People share the community experience constantly: at home, at work, at the grocery store, in school, on sports teams, volunteer groups, places of worship, at musical events, on vacations and more. We all seek it out daily in one way or another. I was inspired to write about this while I was biking. A chanting song came through my headphones and it flashed up a warm memory of living at a yoga ashram in Pennsylvania 10 years ago. One of my favorite community events there was the monthly kirtan, or spiritual music and chanting, that the group shared. It was beautiful and magical. Other group aspects of the ashram were communal meals, cooking classes, Hatha classes, group meditations and lectures. Things just seemed to flow there.
Even though we live in our motorhome, and every day is kind of like camping, there is still something wonderfully familiar and somewhat tribal about camping. We pulled into a remote campground after dark, our headlights illuminating groups of small children frolicking in the night air. Campfires flickered in the towering groves of grandfather poplars, and fireworks filled the sky. I think the moHo felt warm fuzzies too, when we nestled her amongst a herd of her boxy fiberglass friends. When you consider the length of human existence, it wasn't that long ago that we were all tribal people. Surviving (and thriving) in numbers.
Children often seem at their best in nature. We watched bunches of them swinging on swings, running through the bush and being creative and spontaneous, exactly how they should be! I was touched when a 7 year old boy and his 4 year old sister (whom we had not previously known) gave everyone around the campfire a big hug at bedtime. So simple, yet such a testament of positivity to friendly gatherings of humans in the woods.
Something else magical happens when people camp together: They share. Tents, clothing, food, kids, campfires, laughter... In no other setting have I seen that much willingness to give. Ok, maybe at Christmas time, but still, it's really amazing.
Around midnight, a group of us wandered down to the Peace River at the edge of the campground, salvaged a few hot coals from previous tenants and built a driftwood campfire along the river's edge. We all sat in wonder while we counted shooting stars and watched the shape shifting colors of the Northern Lights spanning across half of the dark sky. If you have never experienced the magic of the Aurora Borealis, its well worth a trip to the far north. I am told it gets even better as the winter draws closer. I look forward to that.
My birthday is coming up this weekend. All I want is to have a few friends together, a campfire to keep us warm and the astral community shining above us. These are the things that make life rich.
Ps. I spotted this book on a friend's coffee table a couple of years ago and it's phenomenal. I think I need to go request it from the library...time to reread.
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