Living the religion of wilderness adventure : the wilderness recreation experience and everyday life.
Date
1998
Authors
Shuff, Timothy Malcolm
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Abstract
Wilderness adventure recreation (hiking, mountain climbing, paddling, etcetera in natural settings) produces "optimal" or "spiritual" experiences with the potential to profoundly influence the adventurer's everyday life in civilization. Personal experience of wilderness inspiration raises the question of "what to do about it," - that is, how to live everyday life in accord with the truths intuited in the experience. Wilderness adventure experiences imply the imperative to transform life, but how? The purpose of this study is to interpret the meaning or "moral" of the wilderness adventure experience in a way that provides resolution to this "problem," which can be understood as a religious one. The problem is the need to come to terms with an everyday life that feels incomplete when a higher form of life has been encountered in wilderness. An interpretive method based on hermeneutic phenomenology is used to describe the meaning of the wilderness experience as it presents itself in three sources: wilderness literature; depth interviews with wilderness adventurers; and introspection based on the researcher's own experience.
The findings reveal that the optimal wilderness experience is essentially one of total engagement with an all-encompassing reality. The moral imperative of the experience is a lesson of priorities, and also a way of being: primarily, to maintain the ultimate importance of the reality encountered; and furthermore, to carry through life a way of relating to the world that maintains connection with this reality. The result is a non dualistic worldview in which the distinction between civilization and wilderness dissolves, the "problem" of wilderness adventure is resolved, success is defined in nonĀ materialistic terms, and life goals emphasize process. The maintenance of this perspective is practicing the religion of wilderness adventure. Wilderness adventure experience remains the core practice in this way of living.