Way back in 2000, I decided I wanted to do something cool and outdoorsy. I had probably read an article out wilderness survival schools and found Tom Brown Jr’s Tracker School was right in my backyard. Well, not exactly in my backyard. That would be weird that I didn’t notice it earlier and probably violate some zoning laws but it was relatively close.
Now, I had never heard of Tom Brown before attending the school and in that I was in a definately (very, very small) minority. The class was well attended with, I’m guessing, well over 100 people there, some from as far away as Australia and Europe. To my surprise, some of those who came the farthest weren’t really that interested in learning wilderness survival skills but were really interested in hearing about Brown’s philosophy and stories about ‘Grandfather’ (a Native American who supposedly imparted all sorts of knowledge to Brown as a young boy).
Ok, first I’ll say that the course was a great deal of fun and the wilderness skills were great. We lived in tents for a week, ate communally, learned how to build shelters and start fires with sticks. Totally cool.
Unfortunately, these cool classes were punctuation with philosophy classes that seemed to be a mix of new age thinking, christian inspired spiritualism, with some cultish overtones. For example, our first day there rumors began spreading that Tom might not make an appearance (most of the course was taught by assistants) because he was ill. Finally, in the evening, hours after he was scheduled to appear Tom made it to the stage. My impression was that Tom was a very good actor. He knew how to pause for effect, work his (sympathetic) audience through a range of emotions and (de)emphasize his ‘illness’. My only complaint was that the whole thing seemed too rehearsed. He delivered his entire presentation (probably an hour long) without a stumble or a pause to select the right word. He bowled through the whole thing like he was reading off of a teleprompter.
It wasn’t his style which nagged at me thought, it was the content of his presentation. Towards the end of his talk he said (this isn’t an exact quote but close enough):
I know you. You’ve never fit in. No one has ever understood you. You’ve been an outcast without friends. Well, I’m hear to tell you that you’ve got friends now. You’ve got a family. You’re part of something.
It seemed so much like such an obvious attempt to manipulate the audience I didn’t think anyone would buy into it. Boy, was I wrong.
Throughout the week, while talking about tracking or wild edibles, someone would ask a question like Brown’s writings were some sort of scripture. They parsed the books and saying like they all contained hidden answers to the questions of life.
It was getting a bit creepy.
Then, I began to see how Tom and his assistants kept drawing parallels between Tom and the story of Christ. For example:
- Tom learned all his skills from ‘Grandfather’ a mysterious father-figure (not his biological father) who was described more as a spiritual entity than a physical one. (Grandfather being a substitute for God and Tom for Christ).
- When Tom was learning at the side of Grandfather, he was joined by Rick a childhood friend and biological grandson of Grandfather. Rick apparently died while a child. (Similar to the trinity?)
- After Grandfather’s death, Tom went into the wilderness and rejected society where he had prophesies about the end of the world. (Just like Jesus)
- Once Tom returned to society he selected 12 students to pass on the wisdom of Grandfather (Really? 12 Disciples? How obvious can you make it?)
- After Tom achieved some success (entirely on his terms, of course) he was tempted by the materialistic world. He not only resisted but brought enlightenment to those who had been cut off from the natural world. (See Satan’s temptation of Christ)
Now, I’m an atheist and haven’t read the bible since I was an undergraduate but it seemed so obvious that I don’t know if the ‘coincidences’ could be any more transparent if there was a big neon sign declaring ‘Any resemblance between Tom Brown and the Son of God is entirely intentional accidental’.
And yet, people were as entranced as the ones you see with the televangelists speaking in tongues or claiming to be healed. On more than one occassion people were openly weeping upon hearing Tom, reveling in some sort of revealed knowledge they thought there were receiving.
On the final day, some of the staff were speaking about the wonders of Tom’s philosophy and the benefits of becoming volunteers. Then, one lady stood up to speak and told us her story. I don’t think I’ll ever forget it. She described a period in her life where she was totally depressed and found no meaning to her life. She went from one emotionally empty day to the next with no hope. Then one day, she was in her kitchen and decided to eat an apple. Once she took a bite of the apple she said she heard the most beautiful sound she had ever heard and the apple said (!) ‘Thank you for giving me purpose.’ Shortly thereafter, she found Tom Brown’s school and her life had been bright and better since she had reestablished her connection to the earth.
People were weeping and applauding while I was thinking. ‘Oh my god. This woman had some sort of psychotic break and people are congratulating her for it. What she needed was probably some therapy not enabling.’
So I left with some mixed feelings. Seperating the goofy spiritual mumbo-jumbo left you with a pretty good wilderness course. It was hard to escape the feeling, however, that the spiritual talk was a hook in order to get people to give something up to the cause.
My grandmother passed away this past Friday. She was a great woman who had an amazing life. During WWII she served as a transport truck driver as Chatham Air Base in Georgia. I can remember her telling me stories about how she used to drive crews of B-24 bombers to and from their aircraft.
