This One Wild and Precious Life Quotes

“I thought about birds migrating as one flock now as I started to find my flow on the trail. In the absence of a scientific explanation they called the phenomenon “group soul.” Scientists in 2013 came up with the term “murmuration” to describe this behavior (in starlings specifically) and used principles of physics to map the patterns. Group soul. Goodness, what a marvelous term for something so indescribable yet so known and intuitively true. And it hit me, just as the Vedic poem had the night before: We go back to life by unifying with group soul.”
― Sarah Wilson, This One Wild and Precious Life: A Hopeful Path Forward in a Fractured World

“This breed of hiker, I like to think, is a study in what the hills can do to a person. You head off, kitted out, a strident, striding human, top of the food chain, in charge of your destiny and determined to conquer the world with your carbon-fiber accoutrements. But then something happens. After a few hours you succumb to the mountain. This behemoth, this original thing, doesn’t exist to be conquered. I mean, who do we think we are? If I were to describe how I feel once this succumbing happens, it’s like the mountain wants to hug me. Really it does. As I wind around the switchbacks, a centrifugal force pulls me in and envelopes my being and my thoughts. Suddenly I cease focusing on the exertion and resistance. I stop thinking about arriving or my fatigue or when I should stop to eat more chocolate. And the raw energy of this original thing steps in. It’s colossal. And it is always there, just waiting for me to shut up and join it.”
― Sarah Wilson, This One Wild and Precious Life: A Hopeful Path Forward in a Fractured World