In Praise of Excellence

Waxing Gibbous Moon

My ex-librarian pal Dee Dee gave a book to me recently, saying she thought I might like it. I was impressed that she took the time out of her hectic retired-librarian, mushroom-hunting schedule to remember me. On top of being impressed, I am most grateful.

I finished reading The Wild Excellence: Notes from Untamed America last night. The stories in this book rang true to most of my core interests and formative experiences. Notice that I did not and will not use the word "resonate" as I describe the book or anything else under the Sun. I hate it when people do that.

 In my mostly humble opinion, author Leslie Patten just gets it. There is not a phony paragraph on any of her two hundred forty-seven pages as she covers the vast spectrum of real-life important things: learning, growth, attention, intention, purity, loyalty, discipline, ancestry, history, trees, mountains, rivers, wolves, elk, bear, coyote, relationship, and sacred places. She doesn't dwell on her personal past or exactly how that life informed her decision to leave California and live alone in a cabin in the Wyoming mountains. What business is that of the reader anyhow? She placed herself in close proximity to life and to its beings without the direct trappings and distractions of civilization. She describes her experience without judgement of herself or of others. She sees in nature the truths that can lead to harmony and connection. 

It probably helps that I am close in age and near in geographic attachments to the author, but I think it wouldn't matter if I weren't. She gets the holiness of being alone in the wilderness and that is most important for me. The fact that she expresses herself with clarity without saying "resonate" is probably number two.

Do I think you should read this book? Maybe. It kind of depends on where you are in life. I hope you are in a place where absorbing this woman's story will make you happy for her and will also let you see how you have made comparable choices to grow and learn on Earth, too.

We are a richer species by just walking with grizzlies in these woods. To walk with the Great Bear one must be alert, fully awake and aware. All one's senses must be engaged. With the Great Bear around, you cannot walk lost in thought, or conversation. You must be Present. This alone is a gift that only another top predator can bring to man. The Present is his present to us. He presses it upon us by circumstance. Men do not give themselves that gift by choice. That is the gift of the grizzly. - Chapter 7: Bear Dreamer

The Wild Excellence touches all the planet's bases before bringing us safely home in a clear, concise epilogue. The book as a whole is an exemplary environmental teaching tool as well as a deep salve for the soul. To borrow Ms. Patten's closing phrase, "I praise the wild excellence," too.

Peace, Love, and Excellence,

Jim