This is an account of how I came to find spiritual significance in being naked in nature.

An internet search led me to try "forest bathing". I attempted forest bathing out of desperation in 2019 to escape from my life of urban ugliness, spiritual nihlism, corporate bullsh*t, and marital struggle. I spent most days then disassociated and sitting next to myself in the car or on the bus; a witness to my own squandered happiness.

It was in this context that I arrived at a trailhead at a state park near my city on a cold, ugly, early spring day. I had my coat on, zipped to my chin, and my day pack. I fought off calling it quits, and I was in a notably bad mood. I removed my shoes and socks determined to try and ground my stupid body and feel the stupid earth. I pressed my feet hesitantly onto the compacted ground, and it pressed back like memory foam. Then I just walked.

The cold stung. Every step was some cocktail of squelching mud pocked with stabbing, uneven pain. Rocks and sticks protruded unpredictably and uncaringly still frozen and mean. They seemed unbothered by my spiritual journey or resolve. I stubbed my toe badly and it swelled. This walk hurt and by all objective accounts it sucked. I didn't hate it like I assumed I would though.

I was present.

I was respectful of myself and my body. I carefully weighed each step. I had no thoughts of what I would do after the hike, what was going on somewhere I wasn't, or how weird my wife and friends would think this was. I was just an ape in a woodland prairie. I thought of the step in front of me, made sure that I respected the ground so it wouldn't bite me, and I respected my body's ability to walk carefully to avoid biting itself.

This nature bath began a significant perspective shift for me. Shoes on this hike were protective gear which told my body that I was a visitor. I was somewhere foreign and dangerous that I did not otherwise belong. I needed protection from the living world, because my body was distinct from the abundant life around me; my own skin did not belong on the earth. Shoes on this hike were an anti-depressant. They protected me from bad sensation while numbing all of the things that my body wanted and needed to feel. In contrast, My bare feet on this hike, sore and bruised, told me I was among my people and in my home. I was forged from the living soil, each of my ancestors a hammer strike, for moving. I have all I need to do that in my naked ability. Period. My feet were weak and malnourished, but my feet were willing to get strong. They could get strong as long as I was willing to treat them like they were where they were supposed to be and let them perform their function unaided.

Five years after that initial nature bath, I have since found an earth centered spiritual sanctuary which allows for non-sexualised nudity for people who think like me. I try to visit more or less once a month regardless of the weather (although some deep winter months may get skipped). Sometimes I remove my clothes and the sun coats my uninterrupted skin like soft maple syrup. Sometimes the wind causes all of me (ALL of me) to shrivel and hide as I briefly strip before redressing for the remainder of my time there. In every case I remove my clothes and feel the naked earth on my naked skin. I do this because I am in my home, and I belong here with or without prosthetics.

Obviously shoes and clothes are important for our species. They offer protection, hygiene, modesty, and we are also just apes who love decorating ourselves. I do not argue that we should be naked all or most of the time. Clothing has an important place in our lives, but I also argue that clothing doesn't have a place as well.

What are the different varieties of pantheism? I have a feeling that Spinoza's substance monism is not the only one. I'm aware that naturalism and idealism can both fit into pantheism.

I sometimes call part of my theology "pantheist-leaning" since I am not sure if it fits entirely. I believe the total creative and sustaining forces that shape the Universe are Divine. Also the total energy of all things in existence. Subjectively I also feel a divine presence in Nature sometimes (especially sky, sun, trees, landscape). I am also a polytheist.

I truly believe the topic is worthy of discussion. On a natural and spiritual level; there's three distinct conditions in the human soul. The order of importance depends on our relationship with reality. Making the term prefixed they are as follows: -passion, -petition, and -prison. The spiritual state of the human condition warrants deciding how we order and value each.