Philosohpy on eBothy Blog

Sidetracked into silence

Mon, 18 Sep 2023 00:00:00 +0000

Where to begin? With the first step, as ever.

Anchors

Wed, 14 Sep 2022 00:00:00 +0000

We all need anchors in life. Somewhere to retreat to, to look out on the world from our sanctuary. Something to hold us to an idea of who we are, or were, or should be. An idea that follows us through life and reminds us of a truth we need to believe, that shows us our roots in a changing world. In the way a cloud drifts aimlessly across the mountain landscape, looking down at its shadow slowly following, shapeshifting as it crosses glens, rivers, peaks, forests and seas. The shadow’s shape changes but its essence is to anchor the cloud, be its truth in its life that is always there in some shape, reminding it of its cloudness.

wilderness

Sun, 09 Nov 2008 00:00:00 +0000

Every so often the topic of Wilderness and what it is crops up in the outdoor press and increasingly the blogosphere and this month seems to be another resurgence in the debate about how one should interact with, or resonate, to use the more exotic terminology of the outdoors press, the wilderness. TGO arrived on the doorstep and there was Mr. McNeish, duly reflecting on what wilderness is. I agree it’s not a physical state of the land and McNeish puts forward the idea that it’s a state of mind:

“it’s a place where we can re-create without undue influence from all those things that are man-created”

the philosophy of guiding

Tue, 27 May 2008 00:00:00 +0000

Sitting in warm sunshine beside the burn that comes down from Coir ‘an Eich in the Cuillin, myself and Corncircles were musing over hill wandering and the subject turned to being guided, in particular the Innaccessible Pinnacle. The big C postulated that being guided up anything excluded the peak from the day’s tally of bags, the hills these days seemingly populated by day trippers notching up their tally of Munros/Corbetts/Other Weird and Wonderful Collective Noun. Naturally, a heated discussion ensued as we lazed in the globally warmed coire, plucking derring do, near misses and other hair raising episodes from our not inconsiderable mountaineering exploits of old.