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Hey, cool that somebody's still watching this thing ;) Yeah, I mean one thing I've been looking at a lot is how much trauma shapes people's individual viewpoints. I think I can relate a lot to Paul because my way of dealing with trauma is probably a lot like his - at least in terms of how it affects the way I see people. Like, I'm more of someone who sees people as dangerous and threatening, and recedes away from relationships and groups when I feel threatened. Meanwhile, I'm very aware that there are other people, maybe more Type A like Jon Young, who instead respond to that stress with more of a builder/organizer/Doer mentality - who try to address being threatened with other, more action-based, engagement-based strategies. Which isn't to say one is better than the other. When in balance, withdrawing can provide perspective and a pause for clarity and grounding, just like being engaged can mean getting things done and so on. But, of course, especially in the world as it is, we are often not in balance. And things become even further clouded when - both in the movie and in real relationships - instead of dealing directly with our trauma and it's ripples, we are instead projecting it onto ideologies that are frequently used to disguise our real underlying issues. Speaking for myself - I struggle to balance out my tendency to step back and observe with my need to engage and create things. Doing things like making the above video and, subsequently, writing my book, were nice because they combined both - creating and stepping back. The origins of my trauma have a lot to do with having to "pretend" to not see and be affected other people's trauma, and, because of that, I struggle to feel safe in groups that either have a dominant ideology, dominant individuals, (or both) unless there is some means by which I can honestly share how I'm affected by what I see. Thanks for keeping the convo going.

We use canoes called Wee Lassies! They are solo hunting canoes.

They are called Wee Lassie's! They are fantastic canoes.

I haven't heard of any of those men besides TBJ and, obviously, Tamarack, since I was living with Tamarack when he produced the above video. But I think equally important to the teachings of these teachers is the context of who they are in relationship with those they know and/or teach. I've found that the hunger to find a teaching/answer often overshadows the complexity of what it is to be a human in relationship. And I think a lot of gurus/teachers have done themselves a disservice by letting their hunger to "get their teachings out" to as many people as possible convince them to obfuscate their weaknesses (even to themselves.) Of course we all do this to varying degrees, but I think the phenomenon of celebrity and teacher exacerbates it. I don't have it completely worked out by any means, but I think the authenticity of letting the strength of the teaching stand next to the weaknesses of the teacher, even if less likely to create a movement, is more apt to create a better world. My work on the inner tracker was actually a pivotal moment for me in this process of questioning the value of teacher/ideology-as-savior (as Paul Rezendes so passionately points out.)

@@marcusgardner7640 I appreciate your well thought out view. I agree. I was just primarily wondering why tamarack wasn't present in the group since the video was released by the teaching drum school. I threw in a few extra names and associates of John young who are all older than him like TBJ and Mick Dodge (a nomad/ex military hippie who lives in Washington, who I've spoken to once for a few hours) and SunRay Kelley who is an architect /neighbor of theirs. Figured they would've been present at such a meeting. The context of the meeting is still a bit of a mystery to me. I'd like to know how they all gathered and why. Meeting up to discuss "inner tracking" with people who may not even acknowledge the meaning of that term seemed very strange. Were they given a memo or something? Haha...the memo is a mystery. I feel for the other people who commented and said 'I have no idea what I just watched.' That said, I agree, I loved those moments where the conversation derailed, and when everybody expressed themselves freely and not according to the script or program (again, exactly what that program was is still eluding me.). It shows they're respecting everyone's freedom of conscience, and that says a lot about the group. Most organizations, and forums and platforms for organizing, don't allow challenges to their worldview. And you're right, they tend to try to control the narrative as much as possible. I felt their was a healthy balance of focus and openness in this documentary. You did a good job of showing all sides of it. When it comes down to it, a person's life is and SHOULD be in their own individuals hands. Their answers to need to come from within and not drive them towards a dependency on someone else and their way of looking at things. Granted we look to teachers and even "gurus" when they have experience in something we do not. But it's still up to us to align that knowledge with our own experience/research. I see that many do not bother to research what they hear. Worse, many don't test whether it even works or applies to them. They ironically WANT a program to follow according to set rules and guiding principles that are often too restrictive to remind them of the need to experiment, explore and grow with their ideas. Many resort to unhealthy full fledged ideologies that are exclusive to other thought forms....therefore, as you said, it overshadows the complexity of what it is to be human and finding truth(s)/knowledge. I think it's healthy to always remember that we are all just perpetual learners and should expect to reform ourselves from time to time. I've been guilty of being stuck in the pupil phase occasionally. For a few years I honestly felt that Jon Young was on to something with his wilderness school and the 8 shields mentoring program. I liked his speeches and his wide ranging application of nature to solving life's problems. I could tell that he definitely practiced a lot of what he preaches. I bought his books, got the kamana one program. Then, when I had the time to practice it and think about the premise of the whole thing, I realized that it was just not for me. I couldn't get past the pseudo native appropriation that saturates their curriculum and the bedrock of their philosophy. Their whole school of thought sits on a foundational lie in that it came from native elders and indigenous wisdom. The wisdom of any indigenous people should not be reinterpreted or mediated by any outsider. His mentoring programs had a wide ripple effect on MANY in the nature connection movement but I doubt it ever benefited the natives from which they claim this knowledge came from (at least I'm not aware of any benefit to the tribes and peoples.) I really really LIKE Jon, I think he's incredibly loving and well meaning, but, as an anthropologist, Jon ought to know better than to appropriate cultural knowledge. And as far as Tom Brown Jr it's worse, nobody should be encouraged to get indigenous wisdom from him, some white guy who claims he was mentored by an Apache native named grandfather who likely did not exist. Anyways, I'm just saying I think the wilderness school un/intentionally validated their own anecdotal practices without much scientific research, and without appropriate relations to the traditional/indigenous wisdom. The wilderness awareness school is NOT in the good graces of the tribes and peoples surrounding Duvall Washington. The school themselves recently told me that. But as I understand it, they've lessened its connection to native/indigenous anything...though it was still in their marketing last year. Jon Young stepped away from 8 shields due to those very same reasons. I really wish him well and want to be gentle with my view of that whole group. I know how easy it is to get sucked into the desperation for "answers." And it's easy to be led if you are desperate. In occasional solitude, and in our daily quiet moments, if we frequently check in with what we believe to be true, I feel that's where the seat of our sovereignty lies. I LOVE having philosophical/scientific convos. I love encouraging, sharing and and holding differing views etc. but I doubt I'm ever going to fully run with anyone's worldview again. I haven't got it all figured out either, but I don't intend to let anyone else figure out this life for me.

@@jwallaby7895 Hey would love to talk more about this. My e-mail is listed in one of the other comments if you want to chat. For some reason my replies to you keep getting deleted.

@@marcusgardner7640 I hope to hear from you! My email is in the about of my channel description.

Exactly.

Breaking many things as well, left a trail easy for a tracker to follow.

For all you native wannabes and apples 🍎......no matter how good you are in certain dry conditions you cannot help but to make some noise nor can any that go walking through the countryside without leaving some trace of his passing ......the best one can do is hide some of his trail spore and mask his noise as something else .....even if you move across bare rock a native tracker can still follow in your steps ....even tell many things about you....if you are man or woman....your age ....if right or left handed ....if you're white or native....if you are hungry or thirsty going to or from water .....which tribe your from ...if your tired ...if you are injured or sick and probably will know what mood you're in. But these things are easy more difficult to know your intentions , much can be known by your scent as well. The Apache could scent almost as well as a wolf . Almost , ....my son when he was five years old was with me at a doctors appointment and the nurse is sitting on the stool asking me the regular questions and my son says can I have that chocolate? The says what chocolate? My son says the chocolate in your pocket as he points to her left pocket of her nurses vest and she reaches in the pocket and her face I'll never forget that look ,she said she forgot she had a hershy mini in their and she asked him how he knew it was there , my son says I can smell it . It was a well earned piece of candy