Saturday I spent a fair anount of time lost. I was in an outdoor awareness class, blindfolded and trying to go basically uphill through the brush, trees, rocks, upslopes, and downslopes to reach the place where a 5-gallon "drum" was occasionally being beaten.

I could hear others moving nearby much of the time, and I trusted the instructors, so I knew I was not really alone. I never felt like anything too dire would happen to me, but I knew I was lost.

The sound of the drum seemed to move occasionally, which I knew was not really happening anywhere except in my head. But blindfolded, the drum was my only orientation and so I knew I was "lost."

I stopped several times to try to sort things out, thought I did, and repeatedly realized I failed when I got disoriented again. Try as I might, I could not home in on the drum.

Eventually a kind spirit of the forest took my hand, put it on her shoulder and led me to a road. There she put my hand on the shoulder of another guiding friend who led me up the road a short way to the drum.

I took off my blindfold to learn I was not the last one in, but close.

Thought provoking.

Been there, done that, different time and place.

Try doing it in a cave, without light or sound, and the flashlight you are carrying no longer works. No cave spirit on that trip. We did it at night, and you'd be amazed at how bright the night sky is when you've been in complete darkness for about 6 hours. Fortunately we used a cave that had only two directions, but a lot of breakdown clutter and a lot of corners.

being alone plays strange tricks on your mind.over at the wilderness canoeing site people who go out solo always post "i felt like i was not alone" messages or "felt like i was being watched" and of course others chime in with the "Ya,me too".
people in distress like stranded mountain climbers not only feel but see someone.maybe it's some sort of survival method wired in our brain from a few million years ago,i think it's stress hallucination and in less stressful one's just a overwhelming sense of self.

Tryin to live in the woods, I feel like that often it's funny but you get used to it L O L! When my dog is out you don't get the feeling though... I think it's hte human mind since we are social beings.

I spend a lot of time alone in the bush but in the daytime or when operating a vehicle I do not get the "not alone" feeling. I usually only feel it at night when in camp or on the trail. Nothing has ever come of it, I guess it is just a mental thing.

Mike

Todd..good thought about being social beings..same with me when one of the canoe dogs is along.maybe because i'm interacting with Rover i don't need to make someone up who then becomes a strange feeling of someone there--if that makes sense..i'll have to Google this as a Psych issue..

I don't think it's really making things up, more like that the brain is great at pattern matching, and at filling in the blanks when it doesn't get all of the information. The basis for optical illusions, even mp3 compression. So if there's no one around, but you're used to people being around, your brain figures out how to interpret random noise as a person.

It goes along with the feeling you get when you arrive at a place you know via a route you don't, and suddenly realize that you know where you are. A moment where your mental image of where you are quickly adjusts itself. A fun feeling.

Of course if you see little green space people, you might have a problem somewhere...

For another little test, blindfold yourself in the farthest part of the house from the front/back door, turn around a couple times and see how long it takes you to get there, crawling on your hands and knees.

I was a trifle embarrassed, myself.

Sue

That's what the USCG and Usn requires of every crewman within 24 hours of reporting onboard.

There is some truth to that. Climbers that get stranded have frequently reported being visited by friends, loved ones, even the yeti. Or feel comforted enough to sleep, because they feel "someone is watching over me". There have been quite a few of these reports, and I think that it could be the social creatures we are...I never really thought of that till now though!