faupauxs |
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Plugged In
If you feel like there is something missing in your life, it may be that you have become separated from the rhythms of nature. In the vast span of human history we have recently succeeded in closing off the world around us. We have become city dwellers, apartment dwellers, in an electrified habitat. Our sustenance comes from alternating current. We stand apart from nature and look at it through a picture window as the undulating hum of electric appliances fills the background. There is polyester-nylon-fiber carpet beneath our feet where once there was grass. Our feet go from carpet to steel and we drive away: intent on our destination we are unaware of the subtle music of the trees and the earth.
Daily routine continues and there is no respite as our shoes meet the sidewalk; an immeasurable tract of cement that seals away brown dirt for the sake of cleanliness and convenience only permitting organized eruptions of quasi-natural trees which were grafted and pruned for aesthetic purposes. Our journey brings us to a threshold. We stand before a cubic monument to modern life called an office building. These mountains of tangled steel and concrete come to life as a million kilowatts of electricity are piped into them. The current is rhythmic, like an artificial pulse feeding blood through an artery.
Somewhere in the middle of this beast is a 6×6 ft. square of particleboard with a desk on it. On this desk sits a computer screen that displays a distant land with palm trees in 32 bit resolution, kept alive by an A/C capillary. Our feet shuffle through a revolving door and quickly board an elevator that takes us to this ‘cubicle hive’ which is illuminated by hissing fluorescent bulbs. We work diligently and methodically as we are marinated in voltage. Lunch hour arrives and we realize that there is a hunger deep within ourselves that can’t be suppressed with food. This insistent hunger is in all of us and reminds us of a more organic past. It urges us to go outside, away from the pulsating beat of civilization where all the sensations of nature can be experienced with clarity. Unfortunately we’ve fabricated an environment where it is nearly impossible to escape electricity; we’ve tethered ourselves with bright orange extension cords. Our creation of convenience is now a ball and chain. If a large city like New York or London lost power for a week in the middle of winter, people would die. Electricity has become as necessary as food, water and air because of human innovation, and the knowledge it takes to live without electricity has become obsolete.
There is another way to live though, in landscapes unburdened by the artificial creations of man. Places where trees emerge from the brown earth of their own accord, where nature isn’t segregated from daily life and its melodies feed the soul. There are people who haven’t forgotten the meaning of symbiosis. Daily life is synchronized with the ebb and flow of the environment: nature by definition is something that must be worked with, not against. Living without electricity can be very rewarding. Stories replace television, stereos are replaced by song and video games by imagination. It is the kind of life where creativity is developed free from artificial forms of entertainment. A life where an intimate relationship with nature is fostered and reciprocated. A life where simplicity in all things is truly appreciated.
If your path in life ever brings you to this place stay for as long as you can. Daybreak will beckon you to rise and your feet will be met by the cool earth. The natural light from the sun will fuel your body as you cook over unbridled flame. You might hear the wind and clouds whispering secrets about rain to come. The birds listen too and fly low. Forest creatures provide the evenings comedy hour as you watch an agitated squirrel curse at an intrusive woodpecker, or a raccoon that caught the wrong end of a crayfish. You will be filled with a unique contentedness that comes from finding balance and knowing how you fit into this world. There are an infinite number of puzzle pieces in the cosmos and if you find your place (even for just a little while) it will probably be in a natural environment.