Views of living in the countryside Zea Morvitz

A friend from the city visited me. She said, “I haven’t been in nature for a long time.”

Once I tried to imagine myself as a sage living on a remote mountain, in a cabin by a waterfall. I wrote a list of 12 beautiful and poetic experiences you could have while living in the countryside. I thought: everyone would benefit by living in the countryside. Our world would start to heal. Many aspects of this idea are just plain wrong, but still I believe that living off the pavement, in a positive way— not forced by poverty to exploit what is left in the countryside — should be available to every human.

1. It is deeply refreshing to the spirit to live in the countryside.

2. At times it is lonely.

3. At times you envy friends prospering in the city.

4. Solitude is often pleasurable.

5. Friends visit.

6. Birds are always present.

7. Recognizing the gestures of trees.

8. Gathering and eating wild berries and mushrooms.

9. Welcoming the landscape into your mind.

10. Enjoying breathing in the scent of pine needles.

11. Living each season, continually learning from the forest.

12. It becomes harder and harder to leave the countryside.

On the other hand: The countryside is an artifact. As soon as people stop hunting and gathering for a living, wilderness is turned into countryside. Fence builders create it: keepers of livestock, herders, farmers, tree fallers, miners, resource accumulators exploit it. Over thousands of years it has been a busy, hardworked landscape. It did not originate as a recreation or rest zone, except for wealthy nobles. Countryside presupposes city, but it is not the suburbs.

We have inherited a planet with many countrysides and few and vanishing wildlands. Some people entertain the notion of rewilding, but a re-wilded planet would still be an artifact. And, it would seem that few humans, living in today’s massive urban societies, have the ability, the skills or the desire to live wild, or even to live full time —with enjoyment—in the countryside. Thus, the invention of Forest Bathing, a practice that accepts the nonexistence of true wildness and the inability of modern humans to be comfortable out of doors.

But let’s not practice. Breathe deeply in a place with few air- or water-borne contaminants, if this is even possible now. How can people be re-introduced into “nature” in a way that benefits both person, society and our planetary ecosystem? Can we accept that much, if not all wilderness is gone, that rewilding is beyond achieving and instead, examine what we have outside of megalopolis: countryside —some of it hideously contaminated, some small portion still beautiful and poetic, but reserved for the privileged. Can we figure out a way of living in the countryside, accessible to everyone?

Do not visit, live in the countryside even if for only a day, only an hour. Don’t try to see sights or have a special experience. Allow your surroundings to invite you. This doesn’t come easy. Now figure out how life in the countryside could be available for everyone. Figure out how to invite everyone to come outside …