Occasionally I've been asked if I like living where I do. Usually I've complained about being bored and not having anyone around, being far from places of interest, etc. I realize that all this is true, but that I like being here for different reasons. It's just a case of not having everything I want and need at the same time and place.
What I love about living on a farm is the freedom I have, exactly because there aren't other people around. I can walk around and be by myself, I can play loud music late into the night and dance if I feel like it. It's tranquil being close to nature, surrounded by plants, the sky and space. It gives me time to contemplate the Big Questions like how did we get here and where we are going.
On the other hand I feel distant and removed from people and society. I do drive to the city to spend leisure time there but I feel like a visitor, I am not like the people who live there. I can see the nice things about city living too. It's mostly the people who I find interesting. People create Culture: Art, Science, Technology, Architecture and Design, also music, parties and other social events. Without people there is still Nature, there is Sound, Light, Whether and the night sky filled with stars.
Why does one have to give up Nature to live among people?
I mentioned what I don't like about country living, mainly that it lacks Culture.
Now, what I don't like about city-living is that there is not enough of Nature. There are not enough parks and "green spaces", let alone any actual wilderness. Instead cities are filled with the noise, pollution of machines. People have become not only dependent but also trapped by our own technology designed to serve us. I am not only talking about cars, although that's a big part of it.
Another artifact of modern living I have uneasy feelings about is our attitude with time, the constant living by the clock, the incessant rush to get somewhere, to getting things done. It's as if the present is not as important as some imagined future, only we never get there. Around in circles we go, day after day - sleep, wake, do stuff, go to sleep again. Are other people also asking themselves what it's all for? The realization that I am all I am Now and this is my life...how do I feel about that...?
I like moments when I am not thinking about ways to be better, live better, have more of something... and just feel satisfied to be breathing, be conscious of my thoughts, my surroundings, to feel one with myself. I know what that means and feels like, and it comes from living close to nature.
A meditation I suggest for others to try is to sit in front a tree, not too close or too far. Then pay attention to your breathing and begin to notice how the tree also extends its roots into the ground and is connected to you and everything else on Earth. Life is all interconnected and interdependent. We are all part of it, and what we do is not less or more important and valuable then the life of other things on the planet.
These are just some realizations I have made while thinking.
Tuesday 24 July 2012
Wednesday 11 July 2012
Living like the Ants
It was during my morning run through the forest that this not so new idea came to me. I thought how beautiful and pristine nature is, but in order for us humans to live we destroy it to build housing complexes, roads and shopping plazas. I thought there must be another way.
We should live like the Ants.
Instead of building above-ground and wiping out entire ecosystems we can figure out a way to live underground. We can construct entire subterranean cities, complete with manufacturing complexes, storage and living space for thousands. All this while the surface is returned to a wild, natural state.
It occurred to me that by destroying what's left of Nature we are destroying ourselves, our humanity. Our very existence - physical and spiritual is dependent on the complex ecosystem of the Earth. We are not alone, or the only species on this planet that matters. Somehow people have lost that awareness and bond with nature, by isolating ourselves in cities, in buildings and freeways where wild nature has been mostly eradicated - perhaps inadvertently. This fissure with nature has made people sick, I think, in a spiritual way. Yet it manifests in other ways, physical stress, violence, crime, social unhappiness and resorting to fill this spiritual void with material goods and distractions.
As I ran on the narrow forest path I noticed something rustle in the shrubs and I came to a stop. It was a deer, rather large. When it sensed that I was not chasing it also stopped and looked back. I looked away, so as not to seem intimidating and slowly moved down the path away from the deer.
I felt good about this encounter, I felt part of nature. I realize that my distant ancestors may have hunted this deer for food to survive. Humanity has changed since then, we can produce all of our food and not even depend on animals.
The idea to adopt an ant-colony as a model for a human city came to me from watching a program about ants. Certain types of ants make elaborate underground cities, made up of many chambers connected by passageways. They bring in all the food they gather, leaf-mulch is used as substrate to grow fungi, which itself is used as food by the colony. Waste products are likewise disposed at another location. Each ant knows what to do, every one performs a function that benefits the whole colony. They still have to compete with other ant-colonies or life-forms for survival. Competition can be a healthy thing in nature, and improvement can come out of it.
I believe that human cities are the next "countries" that compete with each other for providing quality of living and sustainable use of resources.
Maybe an underground ant-colony is a silly idea for a human colony. We are different beings after all, with individuality and different needs to accommodate. On one side we need daylight, and it has to be piped in somehow from the surface. On the other temperatures are not as extreme underground, it's warmer in winter and cooler in summer, less energy use for heating and cooling. Air still needs to be circulated from the outside. Other details to work out are what the walls would be like, firstly to support the structure and secondly to protect from floods. There is plenty of experience from building mines and tunnels, so I am sure our ingenuity can be improved on.
Alas, what would underground dwelling be like, and would it be worth to save the surface from human development?
Today what disturbed the usual silence and tranquility of the forest was the sounds of chainsaws cutting trees. They were installing new power-lines I think, not taking down all the trees, but it made me think... What is the price we pay for "progress", and is this really better?!
Tonight I'll dream the dream of the ants.
We should live like the Ants.
Instead of building above-ground and wiping out entire ecosystems we can figure out a way to live underground. We can construct entire subterranean cities, complete with manufacturing complexes, storage and living space for thousands. All this while the surface is returned to a wild, natural state.
It occurred to me that by destroying what's left of Nature we are destroying ourselves, our humanity. Our very existence - physical and spiritual is dependent on the complex ecosystem of the Earth. We are not alone, or the only species on this planet that matters. Somehow people have lost that awareness and bond with nature, by isolating ourselves in cities, in buildings and freeways where wild nature has been mostly eradicated - perhaps inadvertently. This fissure with nature has made people sick, I think, in a spiritual way. Yet it manifests in other ways, physical stress, violence, crime, social unhappiness and resorting to fill this spiritual void with material goods and distractions.
As I ran on the narrow forest path I noticed something rustle in the shrubs and I came to a stop. It was a deer, rather large. When it sensed that I was not chasing it also stopped and looked back. I looked away, so as not to seem intimidating and slowly moved down the path away from the deer.
I felt good about this encounter, I felt part of nature. I realize that my distant ancestors may have hunted this deer for food to survive. Humanity has changed since then, we can produce all of our food and not even depend on animals.
The idea to adopt an ant-colony as a model for a human city came to me from watching a program about ants. Certain types of ants make elaborate underground cities, made up of many chambers connected by passageways. They bring in all the food they gather, leaf-mulch is used as substrate to grow fungi, which itself is used as food by the colony. Waste products are likewise disposed at another location. Each ant knows what to do, every one performs a function that benefits the whole colony. They still have to compete with other ant-colonies or life-forms for survival. Competition can be a healthy thing in nature, and improvement can come out of it.
I believe that human cities are the next "countries" that compete with each other for providing quality of living and sustainable use of resources.
Maybe an underground ant-colony is a silly idea for a human colony. We are different beings after all, with individuality and different needs to accommodate. On one side we need daylight, and it has to be piped in somehow from the surface. On the other temperatures are not as extreme underground, it's warmer in winter and cooler in summer, less energy use for heating and cooling. Air still needs to be circulated from the outside. Other details to work out are what the walls would be like, firstly to support the structure and secondly to protect from floods. There is plenty of experience from building mines and tunnels, so I am sure our ingenuity can be improved on.
Alas, what would underground dwelling be like, and would it be worth to save the surface from human development?
Today what disturbed the usual silence and tranquility of the forest was the sounds of chainsaws cutting trees. They were installing new power-lines I think, not taking down all the trees, but it made me think... What is the price we pay for "progress", and is this really better?!
Tonight I'll dream the dream of the ants.
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