The Philosophy of Camp Fires

Kneel always when you light a fire – John Oxenham Sit at your camp fires conscious that it gives us more than heat and light. We have passed on the simple skills required to kindle a warming flame for millennia. We are united with the past around this common hearth gazing into the embers, dreaming dreams.

Archaeologists study centuries-old fire pits.

Evidence of fire remains for tens of thousands of years – use it reverently knowing that the signs it leaves will long outlive us. Fire is elemental – a powerful connection to the great cycles of nature. Fire releases sunlight stored by trees who grow from this old brown earth. Fire is the sun at our command. Laid within a little henge of stones, the circle of time, of the sun, of the orbits of the planets.

Stories are cast, dreams are shaped, friendships are welded in the communal forge. Even our camp fires are sacred.

Sacred things are not untouchable -it is the common things that hold the greatest significance in our lives.

Familiarity only masks their importance.