Random Musings...
Whenever I read about the rule of 3’s for survival (3 minutes without air, 3 hours without shelter, 3 days without water and 3 weeks without food), I cannot help thinking back to my school days when they taught us about Aristotle and the basic elements of nature.
Many ancient cultures (not your grandparents) referred to the basic elements, also known as classical elements, in their writings and stated that these elements were the building blocks of all matter. Though there are multiple translations it is generally agreed upon that the basic elements are Earth, Water, Wind (Air) and Fire.
Let me pause for a minute, as I cannot write this without hearing in my head the music by the band “Earth Wind and Fire”, however, we will leave the 70s music discussion for possibly another time.
A 6th century BC middle eastern philosopher described the four elements as “sacred,” and “essential” for the survival of all living beings and therefore “should be venerated and kept free from defilement”. This is something we all can totally agree on.
In BushCraft the skills that we strive to master are directly related to these four elements. Just the simple act of boiling water requires a delicate balance of all four. Imagine building a shelter or acquiring food. All the elements need to be considered.
The more we all learn about how Earth, Water, Air and Fire and how they relate and react to each other will make it easier to perfect our skills and the application of that knowledge will undoubtedly make the ancients and your grandparents very proud.
Footnote: Just as we were about to post this blog I received an email from Jim Cobb’s Survival Weekly on nearly the same subject proving the concept of multiple discoveries. Sometimes like minded people have the same idea in tandem. Please do not misunderstand; I’m not putting myself on par with Mr. Cobb, I just found it interesting that we came up with the same subject matter around the same time.
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