The Face of a Stranger

In my spiritual studies I am gathering stories and tales that speak of the wisdom of the indigenous cultures of northern Europe, Scandinavia and parts of Russia, along with their connection with the cycles of nature and the elements of Earth. I am reading a delightful book called Lapland Journey by Halliday Sutherland written in 1938. In it he describes his wilderness travels across the Arctic snow on sledges drawn by reindeer.

“In great cold everyone makes a point of looking at his neighbor’s face at every opportunity. The one who is frostbitten feels nothing, but others can see that the skin, usually of the nose or ears, has gone white. Then it must be rubbed with snow. In fact, on these expeditions everyone is expected to look after everyone else. Thus when driving in a train of sledges you look back every now and then to see if the sledge behind is keeping station,” Sutherland writes.

Imagine how life would be different if everyone was expected to look after everyone else--if our health and well-being depended upon the willingness of neighbors or perhaps even strangers to look at every opportunity? At our face? What if our lives depended on whether or not someone looked back every now and then to see if we were still following along behind? What if the daily activities and conditions of life (not just extreme, isolated circumstances of great cold) required that we trusted one another and willingly looked out for each other's safety?

Perhaps the wisdom here is the invitation to begin truly looking at every opportunity and into the faces of those with whom we live and work, those for whom we love and care, to see if they might be frostbitten or where they might have fallen behind. And then imagine expanding this practice to include looking at the face of a stranger. Perhaps our lives do depend on it more than we know.

Ingrid Kincaid is an internationally known storyteller, teacher and spiritual mentor. She is an intuitive reader of ancient runes. She gently shows her clients how to tap into their own inner wisdom by weaving together creativity, spirituality and ancient knowing. Ingrid is available for interviews, private consultations and group presentations. You can contact her at ingk@ingridkincaid.com or 415.652.3990.