Dersu Uzala lives in the Taiga and has all the senses and instincts well developed to use all nature provides him to survive. Then, the "captain" arrives with the whole troop to perform a topographic study of the area. They bump into Dersu who becomes their guide and helps them survive in the taiga, investigate and get to know how one must act in nature, since he is an expert and perfectly knows how to live in there. For instance, when they found themselves lost in the steppe and they must stay one night in there, Dersu's knowledge let them survive by constructing a kind of tend with the "grass" they can find in order to stay warm and protected during the night. Then, they realise it is not that easy to live in there, since one must have all senses well awaken and one must not be blind: it is essential to understand how nature works, which might be a bit scary at first since we have never had this relationship with nature, which becomes necessary baring in mind we have come from there.
Another interesting fact to highlight is how Dersu, or also known as "the hunter", called or referred to almost everything as people, wanting to allude them to something which had "life", such as the sun, water or the moon. Dersu might use this word trying to mean it all has a function within nature. Calling everything "people" surprises others, since they only see nature as something external, isolated, composed by flora and fauna, but without actually understanding what "nature" is since they see it as something to which they do not completely belong, but something added. Despite living in the Earth which is mainly or is completely nature, people do not understand not know what nature is and represents to us; by not creating this bond with it, one cannot oversee nor comprehend that inside it everything makes sense and that we are part of it.
So, why is it important to help children establish this bond with nature and let them get in contact with it? Because they need to awaken and develop all their senses, build a relationship with nature to awaken the animal essence that also defines us and the instincts that might have been disconnected. Nature demands us to have all our senses and instincts active to live in it, being then the only way to properly and well develop them.
Concerning the competence of problem solving, while creating this relationship, this competence can be perfectly accomplished in nature, since not all situations and conditions can be found or reproduced in cities or villages that are separated from nature. In order to survive in it, this competence must be well achieved and developed, because one must get by in it and try to use all what it provides. This fact gets the "captain's" attention: they thought they exactly knew how to properly live and survive in nature or even know how it works; however, they realise that they were wrong since they did not have properly developed this competence and it would not have been possible for them to survive in those conditions if it were not for Dersu.
Moreover, within Dersu's world, he is free in nature, as long as he understands and adapts himself to nature and makes the most of the resources he is given and has it on hand. Thus, when he gets to the city, everything he knew was useless, which makes us see how hugely disconnected we are from nature, since it does not have any relation to the life in the city and the competences gained in nature are eventually of no use. So then, the idea of nature people have in the city/town does not belong to the real and purest nature. Additionally, when Dersu gets blind and old, one finally realises that he would have not survived in nature if he remained alone and in those conditions, making us be aware of the need of having all senses developed and awaken.
What is more, when he gets to the city, one can notice that with all the norms and rules established in there, freedom is actually null. Norms paralyse and do not let us freely move and, consequently, they completely destroy and void the creative process that is sought to achieve and that is needed to evolve. Therefore, we find out that both ways of living are not compatible. Despite having sharing or having some common aspects, there are lots that also make them different: in both of them, norms or rules are present; however, the amount or type of norms are not the same. Norms and rules should be well chosen in a way they do not limit our complet development as people. Thus, this aspect should also be considered in the educational field throughout promoting spaces and freedom of creation. Then, everyone's aptitudes and qualities would be completely developed.
In conclusion, pupils should be provided with spaces and freedom to create this relationship with nature in order for them to properly develop themselves and awaken and stimulate all their senses and instincts so as to make good use of them.
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