So here I stand, spouting an opinion, and opinion spouted by many others in many different formats with an expectation you will read, listen, absorb.
If you have ever watched the TV program Dr Who you may have picked up on this. For those who have never had the pleasure I would recommend it. I was born the day after the first episode was aired in the UK, so have a certain affinity with the person in question.
Why I hear you ask, well let me tell you!
This is a quote from one of the incarnations to his soon to be 'assistant':
Rose Tyler : Really though, Doctor. Tell me. Who are you?
The Doctor : Do you know like we were saying, about the earth revolving? It's like when you're a kid, the first time they tell you that the world is turning and you just can't quite believe it 'cause everything looks like it's standing still. I can feel it...
[he takes her hand]
The Doctor : - the turn of the earth. The ground beneath our feet is spinning at a thousand miles an hour. The entire planet is hurtling around the sun at sixty seven thousand miles an hour. And I can feel it. We're falling through space, you and me, clinging to the skin of this tiny little world. And, if we let go...
From: https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0562992/characters/nm0001172
There are two points here, the first being, being able to feel the earth spinning, the perception of momentum, gravity and being able to sense the edges of life, and the second, the letting go of the perception of hanging on, of letting yourself release the learning, the indoctrination of modern life. There is a freedom here, an almost anarchic freedom that allows you to experience the expanse of nature, ask questions and expand into a space not defined by the skin of your body.
In his book Silence (in the age of noise) Erling Kagge talks about becoming part of the environment and your body not ending at your fingertips. Here that may be a critical perspective, although he is talking about it in relation to silence and detachment from others, by immersing yourself in nature to the point where the edges are blurred and there is a loss of definition, then a merging or a return to a state of inclusion has to be a destination worth walking towards. To meaningfully merge with and engage with a tree, a toad, a cloud or even gravity could be the coolest thing you have ever done.
Are we any closer? Probably not, but there is an essence here, a thought that you might like to sit and dwell on, immerse yourself in, ponder and pontificate. Find the edges then see what lies beyond.
