Shortly after I left the Marine Corps, my brother and I were hunting in the Sierra national forest. We were two days in and had no luck. We were thinking of going back when within a couple of hours; we got four rabbits. But that’s not what I want to talk about. While hunting, by chance, I stumbled across some fiddleheads and wild raspberries. Let me mention that most of the ferns have fiddleheads. But all might not be edible. However, my experience had taught me that with the brown, papery scale-like covering, the uncoiled fern was not toxic. We went ahead. That day, not only we connected with nature and got a dose of exercise, but we also had an incredibly healthy free meal. Trust me, that was one of the best wholesome meals I’ve ever eaten. I don’t have words to describe the joy of feeding myself with only nature’s bounty. The most enjoyable thing about this experience was the way it made me pause and be aware of my surrounding. The quiet and slow activity took me to another world where there was no rush or any worldly pressure. I had completely unplugged from the outer world. I had reconnected with nature in a way that demonstrated true abundance. It was as if I was interacting directly with the creation itself. At that moment, nothing else existed but the earth and I as I was engaged in the most fundamental act humans can. It was a taste of pure transcendence.