Lucas Spelsberg (11/04) Backpacking

Although Eisenberg critiques backpacking in his book, it is a form of homeless in which we journey out and then come back and restore our homes from the things we found. I think this may be considered a form of Earth jazz and a good alternate solution because there is no absolute solution to how we should live right now at this very moment. First, we must utilize things such as backpacking as a means to raise our consciousness and then go back to our homes with new knowledge such as land ethics. In this liminal stage of being homeless in the wilderness, you have to look for food and you have to look for shelter therefore it becomes utilitarian in a sense. Survivalists might say that they desire to be tested and measured by the wilderness while backpackers have what they need to survive in their backpacks. Using nature as a place that we try and return to as if it precedes culture as if it is something original, is a misconception. It is not possible considering that nature is a part of everyone. It is impossible to go out into nature and feel as though we are surrounded by something that precedes us since we are already nature in itself.