The Wisdom of Wilderness: Experiencing the Healing Power of Nature

Tap into the Awe-Inspiring Power of Nature

Psychiatrist Gerald G. May recounts his solitary retreats into Green Ridge State Forest, pitching an old pup tent among the mountain trees. The book follows his encounters with the wild, from a bear brushing his thin canvas to the choruses of forest cicadas.

May draws upon these vigils to show how natural stillness dismantles the urge toward psychological coping. His reflections trace solo canoe trips across dawn mists and quiet nights spent beneath winter stars.

• Spirituality and Nature: An icy winter night spent listening to unseen footfalls beside a frozen stream leads not to panic, but to an unexpected surge of gratitude for sheer existence.


• Spiritual Memoir: From territorial bald eagles dive-bombing his canoe to an aggressive swimming squirrel pursued across open water, humorous outdoor misadventures puncture spiritual pretension.


• Healing Through Nature: A bright pileated woodpecker perching on a storm-damaged, rotting trunk on a snowy mountainside shows an exhausted seeker how to find beauty in wounded, imperfect things.


• Also by This Author: Addiction and Grace, The Dark Night of the Soul and The Awakened Heart.