The Wisdom of Wilderness: Experiencing the Healing Power of Nature

It has much to teach us about the wilderness within, and about the "greater power" manifest in the sublimity of nature. Drawing on solitary camping trips in the Appalachian forests of Green Ridge, May recounts sitting motionless in the night as a black bear brushed against his thin pup tent.

These reflective chapters follow the psychiatrist as he leaves behind decades of clinical counseling, finding spiritual guidance instead while paddling a quiet reservoir among bald eagles and watching seasonal rhythms unfold.

In this his last work, beloved author Gerald May offers a memoir and spiritual guide which reveals the great lessons available to us when we retreat from our busy lives to the serenity of the natural wilderness

• Spiritual Formation: An evening spent beating a rawhide drum beside a campfire reveals an unexpected harmony with alternating colonies of singing cicadas, pointing toward a spacious, unforced communion with creation.
• Mindfulness: Through keen animal observation, May contrasts the tunnel-vision focus of domestic house cats with the vigilant, full-bodied presence of stags and mountain lions that remain constantly open to their surroundings.
• Spiritual Direction: Reflecting on years spent leading wilderness retreats, May illustrates the transformative practice of wandering without an agenda, allowing intuition and the natural landscape to direct the seeker.
• Raw Honesty: Written during May’s final illness, these reflections candidly address cancer, physical frailty, and dying, discovering that even a fragmenting body can become a sacred landscape of gratitude.
• Also by This Author: Addiction and Grace, The Dark Night of the Soul and The Awakened Heart.