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OVER THE EDGE
Guest: Robert Kull, Ph.D. Program 3288
Host: Michael Toms Interview Date: 11/10/2008 Program Length: 1 Hour
Media:
MP3 Download
Price: $1.99
Program Description: What would lead a person to choose to live alone on a small, remote island on the coast of southern Chile? How would one even go about planning the enormous logistics of such a stay? What is it like to truly notice how, as humans, we are constantly shifting from a sense of isolation into the experience of freedom and belonging? What was most challenging about basically disappearing into the wilderness, and living in solitude for a full year. Kull shares with total candor of the pains and joys of such an adventure. Besides facing the elements he had to face his inner demons. He says, "I'd love to be a heroic figure, man against nature kind of thing. But that is not my story. My story is going out and try to move beyond that, and become part of the non-human world and part of myself. But I can't pull it off because my wilderness journal is just full of whining. It would be wonderful and joyful, and I'd be giving thanks for being there, and then the pain would come crashing in. And, instead of having any equanimity, I'd just be moaning and whining. That was the thing that I was facing about myself that I didn't like. There was not much of a sense of nobility, much of the time around it."
Robert Kull, Ph.D. has spent years wandering North and South America working as a scuba instructor, wilderness guide, construction worker, dishwasher, truck driver, bartender, painter, fire fighter, and professor. He began undergraduate studies at age 40 and now holds a doctorate from the University of British Columbia. In 2001-2002 he lived in wilderness solitude on a small, remote island on coast of southern Chile. He's the author of Solitude: Seeking Wisdom In Extremes: A Year Alone in the Patagonia Wilderness (New World Library 2008). To learn more about the work of Robert Kull go to www.bobkull.org
Topics explored in this dialogue:
What are the benefits of solitude
How does one plan for all contingencies on a remote island
How a cat became Kull's nemesis
How death and the impermanence of life becomes an ally
How does one re-integrate back into society
How one can surrender to things as they absolutely are in the moment
