Beautiful - and a timeless truth. When all the noise we're used to fades away, we start to hear the calls to connect in ways and languages that have nothing to do with speech or social niceties. It's something deeper. I had a similar feeling my first time working in a remote minefield, in Angola, before I had learned any Portuguese. I didn't have quite as transcendental a moment with the guitar! But I did have some lovely moments of connection over simple shared gestures: food, fire, laughter. This brought me back there, in some ways.
Thank you for sharing this about your life and journey, Laura--and for reading my piece and offering your reflection. I love that we all are connecting over this mysterious "deeper" place where we humans find connection with each other. Underneath language, underneath customs. Underneath it all. Have you written about your experience in Angola? I would love to read about it.
Absolutely. That's what I love about the community on here - it really does create that space for connection in a unique way, for this human-digital age we're cresting. I've written a couple of pieces that touch on my field experiences in general, but nothing specific to Angola as yet - that said, I've been inspired by a few essays on here in the last few days (this one included) to start working on a couple, so I'll keep you posted when I share those!
Thank you so much for taking me along to Greenland and sharing the anxiety, soulful longing and fear that comes from true loneliness. I felt that what you stared at the zipper and realized you had to escape. I felt the panic inside and the desperation. Only to be replaced by the joy of connection, however brief, that sustained you through the rest of your journey. Music does truly unite us and is in the fabric of humanity. We are all born creators who crave belonging and connection. Music, dance, Story telling, writing - all of these give us outlets to share and receive love, grief, anger, sorry, hope, and love from the world. They give us the power to connect. To see and be seen. I feel all of that when I read this piece - I've read it twice now. Thank you for this. What a beautiful journey.
Thank you for this comment and share, and your continued support, Brian. I'm glad you appreciated the piece. Last spring, I wrote a piece about the 1-year anniversary of the death of Andrea, my ex-wife, and posted it on Facebook, and one person left this simple message: Your creativity will heal you. So true. Sending happiness and healing to you, Brian. I have to catch up with your latest piece. I'll do that this weekend. So glad you are writing here. Keep the faith. It's taken me a couple of years to begin to find my people. Now, I find Substack and Seeking and especially the comments section to be one of the highlights of my life and writing path.
@Brad Wetzler - I love that in your travels, through vast ruins in your mind and on green-land (my apologies for that one!), you are able to relay in written word something very idiosyncratic to you and yet simultaneiously ubiquitous to the Soul: a need to wander and find a piece of what matters deep within our experience of ourselves connected to one another and those around us. To me it hits upon something of the timelessness of travel and the search for connection to our soul. That in itself, for many, is healing and what I'd call sacred in the living.
(I also smiled at the picture of you in Yosemite - as I have hiked there with my brother who has named his oldest boy after the national park).
Dr. Bronce, thank you for this warm insightful reflection. I always learn so much about my own work/writing/thinking by these reflections. You're a wise soul. Yes, writing/journaling has been elemental to my entire life's journey. I can't imagine how I would have made sense of my life and eventually healed without this practice. Sending warm thoughts to you today. Remind me what part of the country you live in.
I bought your book and look forward to reading it.
My "Greenland" moment came while staring at a brick wall at 3 AM in Chicago. It's a strange story I've never written about or told anyone, but that I hint at in this video, where I describe how I slid out the back door of Evangelical Christianity after 30 years of being in the faith:
Hello Brant. Thank you for this note and reflection. And thank you for buying my book. I hope you'll let me know what you think. I will check out your Youtube video now. I'm curious to learn about your journey and where you've arrived now.
Brad, I am three chapters in and loving it. There are sooo many points of connection for me -- loving the complex men who are our fathers; Jung's illumination of the second half of life; our absurd fear of death; dealing with our "Shadow" side; climbing the corporate ladder; finding our authentic selves; longing for adventure; and more. I'm looking forward to the rest of your book!
Are you by chance a fan of Jungian psychoanalyst James Hollis, author of "Finding Meaning in the Second Half of Life?" That book (and his others) address many of these issues, and his writings had a profound impact on me. Dr. Hollis was kind enough to write the foreword to my third book, "Blue Skyways." If you are not familiar with Dr. Hollis' work, I highly recommend!
Hi Brant. Thank you for your share here--and again for reading my book. It's good to be connected with a kindred soul. Yes, I'm very aware of Hollis. I read his book about the second half of life more than a decade ago. Maybe 15 years. It meant a lot to me, but Jungian thinking was new to me at the time. And I didn't go much deeper immediately. Since then, Jungian thinking has deepened my spiritual life in ways I can't express. I'm a lay person and I know I'm only scratching the surface. But I have enjoyed many books, mostly by Neo-Jungians, including others by Hollis. What a gift he is! I've also enjoyed This Jungian Life podcast. Have you listened to that one? Please stay in touch, and let me know what you think when you arrive at the book's end.
Ciao Brad. This morning, while on a cool walk through the fields of Northern Italy, with the Alps of France and Switzerland on the horizon, I continued listening to your marvelous book. I have reached Chapter 18.
Wow. What a page turner, so to speak (I bought the audiobook, which is well done.) There are too many personal connections for me to mention -- shared experiences, books read, paternal conflicts, and insights gained. Kindred spirits is a good way to put it! You may have picked up on that if you watched the video I sent, which is quite long: over an hour, plus another 30 minutes of Q&A.
If you prefer reading over watching, you might enjoy a chapter from "Blue Skyways" where I explain my 30-year journey through Evangelical Christianity, using the caverns of the Moravian Karst region of the Czech Republic as a metaphor. Here it is: https://dancepastsunset.com/project/caves/
I'm looking forward to seeing what happens next in your journey!
First, your current location sounds amazing. Are you near the Tyrol? I once visited there to interview Reinhold Messner at his castle.
Second, I’m all in with listening to your journey. I just cued up the YouTube talk. I’m fascinated to hear your story. I am still drawn to the Jesus story. But obviously not as a believer.
Again thank you you for listening to my book. I actually auditioned to be the audio narrator but I flunked the audition. I’m so glad I did because Andrew did such an amazing job, I think. He brought a lot of soul to the project.
Hi Brad. I finished your book moments ago. It’s beautiful, powerful, and well-written. The epilogue was especially moving. You brought it all home, yet not, in the best of ways. I hope your book sees success in all the ways you want for it.
Fabi and I just returned from a camping trip to Lago Orta, which is in northern Italy but toward the west, away from Tyrol. I would listen to your book at night in our tent, with a mountain creek babbling nearby. I’ll post a video note from there in a moment.
I enjoyed the story. It flowed well with great imagery of the remoteness. Don’t demean your journey with the whole colonial caveat ... we all have our journeys to walk.
Hello Chip. Thank you for this supportive note. I hear you. I agree we are all on our own journeys--and mine was to write about people who push themselves into remote exotic places. I guess I wanted my readers to know that I've learned new perspectives on the BUSINESS of adventuring. But I really do appreciate your offering of advice here.
Thank you for writing this and with such beauty. It catches the ache of aloneness that is burning in my being again. A flame that has quietly accompanied being in a body for as long as I can remember.
This spoke to me on so many levels—not just as a writer exploring similar themes, but as someone whose own past feels scattered across forgotten dreams. The musician. The would-be anthropologist. The girl who once chased adventure and still aches for it. Your words stirred something deep, like they were speaking to all the selves I’ve outgrown but never stopped loving. Thank you for this beautiful, soul-rich piece.
Hi Caitlin, What a beautiful reflection to receive from you. I'm so glad that my writing was a mirror for you to see yourself, your past selves, etc. That's the highest compliment I can imagine receiving for a piece of writing. When I teach memoir writing, I talk about how scenes ought to be rendered with just enough detail so that the reader can experience the narrator but also see themselves and their own experiences. I really appreciate these thoughts, and I look forward to reading about your journey.
Hi Gillian. Thank you from my heart for reading and commenting here. I appreciate your support and I really enjoy and learn from your essays here on Substack. What an amazing community this is.
As I sit here, listening to the rain and cursing, silently, the smoke that will keep me in the house today, I feel the tears. Brad, there is so much in your story that stirs my heart. I don't have the words, now, to speak to it. And maybe I do not need to. It is your story and it is marvelous.
Yet, that loneliness. That hunger to hear your name spoken in love. The comfort of a kindred soul. The ache in your throat to say, again and again and again, I am worthy. I am worthy. I am worthy. Bless you this day. I am so thankful to have found you. Always, Jacqueline
Thank you from my heart for this reflection, Jacqueline. Supportive, honest, and vulnerable shares like yours are pure gold to receive as a writer. This territory of Mystery and the Heart can bring up so much, and there's nothing more true, in my humble opinion, than following a deep feeling to it's core, and finding the bittersweetness that is underneath It All. The beauty and tragedy of life. All at the same time. Thank you for being here, J.
Beautiful - and a timeless truth. When all the noise we're used to fades away, we start to hear the calls to connect in ways and languages that have nothing to do with speech or social niceties. It's something deeper. I had a similar feeling my first time working in a remote minefield, in Angola, before I had learned any Portuguese. I didn't have quite as transcendental a moment with the guitar! But I did have some lovely moments of connection over simple shared gestures: food, fire, laughter. This brought me back there, in some ways.
Thank you for sharing this about your life and journey, Laura--and for reading my piece and offering your reflection. I love that we all are connecting over this mysterious "deeper" place where we humans find connection with each other. Underneath language, underneath customs. Underneath it all. Have you written about your experience in Angola? I would love to read about it.
Absolutely. That's what I love about the community on here - it really does create that space for connection in a unique way, for this human-digital age we're cresting. I've written a couple of pieces that touch on my field experiences in general, but nothing specific to Angola as yet - that said, I've been inspired by a few essays on here in the last few days (this one included) to start working on a couple, so I'll keep you posted when I share those!
Thank you so much for taking me along to Greenland and sharing the anxiety, soulful longing and fear that comes from true loneliness. I felt that what you stared at the zipper and realized you had to escape. I felt the panic inside and the desperation. Only to be replaced by the joy of connection, however brief, that sustained you through the rest of your journey. Music does truly unite us and is in the fabric of humanity. We are all born creators who crave belonging and connection. Music, dance, Story telling, writing - all of these give us outlets to share and receive love, grief, anger, sorry, hope, and love from the world. They give us the power to connect. To see and be seen. I feel all of that when I read this piece - I've read it twice now. Thank you for this. What a beautiful journey.
Thank you for this comment and share, and your continued support, Brian. I'm glad you appreciated the piece. Last spring, I wrote a piece about the 1-year anniversary of the death of Andrea, my ex-wife, and posted it on Facebook, and one person left this simple message: Your creativity will heal you. So true. Sending happiness and healing to you, Brian. I have to catch up with your latest piece. I'll do that this weekend. So glad you are writing here. Keep the faith. It's taken me a couple of years to begin to find my people. Now, I find Substack and Seeking and especially the comments section to be one of the highlights of my life and writing path.
@Brad Wetzler - I love that in your travels, through vast ruins in your mind and on green-land (my apologies for that one!), you are able to relay in written word something very idiosyncratic to you and yet simultaneiously ubiquitous to the Soul: a need to wander and find a piece of what matters deep within our experience of ourselves connected to one another and those around us. To me it hits upon something of the timelessness of travel and the search for connection to our soul. That in itself, for many, is healing and what I'd call sacred in the living.
(I also smiled at the picture of you in Yosemite - as I have hiked there with my brother who has named his oldest boy after the national park).
Dr. Bronce, thank you for this warm insightful reflection. I always learn so much about my own work/writing/thinking by these reflections. You're a wise soul. Yes, writing/journaling has been elemental to my entire life's journey. I can't imagine how I would have made sense of my life and eventually healed without this practice. Sending warm thoughts to you today. Remind me what part of the country you live in.
I bought your book and look forward to reading it.
My "Greenland" moment came while staring at a brick wall at 3 AM in Chicago. It's a strange story I've never written about or told anyone, but that I hint at in this video, where I describe how I slid out the back door of Evangelical Christianity after 30 years of being in the faith:
https://youtu.be/gnunBycIT4s?si=1156o8E1Wimp6pWL
Hello Brant. Thank you for this note and reflection. And thank you for buying my book. I hope you'll let me know what you think. I will check out your Youtube video now. I'm curious to learn about your journey and where you've arrived now.
Brad, I am three chapters in and loving it. There are sooo many points of connection for me -- loving the complex men who are our fathers; Jung's illumination of the second half of life; our absurd fear of death; dealing with our "Shadow" side; climbing the corporate ladder; finding our authentic selves; longing for adventure; and more. I'm looking forward to the rest of your book!
Are you by chance a fan of Jungian psychoanalyst James Hollis, author of "Finding Meaning in the Second Half of Life?" That book (and his others) address many of these issues, and his writings had a profound impact on me. Dr. Hollis was kind enough to write the foreword to my third book, "Blue Skyways." If you are not familiar with Dr. Hollis' work, I highly recommend!
Hi Brant. Thank you for your share here--and again for reading my book. It's good to be connected with a kindred soul. Yes, I'm very aware of Hollis. I read his book about the second half of life more than a decade ago. Maybe 15 years. It meant a lot to me, but Jungian thinking was new to me at the time. And I didn't go much deeper immediately. Since then, Jungian thinking has deepened my spiritual life in ways I can't express. I'm a lay person and I know I'm only scratching the surface. But I have enjoyed many books, mostly by Neo-Jungians, including others by Hollis. What a gift he is! I've also enjoyed This Jungian Life podcast. Have you listened to that one? Please stay in touch, and let me know what you think when you arrive at the book's end.
Ciao Brad. This morning, while on a cool walk through the fields of Northern Italy, with the Alps of France and Switzerland on the horizon, I continued listening to your marvelous book. I have reached Chapter 18.
Wow. What a page turner, so to speak (I bought the audiobook, which is well done.) There are too many personal connections for me to mention -- shared experiences, books read, paternal conflicts, and insights gained. Kindred spirits is a good way to put it! You may have picked up on that if you watched the video I sent, which is quite long: over an hour, plus another 30 minutes of Q&A.
If you prefer reading over watching, you might enjoy a chapter from "Blue Skyways" where I explain my 30-year journey through Evangelical Christianity, using the caverns of the Moravian Karst region of the Czech Republic as a metaphor. Here it is: https://dancepastsunset.com/project/caves/
I'm looking forward to seeing what happens next in your journey!
Hey Brant.
First, your current location sounds amazing. Are you near the Tyrol? I once visited there to interview Reinhold Messner at his castle.
Second, I’m all in with listening to your journey. I just cued up the YouTube talk. I’m fascinated to hear your story. I am still drawn to the Jesus story. But obviously not as a believer.
Again thank you you for listening to my book. I actually auditioned to be the audio narrator but I flunked the audition. I’m so glad I did because Andrew did such an amazing job, I think. He brought a lot of soul to the project.
more soon
Hi Brad. I finished your book moments ago. It’s beautiful, powerful, and well-written. The epilogue was especially moving. You brought it all home, yet not, in the best of ways. I hope your book sees success in all the ways you want for it.
Fabi and I just returned from a camping trip to Lago Orta, which is in northern Italy but toward the west, away from Tyrol. I would listen to your book at night in our tent, with a mountain creek babbling nearby. I’ll post a video note from there in a moment.
I enjoyed the story. It flowed well with great imagery of the remoteness. Don’t demean your journey with the whole colonial caveat ... we all have our journeys to walk.
Hello Chip. Thank you for this supportive note. I hear you. I agree we are all on our own journeys--and mine was to write about people who push themselves into remote exotic places. I guess I wanted my readers to know that I've learned new perspectives on the BUSINESS of adventuring. But I really do appreciate your offering of advice here.
The medicine of interrelatedness 🙏🏽 thank you for sharing. I’m carrying this medicine with me, with your story, thank you🙏🏽
🙏🙏🙏
Best Substack article I’ve read in a long while, and first time reading your work. Thank you!
Thank you, Alan. What a cool compliment to receive. I’ll check out your Substack.
Thank you for writing this and with such beauty. It catches the ache of aloneness that is burning in my being again. A flame that has quietly accompanied being in a body for as long as I can remember.
Loved this. How terrifying and wonderful... all at the same time.
Love this! What an experience. Those precious few minutes of unexpected connection after days of profound, maddening aloneness.
Soooo good, Brad. I am smiling as I write this.. you, Jimi Hendrix, Greenland, teenage Inuit boys.. it doesn't get any better than this.
This spoke to me on so many levels—not just as a writer exploring similar themes, but as someone whose own past feels scattered across forgotten dreams. The musician. The would-be anthropologist. The girl who once chased adventure and still aches for it. Your words stirred something deep, like they were speaking to all the selves I’ve outgrown but never stopped loving. Thank you for this beautiful, soul-rich piece.
Hi Caitlin, What a beautiful reflection to receive from you. I'm so glad that my writing was a mirror for you to see yourself, your past selves, etc. That's the highest compliment I can imagine receiving for a piece of writing. When I teach memoir writing, I talk about how scenes ought to be rendered with just enough detail so that the reader can experience the narrator but also see themselves and their own experiences. I really appreciate these thoughts, and I look forward to reading about your journey.
Beautiful piece, Brad. I could feel the wild landscape closing in on you. So glad you met those teenagers and a song to bring you back to yourself.
Hi Gillian. Thank you from my heart for reading and commenting here. I appreciate your support and I really enjoy and learn from your essays here on Substack. What an amazing community this is.
As I sit here, listening to the rain and cursing, silently, the smoke that will keep me in the house today, I feel the tears. Brad, there is so much in your story that stirs my heart. I don't have the words, now, to speak to it. And maybe I do not need to. It is your story and it is marvelous.
Yet, that loneliness. That hunger to hear your name spoken in love. The comfort of a kindred soul. The ache in your throat to say, again and again and again, I am worthy. I am worthy. I am worthy. Bless you this day. I am so thankful to have found you. Always, Jacqueline
Thank you from my heart for this reflection, Jacqueline. Supportive, honest, and vulnerable shares like yours are pure gold to receive as a writer. This territory of Mystery and the Heart can bring up so much, and there's nothing more true, in my humble opinion, than following a deep feeling to it's core, and finding the bittersweetness that is underneath It All. The beauty and tragedy of life. All at the same time. Thank you for being here, J.
Well, now I'm going to buy your book and read it.
Well, thank you from my heart, Bonnie. I really appreciate you. Please let me know what you think of the book.
This is a such a great story. A blessing. Thank you for sharing it.
Thank you, Eliza, for sharing your supportive comment--and just for reading my story.