Stricken

"We are not attuned, not at one, we lack the instinct
of migrant birds."
-Rainer Maria Rilke

I read this recently and it struck me so profoundly that I am now writing this. Like so many other people I am oftentimes struck by the absurdity of my day-to-day life. I won't go too far into that now; suffice to say that I am coming to terms with the fact that I am deeply, dangerously detached from what I believe to be reality. For example, each morning on my way to work this autumn I have passed a man whose job it is to sweep leaves and throw them away.
How many other people see this each day? How many people are there employed on are planet who regularly clear leaves from pavement? To my thinking, the absurdity of this is clear. With a little rain and a number of days those leaves would be just fine and perhaps that man I see each day might have the time to be more gainfully employed elsewhere.

What is a fact, though, is that without the pavement the leaves would not need to be cleared and my knees and ankles would be less messed up. There would be fewer marketing myths mustered to "protect" our feet and we would every day step on the earth as it actually is.

It is deeply beneficial to run (and walk, and just move!) on natural ground. And I know there is the point of view that all things on earth are natural and that we- whatever we do- are carrying out things according to nature. But I reject that thinking.

I believe that we as human beings have reached a stage in our existence at which we are going against nature.

I don't want to deny any longer that I am an animal. And actually, I don't deny it: I forget it. I think it was Deleuze I was reading- or watching a lecture about him- in which I read/heard the idea that we need to be less human and more animal. And it's true. I couldn't agree more. The world- Earth- is an expression and it is part of the universe. The wind we feel is a universal element, it is something that happens in the universe. And so are we. And I know this sounds contradictory but I think we have stepped outside of this. I think that there is a choice now- and I'm hesitant to say that the universe has a choice (I don't know what I think about this yet)- but we have choices, and we are part of the universe. And I think that when our choices lead us to pave over the earth and to insulate ourselves against the naturally occurring world, then they are the wrong choices.

So that is the purpose of this blog. I want to regain what has been lost. I want to genuinely follow my instinct.

First things first, I need to figure out myself some more. And this will require me to tear down the curtains.

Anyhow, I'm rambling and I'll curtail that for the moment so that I have some future content.