All Things 'Alone'

[TelosianEmbrace]

There is a series that has been going on many years, but the first I heard of it was from an attendee of a Men's Weekend we hosted a few weeks ago. There was a lot of conversation about survival in the wilderness, and someone mentioned the 'Alone' series.

From Wikipedia-
"Alone is an American adventure reality game show on History. It follows the self-documented daily struggles of 10 individuals as they survive alone in the wilderness for as long as possible using a limited amount of survival equipment. With the exception of medical check-ins, the participants are isolated from each other and all other humans. They may "tap out" at any time, or be removed due to failing a medical check-in. The contestant who remains the longest wins a grand prize of $500,000. The seasons have been filmed across a range of remote locations, usually on Indigenous-controlled lands, including northern Vancouver Island, British Columbia, Nahuel Huapi National Park in Argentinian Patagonia, northern Mongolia, Great Slave Lake in the Northwest Territories, and Chilko Lake in interior British Columbia."

This series is intense. My wife and I have binge watched three seasons, and been entranced as we have watched the contestants go through some very difficult and sometimes exhilarating experiences in the wild. There are spiritual revelations, some off-the-grid living tips, but most poignant are those moments when contestants have realisations about their lives at home, and what's important to them.

We have watched series 1, 2 and 7, and now there are Alone offshoots in other countries, such as Sweden and Norway. If there is one season to watch, it would be Season 7. Contestants were variously stalked by wolves, killed a musk ox single-handed, suffered frost bite, had shelters burn down, and had their caches of food stolen from them by a variety of critters.

https://www.history.com/shows/alone

https://www.sbs.com.au/ondemand/alone-collection

[Le Chat]

"killed a musk ox single-handed"

And that passes for 'entertainment', does it?

[wondering]

Telosian Embrace, My husband and I have watched several series of Alone. I would definitely agree that the impact that the experience has on the contestants is what is most interesting - not entertaining in the usual sense, but a close look at an experience most of us will never go through. I have a lot of admiration for skills that are put to use - some shelters have been built that are beautiful, practical and beyond anything that most would think of. Mostly I think "these people are out of their minds", but only because most of us could never deal with that level of isolation, hunger or self reliance. It turns out that many of them have survival skills honed over years, if not decades, and that makes all the difference. When another season comes up, we will watch it. Thanks for the recommendation

[Sadieblue]

I have watched every episode and have enjoyed it...ready and waiting for the next season.

[TelosianEmbrace]

*Spoiler Alert*

The emotional and spiritual transformations and reflections can be quite profound. One only has to look at Larry in Season 2. Larry was swearing and cursing everything in sight for most of his 64 days. He was one of the participants that you found it hard to find any empathy for. It was towards the end of his days out there that he broke down. He bent down on one knee and called out to God, appealing to him/her and heaving big sobs. He came back a far more humble man, who vowed to spend more time and show more appreciation of his wife and family.

Could that have happened without going through the tremendous hardship that he suffered?

Do we, as a whole, need to experience hardship for spiritual development?

Source: https://youtube.com/watch?v=OYRbofog6dQ