Chaparral Wisdom

Embracing Our Humanity Through Nature, Learning, and Friendship

For a number of reasons, many of which you are surely well aware, American society is undergoing tectonic shifts. Our relationship to Nature, each other, and ourselves are moving in directions that can compromise our humanity and our joy – but only if you allow it.

Therefore, we invite you to rebel against the the conventional crisis-embellished view of the world that is so pervasive, by nurturing the one characteristic that has advanced our species like no other, curiosity.

After a lot of thought and experience, we’ve found the best tonic for igniting curiosity is by challenging our intellect to learn new things, sharing those things with others, and allowing Nature to inspire us along the way. The path we’re suggesting requires difficult questions of course, especially of ourselves, and challenging assumptions that sometimes prevent us from learning. But as we’ve found during our own exploration of curiosity, such as during our Chaparral Naturalist classes and our monthly Philosophy Gatherings, there’s a lot of fun in it too.

But first, some history about how we arrived where we are.

Beginning in the late 1800s, the lessons and wisdom gained from the past twenty-five hundred years were slowly pushed aside in schools, especially in the United States, to make room for the remarkable expansion of scientific and technological knowledge. Studying the Classics, and the languages in which they were written, became increasingly passé.

The social revolution of the 1960s in America pushed this displacement accelerator to the floor, forcing the active rejection of Classic literature in favor of examining past trespasses of Western Civilization. By the dawn of the third millennium, the stunning accomplishments of the West, and its most influential thinkers, began suffering damnatio memoriae, the Roman practice of erasing the memory of those who blasphemed or fell our of favor with the new emperor.

As the 2000s progressed, many of those who challenged the dogma of grievance and erasure began losing family, friends, and careers. The mad rush of the crowd to affirm allegiance with the new paradigm elevated ideology, myth, and belief over science, curiosity, and truth. Shame became the norm, especially in the environmental community, and a large portion of of the American population engaged in private and public self-flagellation to express the guilt they felt over their ancestors deeds.

As has occurred repeatedly in history, pushback has emerged as many began to reject the grievance paradigm over the past decade or so with their own mythical dogma to enthrone an array of aspiring autocrats who have proclaimed simple answers to complex problems, promising to make the shamed great again. On top of it all, the burgeoning power of technology has facilitated the tunnelization of opinion, the rejection of rational thought, and the isolation of individuals. And thanks to modern media in all its forms, irrational fear and social stupidity have increased significantly.

In his last book, The Demon-Haunted World, Carl Sagan wrote presciently decades ago,

“Whenever our ethic or national prejudices are aroused, in times of scarcity, during challenges to national self-esteem or nerve, when we agonize about our diminished cosmic place and purpose, or when fanaticism is bubbling up around us – then, habits of thought familiar from ages past reach for the controls. The candle flame gutters. Its little pool of light trembles. Darkness gathers. The demons begin to stir.”

None of this is new, of course. We’ve seen the demons before, the recognition of which is only possible through learning history. Interestingly, knowing when and where our current challenges and events have occurred before can be oddly comforting. Hence, one of the basic principles of the approach to life we are developing here is learning history, and specially philosophical history.

So, our approach to the current state of change in our society faces is modeled after the wisdom acquired by philosophers and other great thinkers over more than two thousand years.

At first, in reaction to the chaos, we recoiled, embracing the Stoic approach – not letting things out of one’s control cause duress. While that helped for a period of time, we came around to appreciating Friedrich Nietzsche’s reminder that emotions are the drivers of much of what is so fabulous about being a human being. Therefore, we’ve taken what we feel is the best from the past and developed a hybrid philosophy that is ever evolving. Edward Abbey came about as close to describing our current approach as anyone in a speech he gave in 1976.

“Be as I am-a reluctant enthusiast… a part time crusader, a half-hearted fanatic. Save the other half of yourselves and your lives for pleasure and adventure. It is not enough to fight for the land; it is even more important to enjoy it.“

The Chaparralian Creed is our attempt to deal with our period in history in a way that helps us recognize and appreciate our most precious possessions, our time and our intellect. Our goal is to focus on learning about the fabulous earth on which we live and helping to make our corner of that world a better place. This philosophical framework allow us to, on one hand, fight like hell against the temple destroyers, as John Muir called them, who only see Nature as “fuel,” pursuing its elimination through habitat clearance projects, and on the other hand, turn away from it all to have a grand time enjoying Nature, studying philosophy, and sharing our journey with friends.

The Chaparralian Creed is based on three principles (at least at this point – remembering, the journey is never complete):

1. Develop your own, personal philosophy, understanding that just when you think you have it figured out, a new twist appears. Take the time and read those in the past who have made attempts to figure out the meaning of life, the classic philosophers. Yes, it is challenging. But stick with it. Read, think, share with others. And remember, there’s no one thing, one answer. For example, Stoicism is all the rage of late, which isn’t surprising considering it has a habit of rising in popularity when people begin feeling overwhelmed in the face of social confusion. Stoicism itself even came out of crisis when life in Ancient Greece lost its moorings post-Alexander the Great. But the Stoics do offer (as does Alcoholic’s Anonymous) a reasonable approach – understand what is in your control, and focus on that. That’s just a sliver. We think much of the Stoic’s emphasis on controlling one’s emotions robs us of the very motivations that can inspire great things. There is nothing more powerful than outrage to motivate action. We’ve sanded off the Stoic dogma with a little Epicurus and Nietzsche and found a more workable hypothesis.
   
2. Speaking of Epicurus, pursue the wonder of study and learning combined with developing new, and enriching old, friendships. This comes straight from Epicurus himself, the ancient Greek philosopher who focused on leading a “pleasurable life.” Contrary to nearly all the other thinkers of the time (and basically all time until very recently), he welcomed everyone to his philosophical garden outside of Athens, including women and slaves – a revolutionary idea in 300 BC. The friendship thing takes more work these days though, due to the proliferation of anti-social forces that encourage cocooning and paranoia of the “other.” But the effort is worth it. Invite a few friends over and talk about something new you’d like to learn. Focus on the knowledge, not opinions. Opinions are typically lazy chatter and do little to enhance the intellect. A good way to get away from our addiction to opinion is to ask questions rather than emoting and defending one’s opinion.
   
3. Spend time outside in Nature. Nature offers an equal opportunity environment. Nature doesn’t care if you’re rich, poor, an Adonis or a Kraken, an Athena or a Medusa, popular or unknown, she will offer up all the atavistic interconnectedness and awe that shaped us for millions of years. There’s more detail below, but the issue is this – we evolved outside, in Nature. We may think we have advanced since we painted bulls and elk in the 20,000-year-old Lascaux cave because of all the new things we’ve accumulated, but we still have the brain and body that were shaped on the savanna. We love to sit by the fire next to our dog (wolf), we don’t typically murder, we feel guilt, and we think babies are cute, not because of some written set of rules, but because these are the traits that allowed us to survive and live in cooperative groups over the past couple million years. When we spend time in Nature, we are back home.

How do we go about following these principles?

First of all, don’t follow our prescriptions. Develop your own and follow those. We’re just hoping our discussion here will inspire you to do so. Although there is a tendency for us social animals to form groups, totems, clubs, armies, etc., we really don’t want any part of that.

At most, we are thinking of just having an informal something that will allow us Chaparralians to develop a kinship that will ignite curiosity (not Novacained complacency), inspire the intellect (as opposed to group think), and foster learned conversations (not chatter), and have fun. And the more spontaneous, the better. That’s what were trying to do with the Chaparral Creed.

However, we are partial to ceremony and tradition. Therefore, having a Chaparralian talisman of some sort that symbolizes, memorializes the thing we are doing here would definitely provide some fun. So, we’ve decided to resurrect the Short Snorter and utilize its concept as our irreverent talisman, to document our philosophical endeavors. There is a legacy here as some of us have Short Snorters in our families. Do some research. There’s a rich history. Below is a small section of my own dad’s Short Snorter. We are working on how this will unfold.

A portion of Lt. Colonel Charles L. Halsey’s Short Snorter (front and back of the first two bills).

Now, about those suggestions to set you on your way to ignite curiosity and enhance your humanity.

Join us. Come up with your own and let us know what they are. If a random group of Chaparralians approve, we’ll add them to our list. The basic purpose of these suggestions is to allow you to maintain or reconnect with the joy of being with you, with your friends, with learning.

How to get started, in no particular order:

1. Spend time in Nature. The data are clear. This will extend your life, and make the life you are living much more enjoyable. Read Florence Williams’ book, The Nature Fix, to learn more. Professor Tim Beatley offered one model to get Nature back into your life:

• spend an hour a day stepping outside, listening to bird songs, looking at greenery, connecting with your pets
• once a week spend a couple hours in a nearby park
• once a month visit a wildland area for at least a full day
• once a year, for three days or more, have a Wilderness experience where the trappings of society are completely absent
• Here’s our research on the topic (see page 50-52)

2. Discover and embrace natural cycles. Find one or two natural, annual events that you look forward to experiencing. For us, it is the arrival of the White-crowned Sparrows in late September (they arrived late this year – October 6). They bail and head to the Sierra Nevada around tax day (April 15) to nest. Doing this connects you to the earth in ways that used to be common back in the day and will enhance #1 above.

3. Exercise a portion of your brain that’s unusual for you, which will likely be difficult. A new hobby is good for this, like learning to play an instrument, trying to understand logic, learning stone carving, cutting tile with your own tile saw, cooking a new dish. Dancing?

4. Get Your Life Back I: Stop listening, watching, or talking about the news. Seriously. The news is no longer the news, but a toxic brew of embellished chatter and gossip designed to elicit the release of cortisol, the fight or flight hormone that, in constant doses, can cause all sorts mental and physical aliments. Whatever your excuses are, they can’t come close to justifying shortening your life. Use the time you get back to read a book, call a friend, plant a garden. And no, you can’t cheat and just take a drink of news once and awhile to “stay informed.” Drinking news is like alcoholism – any drink will send you right back into the abyss. For a thorough, enlightening discussion on this topic, please read this essay by Mark Manson, it’s brilliant. For a musical interpretation, listen to Willy Nelson’s son here.

5. Get Your Life Back II: Get off social media. Why are you posting photos of your vacation, your house, you? Why is everyone else? We’ll let the question just sit for a while. There was a time (for the first few years) when social media actually achieved its much ballyhooed benefits – connecting people. Now, social media just wastes your time, encourages Narcissism, depresses people, and provides companies with a lot of money to learn your secrets and sell them. Want to connect with people you care about? Call them up. Send them that photo you want to send to the world, via a personal email or text. Let people feel like they matter again. We got off the social media centrifuge just before COVID. Combined with #4 above, the amount of free time we now have available is mind blowing. And we are smiling a lot more.

6. Write a thank you note, not an email, and mail it. This happens so rarely these days, your sincerity and wonderfulness will really stand out.

7. Cell Phone/Technology Related Things. “Progress is never a bargain.”

• Increase random learning experiences. One of the best ways to do this is to stop looking up stuff on your cell phone when you are having a conversation with someone. You know what happens. One of you doesn’t know something, you grab your phone and the delightful flow of conversation terminates. Use an actual, bound dictionary instead. If you don’t have one, get one. The experience will amaze you. You’ll learn how to used phonics again. You’ll see all sorts of random words on pages as you look up your topic. You’ll see a drawing of an animal or some famous person you never knew existed.
  
• Get a watch, and not one connected to your phone or the net. This will help you wean yourself off looking at your phone for the time, which will then suck you into looking at texts, email, the news.
  
• Imprison your cell phone. turn off notifications; don’t use your phone to check email; if your bored, don’t use your phone as a pacifier – read a book, call a friend, or write your friend a letter and mail it. Make your bedroom a cell phone free zone – the reasons for this should be obvious.
  
• AI. Yes, yes, yes, we know some folks use artificial intelligence to make their work more efficient and it appears it will revolutionize a bunch of things. But as with all technological advancements, as Spencer Tracy warned in the film, Inherit the Wind,
  
  “Progress has never been a bargain. You have to pay for it. Sometimes I think there is a man behind a counter that says, ‘Alright, you can have a telephone, but you lose privacy and the charm of distance. Madam, you may vote, but at a price. You lose the right to retreat behind the powder puff or your petticoat. Mister, you may conquer the air, but the birds will lose their wonder and the clouds will smell of gasoline.’ “
  
  What is the unintended debit on our humanity for AI? Think about writing. One of the most beautifully creative things humans have ever known is a blank page. Folks over 20-years-old or so might be able to get away with using AI without causing the complete elimination of creative thought and literacy, but what about the kids? Think about this for a moment. The action of staring at a blank page and coming up with sentences out of your own head is a fundamental part of developing the creative genius within. With AI, the temptation is too great to avoid that difficult step, that opportunity to create on your own. Why not just get regurgitated pablum from what is already known? If we let it, there’s a reasonable chance AI will reduce literacy and further widen the gap between the haves and the have nots, a gap we have spent the last 500 years narrowing.
  
  Before you take the easy route (using AI to provide the outline of the document you need to produce, that summary of the thing you are looking up on Google, fossilizing your curiosity, etc.), stop. Think analog for a moment. You know, when you actually had to create things on your own, wrote thank you notes, paid cash, studied with books all over the floor, used Actual Intelligence with a group of friends to discuss something interesting, could go somewhere without anyone being able to contact you, or for that matter, going into the Wilderness where help is a day or more away. In short, when uncertainly was certain and you actually lived.

We would love to hear your ideas. Meanwhile, get outdoors, learn something new, and experience it all with a friend.