WILDMEN - FIRST STORIES

When men first began to encounter strange "creatures" in the forests and grasslands, they called them"Wild Men". Experiences with these "Wildmen" occur throughout history . Even talked of in classical and preclassical times.

There was almost a romance to the "wildness" of these men. A wildness that called to the hearts of all men, a freedom of the soul, that releases something inside us even today. In the tales we are warned of this wildness, as it would overtake us. Consume us. Take us away from civilization.

And so we began to give these Wild Men nonhuman qualities. Ascribe their free way of life to living like animals. By the time of the Middle Ages this fear of living free caused men to treat them as monsters, something to be feared. The stories of a friendly being, slowly overshadowed by being called a savage creature. But, if you think on it, we too as human, have those two sides. We are friendly to those we like or trust. Others who are unknown are treated harshly as enemies.

But always there are those who sought out the Wild Men, desiring to understand them, to gain their knowledge, to learn from them. Even today we find those seekers among us. Those who are willing to make sacrifices in their own lives in order to go into the forests and seek out those "Wild Men". To seek them to learn and to gain knowledge. To find an inner peace and an understanding with those who have been here perhaps before we were.

There are some peoples who seek these Others as a spiritual journey, or quest. But still with the object of gaining knowledge and peace within. And to return from these journeys with wisdom to share among their people, to give that wisdom a voice.

And because these Others have chosen through the ages to live in the more secluded parts of the world, to remain apart from the packs of men, to live a simpler life, mankind began to further demean them, discount their wisdom, and even hunt them with lethal intent. To make of them monsters, something to be feared.

Perhaps the anger we sometimes feel from the sasquatch comes from their dislike of what we are doing to their homes. The desecration of the land, poisoning of the water, the earth, the encroachment upon their lands. The assumption that we own everything and all others should bow to what man wants. Perhaps that is why they sometimes urge us away from them. Small rocks and stones or pinecones pitched towards us, a fake rush at us meant to make us turn and run, the growl heard from a nearby bush to make us think it's time to head for home, the scream from the top of the hill telling us we have come far enough.

These Others are intelligent, they are compassionate, they are organized, they are not animals. It is time to stop fearing them and treating them as monsters simply because we are suddenly aware that we are not the only people on this planet. Perhaps we should be working towards letting them know that we are not monsters and that we can be intelligent and that they do not have to fear us. Size and looks do not make monsters. It is what is held in the soul.

Nancy

"I'll spark the thought; what you do with it is up to you."