21 July 2016



Val Senales, Alto Adige, Italy

We humans need to be close to, and opposed to, and sometimes subservient to, and always respectful of the physical realities of the planet we live on. We need to receive its pure silences and attend to its winds, to wade through its rivers and sweat under its sun, to plough through its sands and sleep on its bumps. Not all the time but often enough for us to remember that we are animals. Clever animals, yet ultimately dependent, like any animal, on the forces of Nature. Whole areas of one's humanity could become atrophied if one remained always within a world where motor-roads are more important than trees and speed is more important than silence.

Dervla Murphy


3 comments:

Steve Reed said...

Unfortunately, I do fear that humanity has atrophied for many people as every generation we get farther and farther away from nature. (I say that fully aware that I am a city dweller myself!)

Anonymous said...

We have atrophied. Now we see people walking around looking at their phones and not at the world around them when they are outside. Such a sad disconnect.

am said...

Thank you for the introduction to Dervla Murphy. Good to hear her voice!