The Wild Within: Adventures in Nature and Animal Teachings [Mass Market Paperback]

Paul Rezendes (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: November 1, 1999

A "surprising and powerful"* story of a man and his place in the natural world--"rich in spiritual insights as unfettered and full of grace as the animals he loves."(*Booklist starred review)

Paul Rezendes has followed bobcats through swamps, wrestled a black bear, howled with coyotes at the edge of a moonlit field. Here, he tells the story of his extraordinary progression from motorcycle-gang leader to Zen woodsman, learning about compassion from a curious 750-pound bull moose and discovering the inseparability of life and death through a wrenching encounter between a coyote and a deer. With this book, he shows us how to live in the natural world--even if it's only within a local park or tree-lined street--moving soundlessly, watching where we put our feet, gauging the wind, and entering a new state of awareness. Dramatic and deeply spiritual, The Wild Within changes the way we see ourselves--and makes the world around us come alive.

* Foreword by Bill McKibben, bestselling author of The End of Nature
* A choice of the Quality Paperback Book Club and One Spirit Book Club
* Illustrated throughout with Rezendes's striking photographs
* Rezendes has appeared on NPR and also delivers approximately 50 workshops a year through such organizations as the World Wildlife Fund and the Nature Conservancy

"A valuable method of teaching awareness of each moment, moment after moment--the critical practice of this valuable life."--Peter Matthiessen

"Like Muir, Leopold, and Abbey, Rezendes goes beyond words to beating-heart intimacy with the wilderness."--Dave Foreman, author of Confessions of an Eco-Warrior

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com Review

The story of Paul Rezendes's spiritual journey began when he was leader of a motorcycle gang (i.e., a Devil's Disciple). His dangerous life of narcotics and guns eventually caught up with him and he and his wife found themselves in trouble with the law. His legal hassles gave him the perfect excuse to back out of the gang; thus he reneged on his lifelong commitment. (Apparently, motorcycle gangs are a lot like the Mafia; he muses, "You better have a damn good reason to leave.") From then on Rezendes began a furtive spiritual quest that led him into the woods, following the paw and hoof prints of wild animals.

Like Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance, Rezendes teaches the art of animal tracking and stalking, all the while making the link to the clean, observant Zen mind. "Stalking meditation demands that we pay full attention to every footfall, every breath, every sound we make, each nuance of landscape, wind, humidity," he writes. "Stalking gives us the opportunity to move away from the tiny perspective of thought and self into all-encompassing awareness." Rezendes, a renowned teacher of seminars and workshops, uses personal tracking stories to emphasize the importance of focused observation. But more importantly, his storytelling challenges readers to be spiritually accountable in the wild as well as everyday life.--Gail Hudson --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

From Publishers Weekly

Rezendes (Tracking and the Art of Seeing) takes readers on a hauntingly beautiful journey into the woods of the American Northeast. Drawing on his treks taken alone, with experienced nature adventurers and with neophyte students, he depicts a variety of human encounters with bears, loons, deer, bobcats, coyotes, fox and moose, and ultimately, with the nature of the universe, life, humanity and self. He also brings an uncommon wisdom and depth of insight to his chronicle, explicating the Zen principles of patience, compassion, silence and stillness; of the web of all that exists; and of awareness of the present moment. The author's unusual background (he was at various times a leader of two motorcycle gangs, a devout Catholic and a spiritual ascetic, teaching hatha yoga and founding a Jainist ashram) gives him a fresh, unexpected viewpoint. Rezendes offers a glimpse into the "wild within" through quietly "stalking" wild animals?not to kill them, but to observe and learn from them. The meaning of love is illustrated by a pair of loons, spiritual connection by a moose, and "true intelligence" by a coyote; their lessons, as interpreted by the author, are profound and unforgettable. Includes striking nature photographs by Rezendes. Agents, Gail Ross and Howard Yoon.
Copyright 1998 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Mass Market Paperback: 240 pages
• Publisher: Berkley Trade (November 1, 1999)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0425171574
• ISBN-13: 978-0425171578
• Product Dimensions: 9 x 6 x 0.6 inches
• Shipping Weight: 9.3 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 4.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (16 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,818,664 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

10 of 11 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Spiritual journey in the wild, December 8, 2000

By 

Gwyneth Calvetti (West Salem, WI United States) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: The Wild Within: Adventures in Nature and Animal Teachings (Mass Market Paperback)

This is a book which requires that one actually read the dust jacket description. From the cover and the title, a reader might think this is a book about tracking skills. It is. However, the animal that Rezendes teaches his students to track is ultimately themselves.

The other reviews here already outline Rezendes' personal history, which he often uses as example in his teachings. His approach to self discovery is one I'd not encountered before, however. Yes, I know many seek quiet in the woods to get in touch with their own spirit, but this notion of tracking and stalking another animal to achieve this end is fascinating to me. Fascinating also are the connections he makes from seemingly unrelated incidents such as a bobcat's journey and that of spiritual seekers. He gives us simple exercises we can try in our own "wilderness" to help us experience the ideas he suggests.

His ability to read the signs left by the animals amazed me, and I have been one to look at such things carefully in my own forays into the wild. This book shows that there is so much I haven't seen, both in tracking wild creatures and my own journey through life.

Whether you agree with his approach or not, this is a highly readable and thought-provoking book, a refreshing change from most of the "self help" genre.

6 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars One of the best that I continue to re-read, March 27, 2000

By 

Rob Speiden (Montgomery County, Virginia) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Wild Within: Adventures in Nature and Animal Teachings (Mass Market Paperback)

By sharing his incredible life experiences, Paul opens himself and the lessons he has learned as a way of understanding the natural world of which we are part. Paul's book has shed light on previously undiscovered and unobserved occurences in the environment that surrounds my house and inhabits my thoughts. As Paul guides the reader through the discoveries of the relationships between animals, plants and the web of life, he also sheds insight into our actions and our relationship to everything we observe, from watching your pets behaviors to reasoning the need to claim our personal space.

I have also attended two of Paul's week-long animal tracking courses. Like the book, his classes have provided a means for any interested person to observe the wilderness, and the wild within. One of my copies of this book has a lot of notes written where the lessons presented offer insight to my experiences, and lack thereof.

If you are interested in an easy-to-read, verifiable page-turner, read The Wild Within, and explore the same.

5 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars It's right in front of you, July 2, 2001

By 

Algernon D'Ammassa (Los Angeles, CA United States) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: The Wild Within: Adventures in Nature and Animal Teachings (Mass Market Paperback)

Everything Paul Rezendes shows his students is right in front of them and requires no explanation. This is an irony the wilderness student is familiar with, and so is the spiritual practitioner.

THE WILD WITHIN is a book about tracking, and a delightful record of an enthusiastic and engaging teacher. It is also a very open yet unassuming autobiography, including the author's experiences as leader of a motorcycle gang, yoga student, and now ardent outdoorsman. His spiritual insights are without denomination or zeal, and do not intrude in the slightest upon his tribute to the natural world and the wonders it holds for anyone who will walk softly and listen.

The first meeting of a stalking seminar begins when students arrive at the location to find Rezendes's jeep baring a sign that reads, "Your program has begun. You must find your instructor. He is watching you." Students poke around for quite a while, but they cannot find a man who is sitting no more than ten feet away, watching from a thicket. Even when they nearly step on him. Even when he shouts "Turkeys!" at them. Rezendes writes, "Everything we ever need to learn, if we want to know deeply who we are, if we want to know what keeps us from connecting with nature, is all here in front of us all the time. All we have to do is pay attention..." and observe how, as his students learned in this instance, how certain thought habits keep us out of our sensory awareness and separate us from our own life.