me, it sounds like Mr. Song still has a lot to learn for himself about being a human and living among human beings. He has a rather cynical attitude about his fellow man and seems completely naive about human-animal relationships (see “Grizzly Man”).
Speaking from the heart now… I stand by what I just said. I don’t mean to rain on anyone’s parade. Mr. Song has some beautiful things to say about the natural world, no question about that. Just think that the program could have been a tiny bit more critical of this week’s guest. I mean, _Dancing with Wolves_ is a great movie but if you really want to go live in the wilderness with your old lady because you think civilization is bullshit, then go for it; just don’t expect a helicopter to swoop in on you when you get sick or fall and break your leg (i.e., have rescuers risk their lives for you, a total stranger, because that’s one of the great things about the society that we have built for ourselves, whether you think we all “hate nature” or not.)
And if you are going to pretend to teach people the way of a primitive human animal who “thinks without thinking,” then why are you so interested in extracting a huge amount of money from these folks? Isn’t that a symptom of our corrupt, dishonest civilization, o bearded one?
Instead of indulging this man’s fantasies of a primitive state of being, it could have been more enlightening to ask him some tougher questions. Don’t get me wrong. I still love the Dreamland program. Part of what makes it good is that it lets the guests say what they wish to say without censure. This is just one of those rare times I found myself disappointed with the conversation maybe because this kind of guest is not up to standard. (I guess for every David Paulides and David Weatherly we gotta listen to a Tamarack Song. Oh well–Dreamland is still the best of it’s kind and 1 million times better than Coast to Coast AM!)
Humans and Wolves have a
Humans and Wolves have a mutual fascination. We are Brothers.
I grew up next to a National
I grew up next to a National Park and I spent all my free time in the woods.
I know what Mr. Song is trying to say. I am 66 years old and still have not found
the words that will let others understand. I beleave that is because you have to live it and few are willing. I can only speak for my self, I had a deep need to live this way from my first memories.
I am still trying to
I am still trying to understand the problem that the folks on this thread have: http://astheteachingdrumturns.blogspot.com/ They complain that Song says that he’s not a teacher and offers no information, or very little.
When I was a boy, I spent a bit of time with a retired cowboy who taught me about the land. But he didn’t teach. He told stories and put me in situations where the land taught. I learned how to find water in the most improbable places, how to fish with just a length of string, how to hunt without weapons and how to find old Indian campsites, which would always be sited near food and water.
Perhaps Song is a fake, but he was certainly articulate on the show. The best teachers I have known always seemed to lead the student to say ‘I discovered it on my own.’
The first moment I heard
The first moment I heard Tamarack’s voice I recognised it. Days passed and I could not for the life of me remember where I have heard it before.
I didn’t need any convincing about his veracity, for I could feel the heartfelt truth he emanates.
Continue being true to thyself Tamarack. I hung onto every word as if an old friend was recounting times past. Great show and when I heard him describe the possee of locals coming to shoot the Wolves, both sides of the argument stood out.
I say this because of the Black Leopard on the loose around here in this beautiful English countryside. I’ve seen the leopard with my own eyes and cycling to work in the dark became an electrifying experience, believe me.
However, to end, I have grown to honour this beautiful creature and only talk of her to a few select. In time I have come to consider her a protector of sorts and the dreams of powerful Cats come to me all the time. I’m sure she knows I think of her.
What a mysterious yet fulfilling marriage to our surroundings we can have if we just give it a moment to bond with us.
Happy New Year everyone from a small village set in southern English countryside and sparkling with magic and mystery every week as I listen to Dreamland.