#30 - Fire

Sitting hunkered over a fire, poking at it, feeling its warmth and gazing into its flickering flame is a ritual that is ingrained in and essential to the soul. From the beginning it has been so; I am convinced.

Drawn to the fire over the eons in mud and stick shelters having only smoke holes in the roof, there must have been some smiles now and then on those early faces, and on the faces of prehistoric hunters living in caves or encamped on the sandy bank of an ancient stream. Aside from the pure utility of fire as weapon, tool and cookfire, the light, heat and comfort generated by a fire on a cold and forbidding night had to have had an incalculable effect on the fearful, struggling soul of early man. All through the long saga of our experience on this planet, I am confident this was so, that man's existence, even his thoughts on existence, were inextricably intertwined with the flame.

Of the first four elements originally described, earth, air and water quite plainly encompassed all of life. They were the world. So too was fire a basic element, ever-present, the light and energy source of life. Yet, of the four, fire had the power to allay the fear of darkness, to draw those crouching figures together with a common bond, seeking the light, warmth, comfort and safety of a fire. It is most certain such scenes figured largely in the early family gatherings of man.

And there was a magic about fire as well: dancing and flickering in the chill night, it could cast mystical shadows and throw the power of its light over great distances. What would have been a ceremonial dance without the dramatic backdrop of leaping orange flames? How great a dread could have been inspired in the hearts of an enemy without a blaze of torches mounting the ridge above their in encampment? In countless ways, as man became more and more involved with the element of fire, its very presence clearly signaled the presence of man.

And of course, we have not been without it since. Yet, there has been a tendency, whether in the name of thermal efficiency or in the attempt to erase this remnant of our primitive past, to remove our fires to the furnace in the basement. Yes, we have come a long way in our thinking and the way we live our lives, but we are still creatures who till the soil, gulp at the ocean of air around us and quench our thirst with water. We are not really so much removed from the past that we should so quickly abandon the practice of hunkering over a fire.

In recent years there has been a refreshing return to the more basic use of wood-fueled fire to heat our homes. The emphasis has been on heat, and the approach has been both scientific and highly technical. A wealth of books on the subject has filled our thinking with BTUs, bi-metallic damper controls and energy conversion factors for many different species of wood. As is typical, it has been a headlong rush of innovation, often sporting unstylish, unsentimental design. Artful workmanship and the spiritual needs of our inner nature seem to have been forgot, and the heretofore important feature of our habitation, the fireplace and hearth, has fallen to scorn - it is simply too inefficient.

But there is a ray of hope for old times’ sake. Maybe it is a reflection of our inability to go on forever suppressing a deep instinct. More and more of the wood-fire stove manufacturers are incorporating glass in the front door so that the flickering flames can be seen, and people gladly pay more for it. The stove in our kitchen has not only glass doors, but two holes so that I can poke at the fire as well. This makes me happy. (Not so happy as my fireplace however.)

I would never want to live in a house without a fireplace, no matter what its reputed drawbacks. It is a lot more than a place to get warm or to cook a hunk of meat. An open fire in the evening is there for my all-around satisfaction, whether luring me into a trance of faraway thought or keeping me warm company along with a book and my dog. And the fire at my feet is far better than if it were across the room, because it is that intimate act of hunkering over and occasionally poking at a fire that brings on the complete contentment of an uncluttered mind.