Being lost, I think, must be a modern affliction. It requires a collapse of personal geography. And herein lies a paradox. As our species becomes more successful, more populous, we fracture the world into ever tighter panoramas—into countries, provinces, towns, neighborhoods, streets, houses, rooms, “private space.” In this way, a proportionally larger share of the planet becomes alien, exotic, threatening, unknown. Today, we take up residence in our navels. We forget: The entire world is ours. We possess it. It is ours to move through. The anxiety of becoming lost in it—the jail-yard lifer’s fear of losing sight of his cell—is another unhappy side effect, like bad teeth, of sedentary life.
...
I consult my GPS. A reflex. I remind myself: The people who discovered the world were going nowhere.
This is where we are, there is no better place. Our tribe has walked from Eden into Eden. Whatever we do or strive for, whatever we think ails us, whatever we feel we are missing. All the loss and all the love is here. Let us discover this again and again every day . This is my wish for 2014.
4 comments:
Thank you, Sabine. Wishing you 'n Frohes Neues! You're a wee bit closer to 2014. I'll be right behind you.
"The world’s first walkers had no maps. I try to imagine this.
Our original journeys across the world featured no preplanned routes, no shortcuts, no destinations."
Thank you so much for the link to Out of Eden Walk. Kind wishes for 2014.
Lovely post and thanks for the Out of Eden Walk! This beautiful earth----------may we all be blessed in the coming year.
When I think of us as a species early in our evolutionary walk, I think of the footprints of Laetoli. We may not have known where we were headed, but I think our walk had objectives, like food, shelter, tribe. We walk the same walk, but now we leave a carbon footprint.
Post a Comment