The In-Between: Bike Traveling Michigan

Tahquamenon Falls, Upper Peninsula Michigan

Do you ever find yourself torn between civilization and nature?

I do. Honestly, a good part of the last ten years I’ve lived in this tension. Do I leave society to find my true origin in nature? Do I leave behind my identity in nature to live in society? Or do I somehow learn to float in-between?
 
I wish I believed in balance. But I don’t. I believe in 100% immersion in every place I enter.

The benefit of nature is uncontested. It is our roots, where our true primitive self exists. The benefit of society is deep relationships, a tribe, accountability within community, output of creativity that nourishes others.

I believe we exist for one another, so living a life of solitude in the woods couldn’t work. Leaving behind my raw, natural roots is also out of the question. Floating in-between is the closest thing I’ve found to bridging the tension between man and wild. But it’s just that, a tension. One that will always be there.

Modern society has created a barrier between the two worlds, and I am not optimistic there will ever be complete unity while living in this reality.

So, for others that feel this tension- the sense of neglect when you’re too long removed from society, and a loss of self when you’re too long away from nature- we share that together. But what can we do? I guess we can go on immersing ourselves totally in both, taking our truths and understanding found through our authentic wild self and return to society to share what is pure through art, culture, creativity, innovation, words, the interweb.

The truth is, these worlds need each other. They’ve been divorced too long. Man needs to remember their raw primitive self, and nature demands appreciation, nourishment and respect.

So, the only way to bring man to nature and nature to man is through the messengers who choose to live in the tension.

​So let’s go, let us travel this bridge together.