Friluftsliv
The Norwegian word "Friluftsliv" means "Free-Air-Life."
What does this mean? We live simply in harmony with Nature. The connection with Nature is embraced and a part of a peoples' daily life experience. Life is consciously lived. Friluftsliv is a state of being. When those working with children honor Nature and see one another as "all related," the child's natural connection with all aspects of creation is supported.
What is the outcome? It is about awakening the Mind to our true Self - united with our Source - limitless in power and peace. It is about choosing a different internal teacher rather than a culturally imposed one. We see all things as connected - as ONE - rather than as fragmented, isolated and fear based. We awaken to our limitless power and peace as we respectfully, lovingly, open to co-creating with Nature. It is fascinating. It is joyful.
Where we are currently: In the modern, high tech world of the 21st Century, children are now so isolated from the natural world that once inspired their ancestors to creative brilliance that many of them are now afraid to go on a simple walk in Nature. More often than not, the home, school and community interactions of children are fragmented and guided through carefully controlled classroom experiences, programmed texts, high tech games, films and public media designed to promote government and commercial interests to produce and consume. Open dialogue and questioning of the Status Quo are not encouraged.
As adults, we need to look at what we are presenting - with the best of intentions - to our children. By biological design, children duplicate what they perceive the significant adults in their lives value. This is a fact.
Unfortunately, many "outdoor" experiences are essentially the equivalent of Disneyland rides in landscapes related to nothing. A weekend or summer camp experience is often a "fun," fragmented, isolated activity that is "childcare" for busy, over-stressed parents working hard to give their children the best they can. Often, whatever may have been learned in the outdoor experience goes unsupported, when, upon returning to the home environment, the child plugs into his IPhone or IPad to play high tech video games or watch films that are more often than not a form of institutionalized violence.
Connection to Nature is vital and it must be incorporated into the child's daily experience. Nature has no agenda to sell products or services. The child's interactions in Nature, when it is a living, connected experience, awaken the heart-mind that is One with all life.
"Less you become as a child, you may not enter the Kingdom of Heaven ... Look unto the children:" The young child has the unique ability to connect to every organic form in Nature and learn from the inside out what that form has to share with all other life forms (Edith Cobb, The Ecology of Imagination in Early Childhood).
It appears that the child until the age of six has the imaginal plasticity to literally become whatever attracts his attention in Nature. A three year-old imitating a blue bird becomes that blue bird in imagination. The following excerpt from Walt Whitman's poem "There was a Child Went Forth" expresses this beautifully.
What does this mean? We live simply in harmony with Nature. The connection with Nature is embraced and a part of a peoples' daily life experience. Life is consciously lived. Friluftsliv is a state of being. When those working with children honor Nature and see one another as "all related," the child's natural connection with all aspects of creation is supported.
What is the outcome? It is about awakening the Mind to our true Self - united with our Source - limitless in power and peace. It is about choosing a different internal teacher rather than a culturally imposed one. We see all things as connected - as ONE - rather than as fragmented, isolated and fear based. We awaken to our limitless power and peace as we respectfully, lovingly, open to co-creating with Nature. It is fascinating. It is joyful.
Where we are currently: In the modern, high tech world of the 21st Century, children are now so isolated from the natural world that once inspired their ancestors to creative brilliance that many of them are now afraid to go on a simple walk in Nature. More often than not, the home, school and community interactions of children are fragmented and guided through carefully controlled classroom experiences, programmed texts, high tech games, films and public media designed to promote government and commercial interests to produce and consume. Open dialogue and questioning of the Status Quo are not encouraged.
As adults, we need to look at what we are presenting - with the best of intentions - to our children. By biological design, children duplicate what they perceive the significant adults in their lives value. This is a fact.
Unfortunately, many "outdoor" experiences are essentially the equivalent of Disneyland rides in landscapes related to nothing. A weekend or summer camp experience is often a "fun," fragmented, isolated activity that is "childcare" for busy, over-stressed parents working hard to give their children the best they can. Often, whatever may have been learned in the outdoor experience goes unsupported, when, upon returning to the home environment, the child plugs into his IPhone or IPad to play high tech video games or watch films that are more often than not a form of institutionalized violence.
Connection to Nature is vital and it must be incorporated into the child's daily experience. Nature has no agenda to sell products or services. The child's interactions in Nature, when it is a living, connected experience, awaken the heart-mind that is One with all life.
"Less you become as a child, you may not enter the Kingdom of Heaven ... Look unto the children:" The young child has the unique ability to connect to every organic form in Nature and learn from the inside out what that form has to share with all other life forms (Edith Cobb, The Ecology of Imagination in Early Childhood).
It appears that the child until the age of six has the imaginal plasticity to literally become whatever attracts his attention in Nature. A three year-old imitating a blue bird becomes that blue bird in imagination. The following excerpt from Walt Whitman's poem "There was a Child Went Forth" expresses this beautifully.
There was a child went forth every day; And the first object he look'd upon, that object he became;
And that object became part of him for the day, or a certain part of the day, or
for many years, or stretching cycles of years.
The early Lilacs became a part of this child,
And grass, and white and red morning glories, and white and red clover,
and the song of the phoebe bird, and the third-month lambs, and the sow's pink, faint litter,
and the mare's foal, and the cow's calf, and the noisy brood of the barnyard, or by the mire of the pond-side,
and the fish suspending themselves so curiously below there, and the beautiful curious liquid, and
the water plants with their graceful flat heads - ALL became a part of him ...
And that object became part of him for the day, or a certain part of the day, or
for many years, or stretching cycles of years.
The early Lilacs became a part of this child,
And grass, and white and red morning glories, and white and red clover,
and the song of the phoebe bird, and the third-month lambs, and the sow's pink, faint litter,
and the mare's foal, and the cow's calf, and the noisy brood of the barnyard, or by the mire of the pond-side,
and the fish suspending themselves so curiously below there, and the beautiful curious liquid, and
the water plants with their graceful flat heads - ALL became a part of him ...
The child is the only animal on the planet that can step into another life-form to take on it's unique expression and then move back into his own life experience without losing identity. Nature has always been a spiritual ground and source of humankind's inspiration for music, dance, the arts, language, mathematics and science. Nature has provided the template for living in peace and harmony if we but have the eyes to see and the ears to hear.
It is through understanding the unique power of the Child expanded and extrapolated as they become adult members of ancient tribal communities that we may come to understand the power of the Native American philosophy "Walking a mile in another man's moccasins" and the spiritual power represented by the Hopi Katchinas. In looking at the Katchinas, is it possible that they show a way knowledge from Nature was transferred to human communities through a sacred ceremony as may be expressed in the Wolf Katchina?
In the symbolism present in the Katchina, one sees Man returning to teach the people the knowledge Wolf
has shared.
Every child is born with an innate sense of conditions favorable to life and those that are not. Developing a strong internal compass - a "True North" is vital. It is this sense refined in early childhood that guides us to intuitively choose conditions favorable to life (Maria Montessori). If not supported and developed at home and in the larger society in which the child lives, this innate sense can be wiped out by the age of eight (Jerome Brunner).
Who we choose to be our internal teacher either puts the Mind to sleep in a dream of separation, chaos, and violence or awakens it to the unlimited power and peace that it is.
Friluftsliv is a way of life that supports "conditions favorable to life." There is one Self, united with our Creator, at one with all aspects of creation, limitless in power and in peace (Course in Miracles). This is also powerfully expressed in "We are All Related" (Lakota philosophy).
Finland is a nation incorporating Friluftsliv into its educational system for children: Finland's schools incorporate the philosophy of Friluftsliv in all the daily activities of the children. The teachers and the children in their care spend time in Nature learning to live simply; at peace with self, others and the environment.
The test scores of Finland's children consistently rank in the top three internationally - and - they are happy
and healthy.
In Friluftsliv, all of Nature has value, consciousness and powerful knowledge to share. The gifts each and every life-form has to share with all other life-forms contributes to the quality of ALL life on earth. Friluftsliv is consciously lived at home, at school and in the larger community. Friluftsliv is a way of life - a state of being.
It is through understanding the unique power of the Child expanded and extrapolated as they become adult members of ancient tribal communities that we may come to understand the power of the Native American philosophy "Walking a mile in another man's moccasins" and the spiritual power represented by the Hopi Katchinas. In looking at the Katchinas, is it possible that they show a way knowledge from Nature was transferred to human communities through a sacred ceremony as may be expressed in the Wolf Katchina?
In the symbolism present in the Katchina, one sees Man returning to teach the people the knowledge Wolf
has shared.
Every child is born with an innate sense of conditions favorable to life and those that are not. Developing a strong internal compass - a "True North" is vital. It is this sense refined in early childhood that guides us to intuitively choose conditions favorable to life (Maria Montessori). If not supported and developed at home and in the larger society in which the child lives, this innate sense can be wiped out by the age of eight (Jerome Brunner).
Who we choose to be our internal teacher either puts the Mind to sleep in a dream of separation, chaos, and violence or awakens it to the unlimited power and peace that it is.
Friluftsliv is a way of life that supports "conditions favorable to life." There is one Self, united with our Creator, at one with all aspects of creation, limitless in power and in peace (Course in Miracles). This is also powerfully expressed in "We are All Related" (Lakota philosophy).
Finland is a nation incorporating Friluftsliv into its educational system for children: Finland's schools incorporate the philosophy of Friluftsliv in all the daily activities of the children. The teachers and the children in their care spend time in Nature learning to live simply; at peace with self, others and the environment.
The test scores of Finland's children consistently rank in the top three internationally - and - they are happy
and healthy.
In Friluftsliv, all of Nature has value, consciousness and powerful knowledge to share. The gifts each and every life-form has to share with all other life-forms contributes to the quality of ALL life on earth. Friluftsliv is consciously lived at home, at school and in the larger community. Friluftsliv is a way of life - a state of being.
Seeing Nature as a creative, beloved life partner leads to awakening a larger sense of Self at
ONE with all aspects of creation,to living in harmony and promoting quality of life,
and creative enterprise and joy for ALL.
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The partnership between child and horse in a natural environment opens the Mind to the peace and harmony expressed in Nature - unlimited creative possibilities. |
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Tom Cammermeyer, the former Founder and Executive Director of the Norwegian Outdoor Center directed the Center for 32 years and worked with 18,000 children. Tom is now our Nature Activities Coordinator and has brought the way of life of Friluftsliv into Another Way. |
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Friluftsliv and the Lakota philosophy "We are All Related" are integral to Another Way School.
