Rewilding is a word that describes the return to a more natural state. It’s usually applied to land, when nature is allowed to look after itself so that biodiversity can thrive. 

We can also rewild ourselves, so that we live in ways that are closer to our own natural state as human beings. This doesn’t mean going back to hunter-gather lifestyles or rejecting modern medicine. It means living more consciously, in simpler ways that are in harmony with the planet, and understanding that we can find true healing and support in nature and our communities – not in the products relentlessly pushed at us by commerce. 

 Rewilding our lives is a process – something we can begin to move towards where possible. And death is one important part of life that’s ripe for rewilding.

Rewilding Death – the 3 pillars

·      Remember our place in the great cycle of life 

We become mindful of our own mortality, knowing at a deep level that we will die one day – like every other living being on the planet. We hold this lightly but we make it a practice. 

·      Revere and restore nature

We consciously develop our relationship with the natural world, finding solace there when we’re grieving. We seek out nature’s many marvels, experience awe and discover a new sense of the sacred – whatever other spiritual beliefs we do or don’t have. When we die, we try to ensure that our bodies return to source in ways that protect and nourish the natural world, rather than in polluting, carbon-intensive ways that damage the planet.

·      Reclaim our death and funeral rites

We become more intimate with death, empowering ourselves and our communities with the simple skills we need to tend to the dying, care for their bodies after death and be closely involved in arranging ceremonies to honour them. 

Why is this important?

·      It supports us in grief – in modern Western culture, we’ve largely outsourced death and funerals, robbing ourselves of important opportunities to bond with those around us and begin processing loss together. When we come together to hold vigil, wash and anoint a loved one’s body and arrange a truly meaningful ceremony, we can start to move through our grief – supported, as always, by Mother Nature.

·      It allows us to mature as individuals and as a society. Being more intimate with death and mortality helps us to grow up. It gives us perspective, and confidence in our ability to face other challenges. And it means we can better support others when they’re grieving.

·      It helps us to make the most of our one wild and precious life. The ancient philosophers understood this: being more fully present with death, grief and our own mortality can sharpen our focus on making life a fulfilling, creative, joy-filled adventure, in whatever ways that means for us. 

·      It motivates us to cherish our planet. When we humbly understand our place in the cycle of life and death here, experience gratitude for the healing power of nature and begin to see the Earth as sacred, we do all we can to protect her – never more important than at this time of climate and ecological crisis. Death and grief are the gateways.