This quote by Muir strikes me both as grounded and fanciful.
It is grounded in that it so clearly describes a condition I (at least) suffer too much from: the degeneration into a machine for making money. Arguably of course this is a real condition: for better or worse, the modern world runs on money and I (for better or worse) am in the modern world.
And it is easy - too easy - to get drawn in by all of this. How easily my allotted and expected work time of 40 hours a week creeps upward into the 50s or more as tasks appear on my list, important things which "must get done" - even as I remind myself that my life has been full of critical projects and timelines that all "had to get done" but which 95% went absolutely nowhere but into the abyss of failed products and failed products.
And yes, it is easy to say that I often learn nothing from "the trivial world of men". Certainly not in the current events or popular culture of the modern world; if anything, the more I step away from it the more I realize it has little to offer. I do learn from the world of men, but it is a world that is now past us, a world of the ancients and the historical, of things that have stood the test of time instead of the flush and flash of modern thinking.
But fanciful as well.
Do the mountains (or Nature) have news? Of course they do, for those with ears and eyes to see it. And yes, perhaps Muir was able to "break away" to hear it. But most of us - certainly myself - are not in a position to "break away" at will. We have to take our news as we can get it, through walks or working outdoors or the hikes or outings fit in to that mundane world of work.
There is, perhaps, a combination where such a thing works -neither degraded into a money-making trivial loving automaton nor fleeing the world without a consideration of responsibilities - but it seems beyond me at this point. At best I can try to find an uncomfortable compromise, pushing back work to its acceptable boundaries and increasing the other world in a planned and thoughtful way.
Is this the price of civilization? I am not sure. But it is certainly the price of the modern world, which makes both royalty and servants of most of us.
What a great quote from John Muir. My dad was a fan of his photography, but I never considered that he was an author as well. I just checked librivox.org and have discovered that they've recorded 21 of his books.
ReplyDeleteI think few people actually realize that the world as we know it isn't fulfilling for their souls. It isn't the world we were created for, yet here we are. Those who do realize it are stuck trying to navigate trade-offs, and that has its own frustrations.
I think deep down, everybody wants a sense of purpose but being a money-making machine is rarely fulfilling. It can only offer the illusion that the "stuff" of the world is the prize. Sadly, even when we realize it, the world as we know it won't let us go.
Ah, the mouse on the treadmill realization.....having to pay those daily bills while checking out the amount of vacation time there is. There are considerable numbers of folks taking that time off because firearm deer season starts tomorrow in the state. Couple of my neighbors are heading out today for Up North, out into the woods and away from "civilization" for a bit. I'll be counting the number of deer I see on the street while they're gone.......:)
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