The Last American Man Read Online Free Page A

this powerful, humbling,
     extraordinary, and eternal life force that surges and ebbs around us all the time?
    Apparently not. Because we seem to have stopped paying attention. Or this is what Eustace Conway perceives when he looks around
     America. He sees a people who have fallen out of step with the natural cycles that have defined humanity’s existence and culture
     for millennia. Having lost that vital connection with nature, the nation is in danger of losing its humanity. We are not alien
     visitors to this planet, after all, but natural residents and relatives of every living entity here. This earth is where we
     came from and where we’ll all end up when we die, and, during the interim, it is our home. And there’s no way we can ever
     hope to understand ourselves if we don’t at least marginally understand our home. That is the understanding we need to put
     our lives in some bigger metaphysical context.
    Instead, Eustace sees a chilling sight—a citizenry so removed from the rhythms of nature that we march through our lives as
     mere sleepwalkers, blinded, deafened, and senseless. Robotically existing in sterilized surroundings that numb the mind, weaken
     the body, and atrophy the soul. But Eustace believes we can get our humanity back. When we contemplate the venerable age of
     a mountain, we get it. When we observe the superb order of water and sunlight, we get it. When we experience firsthand the
     brutal poetry of the food chain, we get it. When we are mindful of every nuance of our natural world, we finally get the picture:
     that we are each given only one dazzling moment of life here on Earth, and we must stand before that reality both humbled
     and elevated, subject to every law of our universe and grateful for our brief but intrinsic participation within it.
    Granted, this is not a radical concept. Every environmentalist in the world operates on a philosophy based on these same hypotheses.
     But what sets Eustace Conway apart from every other environmentalist is the peculiar confidence he’s had since earliest childhood
     that it is his personal destiny to snap his countrymen out of their sleepwalk. He has always believed that he alone has this power and this responsibility,
     that he was to be the vessel of change. One man, one vision.
    And this was his precise vision—that, one by one,Americans would come to his mystical utopia in the woods. There, under his
     guidance, they would shed the frailty, ignorance, and pettiness brought about by their contemporary upbringing. Using his
     charisma as a lure, he would lead people back into the wilderness, uncoil their blindfolds, point them toward the stunning
     vista of the unspoiled frontier, and say, “Behold!” Then he would stand back and watch the awakening.
    Eustace always envisioned groups of children coming to participate in primitive summer camps, but he would also welcome adults—
     apprentices—who, for extended periods of time, would seriously study a natural way of life under his leadership. Of course
     he knows it’s impossible to drag every single American into the woods with him, which is why he is also committed to going
     out into the world with his message and delivering the woods directly to the people himself—carrying the very smell of the
     wilderness in his hair and on his skin and within his words. He would preach and teach his doctrine in every school, at every
     state fair, in every mall and parking lot and gas station he could find. He would passionately speak to any businessman, baby-sitter,
     housewife, hooker, millionaire, and crackhead in America.
    With Eustace’s energy and through his example—he has always been certain of it—Americans would gradually be transformed. They
     would grow and learn and once again be strong and resourceful. Then they would leave Eustace’s side and disseminate their
     newfound knowledge among their brethren. In this evangelical manner, Eustace Conway’s vision of perfect