You Are Meant to be
a Living, Breathing Vision

Deep within, I have a Vision. I lived my Vision as a young person without even being aware of it. As a teenager in the Sixties, I spent my free time roaming and wandering the woods in back of my home in the Connecticut hills. Off by myself, I explored the forests and cliffsides, constantly finding new and fascinating discoveries . . . a wild plum tree, an ancient stone wall, an abandoned log cabin. I distinctly recall the world of my youthful consciousness as an enchanted realm.

Now, as I find myself back in the forests and mountains, traveling and roaming, living in the outdoors world, I remember that far away time. I find the essence of enchantment returning as I live my dream. Having walked away from the world of job and car, society and family, I allow my Vision to unfold as it will.

Where is it written in stone: "Thou shalt live in the world by having a job. Thou shalt own a car and live in a house. Thou shalt find a mate, propagate, and stagnate."

No one has commanded thus. And yet, the vast majority of Americans behave as if following an unknown Moses. I choose different. I choose not to seek the American Dream. I see it not as a dream but as the American Belief System. The fact is: "As you believe, so you receive." Remember sowing then reaping? Thoughts and beliefs are also seeds. And the seeds of the American Dream produce the American Harvest: jobs, cars, suburbs, freeways, factories, landfills, acid rain, and on and on . . .

Why must we plant such seeds? Why can't we plant seeds of our own dreams, our own Visions? Yes, of course we can, but only if we're awake to the fact that other seeds of life do exist, and can be embraced. The question to be asked is "Am I ready to change my life, to change my beliefs? Am I willing to let someone else's vision go? Am I willing to release the American Dream and follow my own precious Vision?" And the fact is, we all have our own Vision.

Having spent years realizing that I have a Vision and that I'm most alive when I'm following my Vision, I am super grateful to be doing what I must do, even if it makes no sense to anyone else. My Vision has been with me throughout my whole life. Only recently have I begun to live it. I knew implicitly as a child what my Vision was, and I lived it, in the woods. But wiser heads pressured me to college, to employment, and finally to a workaday world in the suburbs. I didn't last long at it.

In my late twenties, I chucked it all and hitched across America. In those days, hitchhiking was glamorized in the media. Being sucked right in, I headed across America, but soon found it a huge hassle. It wasn't any fun. I was way off my Vision.

However, someone was watching out for me. I ended up as a forester (read: wood-cutter) for a large community in West Virginia. I spent fifteen years in the woods there, but became gradually fed up with the authoritarian leadership and decided to move to Western North Carolina. Purely by "accident," I ended up in the beautiful Smoky Mountains.

Work and home kept me busy for several years there, but always I heard the call of the mountains. Weekends were spent in the high mountains, among balsams and waterfalls. Every day after work, I walked miles on the scenic Blue Ridge Parkway . . . until one day I was struck with the thought, "Why go back down? Since you love it so much, why not just keep walking?"

So I did. From January to April of 1996, I walked the Parkway from Cherokee, North Carolina to Galax, Virginia. That was the end of my old life for me. After trying to settle back in, I realized it was all over. My Vision had gotten to me. My Vision is to wander the land and live in the great Outdoors. I've gone past the belief system of job, car, family and society. Nothing is wrong with that belief system. It's just not for me.

As I see it, everyone has a Vision. We came to Earth with this Vision, this goal, this purpose to be sought after and lived. We came to Earth to be that dream, to be a living, breathing Vision.

Our Vision will never leave us alone. Because it is the one thing that will give us the supreme satisfaction and fulfillment we seek. However, as we're pulled to our Vision, we may wail, "I can't do that! I have responsibilities, a family, a job. I can't give them up. It'd be silly to do this other thing!" And so, Vision fades. But never entirely. It manifests as a feeling, a nagging, a tugging at the mind . . . a feeling of dissatisfaction, an unfulfillment that won't go away. No matter what we do, we're never truly happy.

Until we embrace our Vision. The most responsible, even heroic thing we can do is follow our Vision. It is the true path of the enlightened soul. To want to receive adulation as a gifted mystic or meditator may sound like a wonderful path, but true self-satisfaction comes when following our Vision.

How do we know what our Vision is? There's no need to ask. We know. We've always known. We may never have acknowledged it, or welcomed it. But it's there inside, always. I welcome my Vision and I intend to follow wherever it leads.

Why this particular Vision? And what comes next? I don't know and I don't care! To accept my Vision and (finally) act on it is the success of my life. I have a feeling of fulfillment. Life looks bright ahead. The future is joy-filled. I simply want to follow this Vision. What comes next as I wander the country, and write about it (another part of the Vision), I cannot guess. But that's fun, too. That's part of the Vision -- to do without knowing. Ho-ho! It's great! I love it!

Burton "EarthWalker" Smith is a wanderer. He can usually be found roaming somewhere around North America, and writing about it. "I want to be a catalyst, inspiring others to follow their heart's dream, and be all they can be." He'd be delighted to hear from you. His mail-forwarding address is: 187 Paragon Parkway, #135, Clyde, NC 28721. Voice mail: (704) 258-4839.