Harley Rustad > Quotes

“Bown explains. He told Justin about a pattern he had noticed among people who had done multimonth stints in complete isolation in nature. After ten days, time starts to distort. You begin to lose the awareness of what day it is, or exactly how many days have passed since you began. Around twenty-five days in, you begin to lose the habit of compressing thoughts into words, and your internal monologue evaporates. You run on intuition. At forty days, you enter into a kind of dream state in which days and nights blend together; you dream when you’re awake, and you’re aware of reality when you sleep. At sixty-five days, Bown told Justin, you begin to become more aware of the natural processes around you. You start to notice the life cycles of birds and animals and even subtle changes in plants fluctuating by day or night, in cool weather or hot. But the biggest change after two months is that you lose your “self.” Your sense of being an individual relating to a community or society fades, and you become just another aspect of the nature that surrounds you.”
― Harley Rustad, Lost in the Valley of Death: A Story of Obsession and Danger in the Himalayas – Investigative Narrative About an American Backpacker's Spiritual Quest and Unsolved Mystery in India

“His first pair of shoes was a tiny pair of suede moccasins that his mother had bought for him; she wanted him to feel the earth under his feet. He collected rocks in an old fishing tackle box. His mother called him “Bear.”
― Harley Rustad, Lost in the Valley of Death: A Story of Obsession and Danger in the Himalayas – Investigative Narrative About an American Backpacker's Spiritual Quest and Unsolved Mystery in India

“Cronin reached into his vest pocket for a ribbon he rarely used, tore off a long strip, and wrapped it around the base o the Douglas fir's trunk. The tape wasn't pink or orange or red but green, and along its length were the words "LEAVE TREE.”
― Harley Rustad, Big Lonely Doug: The Story of One of Canada’s Last Great Trees

“Our minds want to create meaning out of everything, our life has to have meaning,” Stanchfield says. “And that causes people to fall into so many traps. Life is much simpler than we want to believe it is, but we won’t know for sure about anything until we get to the other side.”
― Harley Rustad, Lost in the Valley of Death: A Story of Obsession and Danger in the Himalayas – Investigative Narrative About an American Backpacker's Spiritual Quest and Unsolved Mystery in India

“Grandfather: A Native American’s Lifelong Search for Truth and Harmony with Nature, published in 1993 by Tom Brown, Jr., a wilderness survival teacher from New Jersey, told the story of the author growing up under the tutelage and mentorship of a Lipan Apache scout and shaman named Stalking Wolf.”
― Harley Rustad, Lost in the Valley of Death: A Story of Obsession and Danger in the Himalayas – Investigative Narrative About an American Backpacker's Spiritual Quest and Unsolved Mystery in India

“Since the early 1990s, dozens of international backpackers have vanished without a trace while traveling in and around the Parvati Valley, an average of one every year, earning this tiny, remote sliver of the subcontinent a dark reputation as India’s backpacker Bermuda Triangle.”
― Harley Rustad, Lost in the Valley of Death: A Story of Obsession and Danger in the Himalayas – Investigative Narrative About an American Backpacker's Spiritual Quest and Unsolved Mystery in India

“If you are too hard with your life,” the monk had said, “you won’t see that your life is falling apart.” Then the monk had placed a rock into Justin’s palm. “Twist it, turn it around. Look at that rock,” the monk had said. “That is pain in your life. Now squeeze it.” The more tightly Justin had squeezed, the more it had hurt. “The same with your life as with your pain,” the monk had said. “Treat both gently.”
― Harley Rustad, Lost in the Valley of Death: A Story of Obsession and Danger in the Himalayas – Investigative Narrative About an American Backpacker's Spiritual Quest and Unsolved Mystery in India

“There was also a small altar covered in a silk scarf on which Terry had placed a copper vase filled with water, an incense burner, and an idol of Ganesha, the adored elephant-headed god, in front of which he continued to practice meditation, yoga, and read Hindu texts.”
― Harley Rustad, Lost in the Valley of Death: A Story of Obsession and Danger in the Himalayas – Investigative Narrative About an American Backpacker's Spiritual Quest and Unsolved Mystery in India

“The pain of life is pure salt; no more, no less,” the master says. “The amount of pain in life remains the same, exactly the same. But the amount of bitterness we taste depends on the container we put the pain in.”
― Harley Rustad, Lost in the Valley of Death: A Story of Obsession and Danger in the Himalayas – Investigative Narrative About an American Backpacker's Spiritual Quest and Unsolved Mystery in India

“If the expanse of a desert humbles and the restriction of a forest disorientates, the intimacy of a valley comforts”
― Harley Rustad, Lost in the Valley of Death: A Story of Obsession and Danger in the Himalayas – Investigative Narrative About an American Backpacker's Spiritual Quest and Unsolved Mystery in India

“Your life doesn’t just belong to you. Your life belongs to everyone who loves you, and if you’re careless with that, you’re careless with their love.”
― Harley Rustad, Lost in the Valley of Death: A Story of Obsession and Danger in the Himalayas – Investigative Narrative About an American Backpacker's Spiritual Quest and Unsolved Mystery in India