Ginna Nguyen
Staff Writer
What I love most about college is this: it is an education of the whole person. Mind, heart, body and soul comprise the gestalt of your being. Pepperdine offers plenty of resources that address your growth as a person and citizen. What I would like to offer you in this weekly column are what I hope to be out-of-the-Pepperdine-box ways to feed that gestalt with experiences that will spark life’s passion, awaken senses, augment spirituality and connect to this world
To start, I bid you to get out and go camping. This semester is a perfect time for an adventure into the Golden State and now is the time to plan.
There are two places that are excellent for camping adventures filled with peace, beauty and release. Death Valley and Big Sur are two of California’s outstanding national parks, both within a six-hour drive from Malibu – a great length of time for a weekend getaway.
To reach Big Sur, you will wind your way up the coast, enjoying the big blue sea to your left and rolling hills to your right. To reach Death Valley, your drive will take you through endless desert with no one to your front, no one to your back, and God’s vast creation on either side.
Now, you may think of Death Valley as being a vast, barren land that holds no life. Yet, I urge you to look closely and take in full measure of its hidden secrets. Go there, stand atop a mountain, gaze out across a land touched only by nature’s constant, changing hand, and breathe life. Check out the Web site www.death.valley.national-park.com for a guide to this valley that waits for you to draw a cup of water from its endless well of majesty.
Big Sur is also an amazing place of beauty. Here, possibilities are endless. Play in a creek that is fed by the waterfall from which you just hiked. Climb cliffs that hang over the powerful ocean. Go for a stroll among majestic redwoods or frolic on the sandy beaches. Check out the Web site www.bigsurcalifornia.org to find the wonders that I promise will satisfy you with the perfect weekend.
So basically, go camping. Relish in creation, rage around the campfire and relax under the stars. There is a splendor in nature that exists to the open eye, and I encourage you to find it. But, please note – there are certain guidelines for your camping trips that will make your experiences considerably more real and fun.
First, do not stay in a hotel or cabin. Bring your sleeping bag and sleep under the stars. Second, do not eat in a restaurant. Bring a stove and cook your own delicious grub. Third, don’t shower. Jump in a river or stand under a waterfall instead. Nature is better when experienced with all your senses. Hike barefoot, climb trees and lay out on the sand.
Fourth, have a campfire every night, tell stories, and rock out to your guitar and bongo drum. Fifth and most important. go with a few good friends, the kind who just being next to them makes life worthwhile. Oh yes, and be smart, safe and have some freaking fun!
Now, should you not have a weekend to get away, or you just have an urgent need to be in nature, then take use of the resource right outside your front door, the Pacific Ocean.
If you have never seen the moon sparkle over a black ocean or heard waves crashing beneath twinkling stars that dot an eternal, deep sky. If you have never experienced the world waking up as the sun rises over the grey-blue horizon, then you have not lived. Grab a sleeping bag and spend the night on the beach.
If none of these appeal to you, then you must not be human. For a little more civilization, then go up to Big Bear, Mammoth or Tahoe on a snowboard or ski trip. There is nothing like pausing on top of a snow-covered mountain, beholding the white stillness before you, getting lost in an exhilarating ride down a powdery slope, and then warming your core by a hot fire.
It is this simple: step into the world outside your front door, experience life and let loose in the freedom offered to you.
Anne Frank said, “The best remedy for those who are afraid, lonely or unhappy is to go outside, somewhere where they can be quiet, alone with the heavens, nature and God. Because only then does one feel that all is as it should be and that God wishes to see people happy, amidst the simple beauty of nature.”
God has always been real to me. There are times when I stand at the edge of a cliff and everything is right in the world. Then there are times when I lie under billions of stars and they do not twinkle. I understand nothing, question everything and lose the heart to wish upon a shooting star. But even then, I am free in God’s creation and my spirit is fed by what is greater than I.
01-20-2005
