Become a Pilgrim and Explore Inner and Outer Wilderness with Brooke Williams

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Committed advocate of the preservation of wilderness and an explorer of both the outer and inner wilderness, Brooke Williams is constantly looking to understand and experience the value of wild places and what that means for modern humans. Born as a white male of privilege he asks the question, “How best do I spread my privilege and how can I be of most use.” In his most recent writings the answers come in the wind, in the current of the river, in the sound that a raven’s wing makes cutting through the solitude. He writes, “[T]ime spent surrounded by wildness is proportional to one’s desire to contribute to the greater good. Then the opposite may also be true: one’s propensity to focus on his or her individual wealth and stature while disregarding all other lifeforms, is inversely proportional to the time one spends in the wild world.” Here we explore wildness not for answers but for ideas, possibilities, and inspiration across the great divide in which we find ourselves as Americans. (hosted by Justine Willis Toms)

Bio 

Brooke Williams is an advocate for the preservation of wilderness. He writes about evolution, consciousness, and his own adventures exploring both the inner and outer wilderness. He lives in Utah with his wife and partner, the writer and former New Dimensions guest, Terry Tempest Williams. 

Brooke Williams is the author of several books including: 

• Half-Lives: Reconciling Work and Wildness (Johnson Books 1999)
• Escalante: The Best Kind of Nothing (photos by Chris Noble) (University of Arizona Press 2006)
• Open Midnight: Where Ancestors and Wilderness Meet (Trinity University Press 2017
• Mary Jane Wild: Two Walks & A Rant (Homebound Publications 2021)

 To learn more about the work of Brooke Williams go to www.homeboundpublications.com.

 Topics explored in this dialogue include:

• Williams chronicles two walks in the Mary Jane Wilderness in Utah; first just after the announcement Donald Trump’s election and second just prior to the announcement of Biden’s successful election as president
• White male power and toxic masculinity
• What effect did the Rumi poem that says “beyond wrong doing or right doing “ have on Williams
• How being able to see the darken sky full of stars gives us perspective
• How can we enter into our inner wilderness by paying attention to what attracts our attention
• Williams shares a “big dream” that informed him of his own inner dichotomy
• Williams shares an example of evolution regarding a white moth
• What is the 100^th monkey analogy regarding the tipping point for evolutionary social change
• How the human species has evolved in wild places
• What is the benefits of wandering versus walking with a goal
• What are the four demons that Williams takes on his desert sojourns
• Williams thoughts of living with a powerful woman, Terry Tempest Williams
• Why it is time for the sacred feminine to take the lead in society
• How artists invoke enactment for the unconscious and unseen to come to the surface 

Host: Justine Willis Toms   Interview Date: 1/14/2022   Program Number: 3750 

Music Playlist

From Album: Bloom Road
Artist: Dan Kennedy
2015 Mt. Pullux Music #MPM-003

Opening Essay: Track 01 Moonrise
Music Break 1: Track 01 Moonrise (reprise)
Music Break 2: Track 04 Falling
Music Break 3: Track 08 Bloom Road