Alan Watts said a truly ‘hip’ soul can both play the game and not play the game. I am trying to find that ‘hipness’ (balance)!
Re: ‘connecting with Nature’. In the city or in the suburbs it is not necessary to plan and implement a physical get-away to another geographic place to connect. It could be in back yard, or in a vacant lot of weeds. Nature is everywhere. It may not be spectacular in the sense of Niagra Falls, or the Grand Canyon, or the African veldt, etc. But it is just as vital. And wherever you go, there you are — everywhere is what we bring to it!
When I lived and worked in high-rises in downtown Chicago, I would take my lunch (weather permitting) out of doors. I would find a spot under a tree on some grass and sit. Feel the sun. Watch the sparrows, pigeons, insects, look at the clouds, touch the leaves. It helped me cope with the crush of urban life while I was in it. A few years later, before we moved to the forest, my late husband and I lived in a near NW neighborhood of Chicago — we walked around as often as we could. After a rainstorm I witnessed multiple colonies of some ant species engaging in ‘nuptial’ activity — winged queens and drones crawling out of cracks in the sidewalk, taking flight to breed and begin new colonies. Then I saw dragonflies catching and eating flying ants. THEN I witnessed a Sparrow Hawk catching dragonflies. I pointed this out to my husband and we were rapt. I suppose some might find it brutal, but to me it was beautiful. Alas, I would wager a hefty bet that none of my neighbors noticed much of anything...except maybe ("EWW!") the flying ants...if they even recognized them as ants.
Always great to hear you in conversation, T.H.
Alan Watts said a truly ‘hip’ soul can both play the game and not play the game. I am trying to find that ‘hipness’ (balance)!
Re: ‘connecting with Nature’. In the city or in the suburbs it is not necessary to plan and implement a physical get-away to another geographic place to connect. It could be in back yard, or in a vacant lot of weeds. Nature is everywhere. It may not be spectacular in the sense of Niagra Falls, or the Grand Canyon, or the African veldt, etc. But it is just as vital. And wherever you go, there you are — everywhere is what we bring to it!
When I lived and worked in high-rises in downtown Chicago, I would take my lunch (weather permitting) out of doors. I would find a spot under a tree on some grass and sit. Feel the sun. Watch the sparrows, pigeons, insects, look at the clouds, touch the leaves. It helped me cope with the crush of urban life while I was in it. A few years later, before we moved to the forest, my late husband and I lived in a near NW neighborhood of Chicago — we walked around as often as we could. After a rainstorm I witnessed multiple colonies of some ant species engaging in ‘nuptial’ activity — winged queens and drones crawling out of cracks in the sidewalk, taking flight to breed and begin new colonies. Then I saw dragonflies catching and eating flying ants. THEN I witnessed a Sparrow Hawk catching dragonflies. I pointed this out to my husband and we were rapt. I suppose some might find it brutal, but to me it was beautiful. Alas, I would wager a hefty bet that none of my neighbors noticed much of anything...except maybe ("EWW!") the flying ants...if they even recognized them as ants.
What jerm was saying isn't to do more...
It was that many people listen to the information, but they sit on the fence and don't apply it to their lives.
It's like someone who knows bread and pasta can mess them up continue to eat it.