Hi Lloyd,
My spiritual underpinnings are a subtle and intensely private part of my life, shared with basically no-one. My family that hunted is/was two people-Dad, and myself. Almost to a one, every single boyhood friend that was involved, has moved on. My Brother got a few deer in his life, but, sans his left foot, amputated from the effects of diabetes, his desire to hunt these days is at a low ebb.
It was never much more than that. Simply being honest, not critical.
It is, just me, afield, except, when it is you and me. The jury is out on my Son, as well, but, I have hopes.
When afield with gun, and, more importantly, dog, I feel an inner peace. I have explained to many around me that it is my church, and, to a one, they look at me like some perfectly useless gift given at Christmas by an aunt who is just out of a long stay at the asylum, again.
Except, one other soul. You.
I always believed you “got it” when we hunted. The “voices”, to me, are just as real, but I sense a heightened sense of life, of time, of those who went before, and of my place in the picture of the environment.
Don’t ponder it too hard, would be my suggestion, I guess I put it on the level of an individual who hears the call to the priesthood, or my Fathers call, very real to him, to serve his country, for most of a lifetime, in the military.
You, my friend, are not crazy.
Best,
Ted
