I am Blessed by God and Jesus and I'm extremely grateful.

I think that the "STOP/Cuppa" strategy is similar to meditation! Really, stopping to brew a cup of hot tea when your realize you're lost is calculated to calm you down and prevent you from running thru the woods in a blind panic.

I'm curious what helped those who survive truly harrowing ordeals. Do you folks remember the woman who was stranded in the family van for over two months? IIRC she had a bag of trail mix and access to a stream. We all know that most rescues are affected within the first 72 hours...what would go thru our minds at hour 100? 200? Two weeks? Two months? A religious person might be preparing to meet their maker at that point, and an atheist reflecting on their life and preparing themselves to die in their own personal way. Both might leave some note or record to be found after their death. Would religion or lack thereof affect the chances of survival? I honestly don't know. Knowing myself I'd have succumbed to the distinctly male need to "do something" well before the beginning of the 2nd month!

How much steam does this thread have left? I sense we're already veering off into an area that makes people uncomfortable. I myself have received one PM from someone I've offended. I apologized via PM and repeat that apology here. Some people find the subject inherently offensive, and I guess that's why religion and politics are generally banished from the dinner table around Thanksgiving!

I'll bow out of this thread now, and just want to say that I have the utmost respect for all of you folks. You're all brothers and sisters in survival, and what we have in common is more important to me that the bits we disagree with.

There is 100% no doubt in my mind that my belief in a higher power helps in a survival situation. I've been weak and close to what felt like death. I had only enough energy to resign myself to a belief that God would get me through it. I literally had no energy for anything else. Now, for me to be healthy and suddenly act as if God doesn't exist would be traitorous. I'm not particularly religious either, but I certainly believe in God. In other words, I feel like my relationship with God is direct and unhindered by church and/or any religious customs.

By the way, atheism seems like a religion to me. Atheists tend to be just as fanatical, or more fanatical, in their belief in no God than, for example, Christians believe in God. Indeed, atheism has a set of rules and customs just like other religions. If you swear there is no heaven and pray there is no hell, then you are conceding to the fact that there is a possibility that heaven or hell does exist. A bit of a paradox I know, but that paradox seems to separate us from non-human animals.

Don't mind me too much. I humbly admit I could be wrong about atheism. My knowledge of atheism comes primarily from what I observe from admitted atheists.

Whatever your beliefs are, I certainly hope you are able to tap into a reserve energy source if you are ever in a situation where you feel like death is upon you.

I am a big fan of the idea that "god helps those who help themselves", regardless of who or what your god might be. That was once the biggest part of most mainstream faiths, although often unstated or understated.

Somehow that help has turned into dependency for many people.

My thought is that perhaps the best help one can get is to be better prepared for life's troubles. Better to go out in the wilderness with appropriate training, experience, and gear rather than relying solely on faith. There are plenty of examples where relying mostly on faith has led to serious messes, while relying on prior preparation has led to survival, or even to a situation where there was not much of an issue at all.

This underlying theme of faith leading to dependency/laziness is largely irrelevant on this forum. Folks here have a mindset of being self-sufficient.

Here is the importance of faith for me: it's a realization that no matter how prepared or smart I am, my maximum best effort falls immeasurably short of God's capabilities.

Out of all people, atheist probably need the most help in a survival situation. It takes more guts to be an atheist because, what happens if you're wrong?

The reverse is certainly true as well. What if the source of the help you are relying on does not actually exist?

That is why I think relying on training, education, experience, and gear is much safer than trusting in something that may or may not even exist. In fact, it is certainly safer than relying solely on such a source even if it does exist.

If your personal belief system includes the idea that some supernatural power will help you along the way as you need it, I am fine with you believing in that. I choose a much surer path. That path, by the way, does not preclude a supernatural being's involvement. It just does not rely first and foremost on divine intervention, given how uneven that has proven to be over the years.

Well, I don't know about others, but it's obvious to me we're having a fundamental misunderstanding in this thread. It's obvious to me atheists are not understanding my mindset on faith. Likewise, I appreciate the fact that I don't understand an atheist's mindset. Well, we sort of understand each other at a high level, but as we go deeper there is a point at which the understanding ceases.

As an example of this fundamental misunderstanding, the more I prepare and the more skills I obtain, I feel my need for God in my life increasing. Let me guess, for an atheist, the opposite is true.

At least we have been civil enough not to yell at each other. Great thread.

Actually, I think Bear Grylls' covered this topic pretty well in his book "Living Wild" and I would basically echo his thoughts on this matter (you can check it out online here - p.249). The wisest thing he does, in my opinion, is to not try and come up with generic practises or methods or even speak to how faith & spirituality is helpful in a generic sense, but rather simply writes about what his faith means to him and how it helps him.

This is a realistic approach. I cannot say what will help someone with a different worldview or belief system as me, but I can relate how my worldview and spirituality helps me.

Back to what does write about, in part, he says:

My Christian faith makes me stronger and it makes me smile.It is the secret power in my life. People ask me whether faith is a crutch. Well, what does a crutch do? It helps us stand. So in some ways I guess, yes it is a crutch, but it is more than that to me. It's like a crutch that runs straight through my core. More like a backbone.

I echo this.

To the question, what specific techniques would I recommend? Coming from a Christian perspective, the most important is having a faith that is real and apart of your day-to-day life, something that is a complete worldview and way of life.

Think of it like physical training; if I want a strong body when I face a survival situation, I'm not going to wait & do push ups when I'm out in the thick of an emergency. In the same way, if I expect to have a strong faith to help me through tough times, I need to exercise it daily. For me, this means (in part at least) knowing my beliefs (not just what they are, but why), regularly being immersed in the life of the church, and serving others. So when the tough times come (and they do come!) I have a solid worldview that allows me to calmly deal with the situation.

So, like a fit person facing an unexpected long hike to get back to safety, the person who has a strong faith before an emergency arises already has the spiritual tools required to handle the situation.

Denis, I think you really hit the nail on the head!

"Maybe we can make this thread more productive: what specific spiritual techniques would you recommend to achieve calmness, clarity, strength, etc., in a survival situation?"

Definitely meditation.
Which means focused control of breathing, as a way of calming nervous responses in the body and so calming the mind. This type of meditation can be practiced by anyone. It is often viewed as a "spiritual" pursuit, but in its most basic form it is not affiliated with any one religion or philosophy.

HOWEVER - in order to use this technique effectively you would need to practice it regularly. For example - take a good tai chi class, and do it at least a couple of times a week. If you can make your meditative skills strong, you have a much better chance of calming yourself in a high-adrenaline situation.

Oddly enough, my own experience is that very few Christians practice serious meditation. I am talking about the kind of "Eastern meditation" that involves clearing the mind and focusing on breathing. The same may apply to many Muslims as well. These large religions do teach people to pray, but there is no instruction about linking the mind with the physical body. In fact, followers of both religions may actually discourage "eastern meditation" because they see it as a threat against their own beliefs. Practically speaking, this may be an explanation as to why someone on this thread observed that there "didn't seem to be any difference between people with different faiths" when they are in emergency situations. If meditation is not trained ... it is not available as a skill when needed.

cheers,
Pete2