BEARSKIN
Calling To What Is Beautiful In Men, (Part One)
Hello there! I’m back from travelling, wide eyed and jet lagged, but grateful and revitalised none-the-less. An account of the whole thing was lovingly put together by friend and organiser Ian MacKenzie and can be read here:
I was met by many kindnesses and an awful lot of good people, some of whom Ian mentions by name at the bottom of his article. Thank you all so very much. Without you none of this happens. Ian also mentioned a fairytale, Bearskin, which I want to bring you fresh from the oven.
This is a story – new to me – that I started telling on the Dartmoor World Tour last month, and found itself stowed away and emerging on Salt Spring Island last week. This was a day event for men, but I’d hope most of us can find a way into the story. Bearskin carries perennial themes: sacrifice, community, abandonment, generosity, fidelity, healing, more than a hint of alchemy here and there. There’s a great deal in this small commentary that I don’t mention, things taking time to surface, and I’ll be working on the story for a short book over the coming months.
The thing I remember most of that day was that I came back with even more love and appreciation for the women in my life. It was healthy. As a father of a daughter, I have an equal interest in the subtleties of a women’s mythic life, but this story has landed on me.
Salt Spring Island
I also want to start to think into something that’s going on in the Orthodox church at the moment – the happy arrival of many young fellers, something I’ve not seen before – and I always use stories to ensure my manner of approach rests on something solid. I hardly need to tell you, of all people, that. An article, one of a few you can find, speaks to what may be happening: Is Eastern Orthodoxy the Next Big Thing for Young Men?
The article suggests being ‘nominally Christian’ has become an exhausted idea, that Orthodoxy’s stability is attractive, as is its attention to focus and discipline. That it’s both structured and surprisingly open to mystery.
For me at least, it’s calling to what is beautiful in men, women too. This is a long - but I hope useful - post.
Part Two is next week.
Bearskin (Part One)
Once upon a time in a far-off land there was a war. Many of the men from the village left, some never returned. Little word was sent back to the settlement, and it remained desperate for news. Finally the war was over and those that had survived were sent home. For most this was a scene of great celebration, but for one young man this was not the case. He had loved the camaraderie of war, the clear aim for victory, the gift of his battle-skill. He was a good warrior, not a good farmer. So when the time came for the long walk to the village he rather dragged his steps. Rather than excitement he felt filled with grief for his fallen allies, and wondered quite how he would handle peacetime.
When he returned, his brothers met him at the entrance to the settlement and told him his parents were dead and there was no place in his old life. There was no welcome home. So the young feller took to walking, never staying long in one place. He trudged around the land, cold and friendless, threadbare and penniless. Discharged.
One day he came to a circle of trees.