A rite of passage with Outward Bound : transpersonal perspectives of the solo from 16 wilderness guides
Date
1996
Authors
Cammack, Michael William
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Abstract
This open-ended inquiry examined the transpersonal and ecopsychological dimensions of the wilderness solo and applied heuristic and hermeneutic methodologies· to interpret the collective perspectives of the solo from 16 wilderness guides. Twelve of the wilderness guides interviewed were from the Outward Bound Program while four of the guides were from a wilderness-based corrections program for adjudicated youth, the Coastline Challenges Program. Two additional perspectives were included from graduates of the Outward Bound Program. One is a life-span profile of a 1941 graduate while the second perspective documents a 1994 expedition at the Outward Bound-We-stern Canada mountaineering school. Three females and fifteen males participated in the research project (N=18). The primary results provide con side.rations for safely conducting wilderness solos while the secondary results profile wilderness guides on two levels: (1) the influencing factors that led each individual to become a wilderness guide, and (2) the guide's immediate relationship with Nature in the present tense. The relationships that the solo participants and the guides have with Nature generally indicates a shift fro.m egocentrisrm towards ecocentrism, a movement of identity that widens and deepens over time (se.e Figures 1-4). Recommendations suggest applying the solo in learning and therapeutic expeditions. in educational and counselling settngs. Differing resposses to the intensity of the solo indicate exercising fundamental caution when considering wilderness solitude as an adjunct to experiential education or therapeutic applications. Given the absence of visible rites of passage in Western culture, the Outward Bound solo provides the mentorship and the opportunity for both genders and most ethnic groups to safely experience that transformative process.