Daniel Vitalis & Arthur Haines

For ten years Daniel Vitalis has lectured around North America and abroad, offering workshops that helped others lead healthier, more nature-integrated lives. A successful entrepreneur, he founded the nutrition company SurThrival.com in 2008 — and as a passion project — FindASpring.com in 2009. Most recently he hosted the popular podcast ReWild Yourself.

Patrick, Daniel, and Arthur discuss how we’re losing our connection to the natural world.

Daniel and Arthur are wilderness enthusiasts who both live in Maine. They are advocates of humans returning to biological norms.

Mankind will “goeth the way of the passenger pigeon if we’re not careful,” according to Daniel.

We’re interdependent with all species, not angels above it. We are embedded in Nature, not controlling it from above.

What about the forces that are doing the opposite of becoming aligned with all species?

“It’s hard to make a lot of money out of people who are aware and self-reliant,” says Arthur.

What does it mean to be a part of Nature?, Patrick asks, He reads the definition of “nature” from the “Dalai Lama of dictionaries,” the Oxford Dictionary — “the phenomena of the physical world collectively, including plants, animals, the landscape, and other features and products of the earth, as opposed to humans or human creations.”

Isn’t atomic power “natural”?

Daniel differentiates among art, artifacts, and Nature. “Many of the problems we’re having are late-stage domestication problems.”

We’re at war against our own evolution. “In our hubris, we think we’re the smartest we’ve ever been.” What is the actuality?

In millions of years we’ve gone from wild foodists to agriculturalists. Are we reshaping the environment, or are we in a collision course with our culture?

Do Daniel and Arthur belong to the very last wild people on Earth? Is it time to build an ark like in the Biblical story of Noah?

Daniel talks about his WildFed show on the Outdoor Channel. It’s about “hunting, fishing, foraging, and turning wild ingredients into delicious meals.” He financed it “on his own dime.”

Patrick has been handling Daniel’s products for over ten years — Colostrum, Pine Pollen, Elk Antler, Chaga & Reishi Superfoods, Digestive Bitters, etc.

Patrick asks about 5G. “It’s not about faster phones. It’s about communication between machines.” Why are we empowering machines and downplaying human cognition?

The coronavirus “media event” is discussed.

Have we switched our Savior from God to machine technology? We’re more like astronauts scurrying around on the top of the planet.

“Some people are waking up. Some people are ‘woke’ up,” says Daniel. We don’t need jailers because the inmates won’t let us escape.

Are we degenerating physically by not spending enough time outdoors?

Are there any “isms” — Communism, Capitalism, Fascism, Authoritarianism — that will give power to the people?

Is there a light at the end of the tunnel or are the lockdowns and social distancing a generational phenomenon? Have rolling blackouts become our new normal?

Will risk be made illegal? Will a parent be prosecuted for letting a child climb a tree?