Finding Oneself in the Landscape of the Unknown
A Field Guide to Getting Lost. Rebecca Solnit.
Rebecca Solnit explores various topics in her multitude of books. Her writing takes the reader to a place of deep thought and wonderment. This book covers the topic of getting lost and finding oneself in the landscape of the unknown. Solnit’s viewpoint emerges as maps and guideposts to this process of getting lost. Below are a few insights from reading the book.
Lost
- To be lost is to be fully present
- Delicate work of awareness happens in being lost
- Allows for the capability to be in uncertainty and mystery
- To get lost, to be silent, to be alone
- Lost has two distinct meanings (p. 22):
- Losing things is about the familiar falling away
- Getting lost is about the unfamiliar appearing
- When everything is gone, you get rich in loss
- Getting lost is about soul-tending
- Process of transformation happens when one is lost
- Process of decay and change
- Nature and the wilderness are places of opportunity for the unknown – full of epiphanies and danger (p. 89)
- Life is risky, yet don’t miss the adventure
- Failure is deeper than success because we learn the most from failure
Leave the door open for the unknown, the door into the dark. That’s where the most important things come from, where you came from, and where you will go. Rebecca Solnit, p. 4
Longing
- Longing means that desire is full of endless distances (from the poet Robert Hass, p. 30)
- The color of blue, cyan, is often used to describe the experience of longing
- Being lost and getting found – is about yearning
Emptiness is the track on which the centered person moves. Tibetan Sage, p. 50
Grief and Loss
- Map of grief is written in the darkness of your guts (p. 121)
- Nobody gets over anything
- Time doesn’t heal any wounds
- Landscape of life – made from memory and desire
…live always at the edge of mystery, the boundary of the unknown. Robert Oppenheimer, p. 5
Solitude
- In remote places, such as the wilderness, solitude is like a humming silence that feels natural
- Life is unpredictable in its goodness and its danger
- The world is larger than your imagination
- Mountain views – remind you of how much space is out there, how much room to wander, and how much there is of the unknown (p. 151)
- Move into the vastness
- Embrace the emptiness
Sometimes one unexpected thought becomes the bridge that lets you traverse the country of the familiar in an unprecedented way. Rebecca Solnit, p. 202
How do you experience finding yourself in the midst of getting lost? What did you learn?
How do you embrace the mystery of solitude in everyday living?
What helps you live and thrive in the midst of the unknown?
The darkness was present before the light. Denise Pyles
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