Rob Wood - The Zone: Rediscovering Our Natural Self

We would like to also take this opportunity to acknowledge the traditional territories upon which we live and work. In Calgary, Alberta, we acknowledge the Niitstapi (Blackfoot) and the people of the Treaty 7 region in Southern Alberta, which includes the Siksika, the Piikuni, the Kainai, the Tsuutina, and the Stoney Nakoda First Nations, including Chiniki, Bearpaw, and Wesley First Nations. The City of Calgary is also home to Mtis Nation of Alberta, Region III. In Victoria, British Columbia, we acknowledge the traditional territories of the Lkwungen (Esquimalt and Songhees), Malahat, Pacheedaht, Scianew, TSou-ke, and WSNE (Pauquachin, Tsartlip, Tsawout, Tseycum) peoples.

Rediscovering Our Natural Self

Rob Wood

Copyright 2022 by Rob Wood

First Edition

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Cataloguing data available from Library and Archives Canada

ISBN 9781771605250 (softcover)

ISBN 9781771605267 (electronic)

Printed and bound in Canada

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Wandering bravely oer peak and sound adversity embraced, challenge turned around small self is lost, big self is found boundless joy revealed and love profound

maurelle island, november 2018

modern society teaches us that we live in a world of separate objects, including ourselves. As Alan Watts explains in his book Nature, Man and Woman, we learn: that is a tree, that is the ground, that is the sky. This mechanistic world view is taken as an accurate reflection of reality.

But contemporary science tells us that water and nutrients from the ground, and carbon dioxide and sunlight from the sky, contribute to the deepest cellular structure of the tree. We cant say for sure where the ground stops and the tree starts, or where the tree stops and the sky starts.

Similarly, we humans ingest oxygen and sunlight from the sky, and water and nutrients from the ground, deep into our cellular structure. We cant say for sure where we stop and our environment starts. It is all one continuous flow of interrelated and interacting energy fields a very different holistic understanding of nature and humans part in it.

A lifetime living close to nature, researching and reflecting on the meaning of it, has led me to believe that the old, mechanistic world view is missing a critical component that is present in the new, holistic one: the recognition in nature of an intelligent order that unifies the seemingly separate objects of our world, including ourselves. Our intelligence might then be considered part of the whole self-regulating flow of universal intelligence.

Inherent in natures spontaneous flow is a wisdom that can teach us how to be more alive and more loving. If we know anything of real value, it is how to tune in to that universal intelligence, as do the animals, plants and birds. When we are so present in the moment and attuned to ourselves and our surroundings that we feel at one with them, the universe opens its doors of possibility to us. The wilder and more untamed the vagaries of the environment, the better advised we are to participate in their flow rather than try to control them to trust their inherent wisdom to guide us through the danger.

Mountain climbers, board riders and other adventure athletes reach the reward for the risk of trusting this deep connectivity: an elevated physical and emotional state we call being in the Zone. In addition to significantly enhanced physical performance capabilities, including survival ability, this natural high induces a profound sense of freedom, happiness and unity with something much larger than our individual selves. It provides a transcendental experience of unconditional love.

Conversely, when we are not in tune with our surroundings and not in the Zone, our natural intelligence can be co-opted by adverse, culturally conditioned notions or mental constructs deeply ingrained in our subconscious minds. Then our perception of reality is severely reduced, limited, distorted and even denied.

For example, the main obstacle to manifesting the unifying power of universal intelligence is the stubborn conventional belief that the human brain is the sole purveyor of intelligence. In my opinion, this is the root cause of most of our problems today, including climate change and a lack of connectivity and love.

The Zone is available, albeit in a softer, more domestic form, in everyday life in constructed human environments, whenever we are relaxed enough to openly and unconditionally engage with the vibrations of our surroundings. This could explain those moments that make life more meaningful and joyful: an infants smile; a lovers touch; the creation and appreciation of art, music and dance; a cat purring on our lap; a decent conversation or a good belly laugh.

This new book contains detailed reflections on how the Zone has influenced some customs of nature-worshipping cultures of the past and the outcomes of some of my own adventures. It also examines how the Zone is helping me cope with Parkinsons disease. (How ironic that, just as I started writing a book about holding the subconscious mind in obedience and allowing universal intelligence to govern our behaviour, I should be diagnosed with a debilitating disease of the part of the brain that governs subconscious, autonomous muscular activity!) In offering an alternative to material aggrandizement as the primary source of human happiness, I hope it can assist the evolution of the commonwealth of organisms inhabiting our beautiful planet.

in one of my first encounters with hard evidence of the extraordinary power of attunement to universal intelligence, I watched a friend demonstrate his martial arts skills at our local elementary school. Within minutes, he showed the kids how to be conscious of their presence in this particular place, at this particular moment. Then, by focusing their attention on breathing and their intention on connecting themselves to the ground, they could prevent themselves from being pushed over or lifted off the ground.