Tracking is an ancient and natural art that brings the tracker physically into the pattern of nature, by materially connecting the seeker and the sought. When tracking has commenced, a dance begins, that may or may not end in capture. It will – if done skillfully – lead to connection.
The greatest trackers of all time rarely use their skill to acquire, they use it to relate.
Ever since reading The Tracker 1 as a kid, I knew there was something special about this art, something mysterious, something I also found intimidating. How could I ever know what the best trackers know after a lifetime of practice? Upon hearing Boyd Varty2, author of the Lion Tracker’s Guide to Life3, I had another epiphany: tracking is part intuition, part science, and 100% connection. The tracks are important, because they are your path: the path of the seeker.
In tracking, internal knowledge, no matter how vast, won’t guarantee your success. Knowledge can only get you to the place where you could reach your goal.
It seems you can’t track something you don’t already understand, at least a little. You must understand a snow leopard exists and its typical climate, in order to find it. You won’t find it in Aruba, or to be more accurate, you won’t find it ALIVE in Aruba. You must understand a creature’s footprint and habits to be in a likely place to potentially find it. But this is where knowledge’s importance ends, quite literally at the little feet of this mighty hermit crab showing you the way. lol
The secret to a great tracker is corporeally connecting to the animal through a little bit of the ‘internal’ (knowledge) and a lot of the ‘external’ (walking the walk). If your walk remains along the tracks, then the system is completed, and seeker and sought are naturally led together.
Because the pattern is nature, it is only whole when when all the parts connect. Learned tracking knowledge and experience can only be helpful to get you into the right environment to begin, but continually connecting to the tracks is infinitely more important, if you want to catch what you seek.
Tracking Freedom: A Riddle?
In order to track freedom, you must know it, at least a little. So what is freedom to you? Perhaps being un-tethered to your culture, job or relationships? Maybe it is being unbound by your physical environment or your words? Perhaps freedom to you, is being unpredictable and capricious? Or maybe it is being carefree and self-determined? Your definition is the environment you can begin to explore if you seek freedom. And what freedom means to a spiritual seeker may be much different than to a worldly achiever.
But the question remains to me, if Freedom were like a creature, would it be track-able at all? Would it leave ta trace of it’s steps, or cover them over, via switchbacks and sweeping, on its way out of shackles? If you could catch freedom, or even spot it, would it still be Free?
- The Tracker: The True Story of Tom Brown Jr. ↩︎
- Long form interview with Boyd Varty on Tim Ferriss Show ↩︎
- The Lion Tracker’s Guide To Life, by Boyd Varty ↩︎