Nature isn’t Artificial
Nature isn’t Artificial
Becky and I frequently marvel at the quality of our guests. There is something about people who love nature.
The short-term rental business is generically referred to as Airbnb now. Many people think of Airbnb’s as nice houses for a getaway, perhaps surrounded with lots of entertainment opportunities, or at least a change of scenery. Get Away. Flee!
Anyone who is personally involved in the hospitality business understands it is inherently stressful. But the degree of stress depends on the setting. We would never host an Airbnb in a city. Guests tell us they come here to get away from cities. I don’t think I need to explain why. Everyone intuitively knows why. You feel it in your bones.
REAL PEOPLE
I sometimes kiddingly tell our guests that we only allow really great people to stay here and that they should walk around and meet their awesome neighbors. It’s true. It’s not that we scrutinize the reviews, age, race, class, history and background of each request before allowing only the best or least risky ones to make a reservation. In fact, we prefer complete openness. It’s called “instant booking”. There is no approval process at all.
There’s a natural sorting and filtering of guests who come here. We find them especially kind, gentler, happier, less argumentative, honest and more, well, REAL. They are just the kind of people I’m drawn to hang out with. Honestly, I don’t know what they are like when city life stress gets its hooks into them. But here, I feel I can trust and enjoy. Sometimes, the short-term, somewhat superficial relationships blossom into deep, long-lasting friendships.
NATURE is REAL
I credit our waterfall as the main attraction. But it’s just the start. The South Cumberland Plateau is one of the most bio-diverse, natural eco-systems in the United States. That extends to plants and animals. As you descend eight hundred feet from the top of the waterfall to the bottom of the canyon, you pass through many changing eco-systems. Most noticeable is the changing plant life. The variety of mosses, ferns, mushrooms, hemlocks and tropical-looking umbrella magnolias are my favorites. Turn over almost any rock to find a salamander in amazing varieties of colorful markings. Sometimes rare, bright red ones. After dark, Owls hoot. Huge, green Luna moths surprise. Mystical fireflies put on a show. In the presence of such a display of natural life, one experiences something not felt in densely populated cities where mankind has “conquered” nature. Nature is untamed and sometimes uncomfortable. It’s not air conditioned. It’s REAL.
NATURE is awe inspiring, Beautiful, but not always kind
Reality, in its natural state, contains the seeds of wisdom. We never learn or grow until we face challenges - things that might make us uncomfortable. Sometimes, things that go bump in the night. The closer one comes to nature, the more opportunity to gain wisdom. In all the awe of its natural beauty, nature can also be brutal and terrifying. That could involve the exhaustion or feeling lost in the wilderness of a rugged hike. But later, the pleasant, deep sleep from breathing fresh, chilled night air and listening to the white noise of the waterfall. Or, for the unprepared camper, a cold sleepless night in the refuge of their car. Maybe it’s encountering and overcoming fear in the night, listening to the distant howl of a pack of coyotes that has cornered its prey.
I think wisdom comes from a process that involves observing and experiencing things as they really are, but beyond our understanding. Consider their meaning. Test understanding over a lifetime with thoughts and feelings in your mind and body. When one adds deep contemplation, in the quiet of nature, something quite mystical happens. Experiences, thoughts and feelings mature into wisdom.
That which is not real, not true, or artificial, is the source of confusion, stress, distrust, disharmony, negative and destructive emotion