Being alive to the present: perceiving meaning on a wilderness river journey

Abstract

In an earlier paper I identified two key forms of ‘meaningful experience’ for participants on a wilderness river rafting journey, namely a feeling of humility and being alive to the present. However, space considerations led me to describe only the first of these forms in any detail. In this paper I identify and describe the qualities of the second key form of meaningful experience via a phenomenological approach that moves between individual and collective experience. This approach reveals a structure of experience that provides a framework for reinterrogating original participant descriptions. The findings of this study highlight the importance of the way in which participants were able to pay attention to the surrounding environment—substantiating the importance of pre-reflective and embodied components of experience. In this paper I argue for a broad understanding of experience that includes and celebrates the pre-reflective realm of experience in river environments.

Keywords:

• experience
• phenomenology
• outdoor education
• river
• wilderness
• journey

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Marcus Morse

Marcus Morse is a lecturer in Outdoor and Environmental Education at La Trobe University, Australia. He has extensive experience guiding and teaching Outdoor and Environmental Education in Australia and overseas. Marcus’ research interests are in the areas of facilitation, meaning-making and people’s experience of nature.