Gary Snyder, who describes himself as “a naturalist of his own species,” has taught us, through a lifetime of poetry and prose, to leave what we think we know behind and pay attention to what’s happening in the watershed.  In his essay, “The Etiquette of Freedom,” in The Practice of the Wild, he writes,

Practically speaking, a life vowed to simplicity, appropriate boldness, good humor, gratitude, unstinting work and play, and lots of walking brings us closer to the actually existing world and its wholeness.