I had a moment during lockdown, when all I had to do was make sure we ate, had shelter and water, where I suddenly felt I could see what it was to be human. With everything stripped back to the simplest form of living I could see the day to night to day stretching out in front of me until death. The rhythm that would not stop until I died. It was quite scary when I saw it but it felt like real time. I think when we fill our time with nonsense then we fail to see the inevitability of our time. Running is simple.
That's what's hard isn't it. You feel caught up in a machine and responsible for and to people. To live more simply would seem totally radical and selfish, even though it's the most straightforward solution.
A lot of ties to Annie Dillard here. One of my favorites, "...beauty and grace are performed whether or not we will or sense them. The least we can do is try to be there."
I had a moment during lockdown, when all I had to do was make sure we ate, had shelter and water, where I suddenly felt I could see what it was to be human. With everything stripped back to the simplest form of living I could see the day to night to day stretching out in front of me until death. The rhythm that would not stop until I died. It was quite scary when I saw it but it felt like real time. I think when we fill our time with nonsense then we fail to see the inevitability of our time. Running is simple.
That's what's hard isn't it. You feel caught up in a machine and responsible for and to people. To live more simply would seem totally radical and selfish, even though it's the most straightforward solution.
A lot of ties to Annie Dillard here. One of my favorites, "...beauty and grace are performed whether or not we will or sense them. The least we can do is try to be there."
Her chapter on the "The Present" is also amazing.
Will check it out, thanks.
School's out for summer!