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Wilderness Vision Questing and the Four Shields of Human Nature Item Info

Lecture given jointly by Steven Foster and Meredith Little. Opening remarks by Edwin E. Krumpe principal scientist for wilderness management in the Wilderness Research Center, professor in the Department of Resource Recreation and Tourism. Introduction by John C. Hendee director of the University of Idaho Wilderness Research Center. The lecture begins by introducing the School of Lost Borders, a wilderness retreat and vision quest program. The lecturer describes the need for rites of passage into adulthood in today's culture and society. In the past the context of wilderness provided a pathway into adulthood and while that still persists today there is no longer any community to witness and respect that transition. The rites of passage that the school offers draw from many different cultural traditions but they all have the same three stages: severance, threshold, and incorporation. The lecturers discus the role of the wilderness guide in these stages, defining them as midwives who assist the vision quest participants to give birth to themselves. A training process that the guides use called 'mirroring' is described, a kind of therapy that focuses on the positive aspect of the stories rather than the problems. This theraputic process is based on 'The Four Shields', a world view based on the four seasons correlating with a period of life. Summer and Fall are described as childhood and initiation, Winter and Spring as adulthood and rebirth. The vision of these rites of passage are often very tangible rather than supernatural and the true power of the visions come from their enactment by the participant after the vision quest is over and they have returned to their regular lives. The Four Shields approach is really about balance and harmony between these stages of life and mentalities. A short video is shown. The lecture concludes with a question and answer session, some of which are included in the transcript. A list of suggested reading is given. A list of past lecturers and the titles of their lectures are listed.

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Title:
Wilderness Vision Questing and the Four Shields of Human Nature
Creator:
Steven Foster and Meredith Little
Date Created (ISO Standard):
1996-05-02
Description:
Lecture given jointly by Steven Foster and Meredith Little. Opening remarks by Edwin E. Krumpe principal scientist for wilderness management in the Wilderness Research Center, professor in the Department of Resource Recreation and Tourism. Introduction by John C. Hendee director of the University of Idaho Wilderness Research Center. The lecture begins by introducing the School of Lost Borders, a wilderness retreat and vision quest program. The lecturer describes the need for rites of passage into adulthood in today's culture and society. In the past the context of wilderness provided a pathway into adulthood and while that still persists today there is no longer any community to witness and respect that transition. The rites of passage that the school offers draw from many different cultural traditions but they all have the same three stages: severance, threshold, and incorporation. The lecturers discus the role of the wilderness guide in these stages, defining them as midwives who assist the vision quest participants to give birth to themselves. A training process that the guides use called 'mirroring' is described, a kind of therapy that focuses on the positive aspect of the stories rather than the problems. This theraputic process is based on 'The Four Shields', a world view based on the four seasons correlating with a period of life. Summer and Fall are described as childhood and initiation, Winter and Spring as adulthood and rebirth. The vision of these rites of passage are often very tangible rather than supernatural and the true power of the visions come from their enactment by the participant after the vision quest is over and they have returned to their regular lives. The Four Shields approach is really about balance and harmony between these stages of life and mentalities. A short video is shown. The lecture concludes with a question and answer session, some of which are included in the transcript. A list of suggested reading is given. A list of past lecturers and the titles of their lectures are listed.
Subjects:
lectures initiations fasts (events) visions (life events) initiates (people) rites of passage wilderness areas land management wilderness
Location:
Univeristy of Idaho Moscow, Idaho
Latitude:
46.7293
Longitude:
-117.0125
Publisher:
University of Idaho Wilderness Research Center
Source:
University of Idaho Wilderness Research Center
Source Identifier:
wrdl16
Type:
text
Format:
application/pdf

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Source
Preferred Citation:
"Wilderness Vision Questing and the Four Shields of Human Nature", Idaho Forestry Research Collection, University of Idaho Library Digital Collections, https://www.lib.uidaho.edu/digital/forestryresearch/items/forestryresearch969.html
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Educational use includes non-commercial use of text and images in materials for teaching and research purposes. Digital reproduction rights granted by University of Idaho Library. For other uses beyond educational use, please contact University of Idaho Library Special Collections and Archives Department at libspec@uidaho.edu.
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