I am cultivating a strong distaste for unnecessary straight lines. This may be the artist in me, but whenever I see a straight line, the word ignorance comes to mind. Why should ignorance be associated with linearity?
Have you ever thought that when you draw a curve on paper it is made up of many small straight lines? When we first start out to build something or create something knew, we often begin by thinking linearly. When wee do, we are taking the first steps in a much grander design.
My shock when looking at the world around me in the year 2008, is that there are so many straight lines. To my brain, the words, ignorant, ignorant, ignorant, keep coming up with each sight of a straight line. Its as if the world is just starting out and is so stupid that it cannot get past the straight line. Where I really get agitated is where I find that the straight line mentality destroys something superior in terms of design and thought. To my mind, its as if we as humans keep moving the world towards ignorance and ineffectiveness.
One of the most beautiful roads that I was able to drive over the past few weeks was a curvilinear road that actually respected trees driving around them rather than over 'them removed.' Its not man that is powerful when man builds a straight road. It is man at his worst. You only have to look around you and see the ugliness of the world men are creating while at the same time they are destroying beauty and intelligence. Yes! Planting a tree would be a first step towards intelligent man. Planting a tree where there are now highways would be a very smart move, but lets face it, mankind is pretty damn ignorant.
Scratches to Sketches
Monday, 4 February 2008
The Irony of Business As Usual
Have you ever sensed that the world is in a disconnected state from its own reality. You will mainly get this feeling when you experience two very different activities of people that are going in opposite directions at once.
Yesterday, I watched a video produced by a master yogi filmed in the canopy area of the Big Island of Hawaii. There Hayward was standing in the midst of the jungle praising the merits of healthy living. The only problem was that in the background one could first hear the chain saw cutting into one of the most beautiful of the tall trees that have up to that moment survived the actions of man. My greatest surprise was when I could very distinctly hear on the same tape the crushing sound of the big tree falling while Hayward was telling me of the merits of breathing deeply. To my mind the sound of a tree being felled is the worst sound of all, even more devastating than the sound of canon or explosive fire. In contrast, the sound of someone breathing deeply must be the most beautiful of sounds. In the killing of the tree there is death, in the breathing of air there is life.
No one can tell me that the felling of a tree is necessary in today's world. That would be a monstrous statement. There is no reason to kill trees to make more space for man to live. Such is the total disconnect of partial and misguided thinking that people don't see that trees have a right to life as much as people. Would that our people could realize this and give our forest friends, the wild birds, lizards, and pigs, a hope and freedom from human ignorance.
Hayward said to me, when asked by me, what could we do about the bad things that are happening to our beautiful canopies, 'plant a tree.'
Yesterday, I watched a video produced by a master yogi filmed in the canopy area of the Big Island of Hawaii. There Hayward was standing in the midst of the jungle praising the merits of healthy living. The only problem was that in the background one could first hear the chain saw cutting into one of the most beautiful of the tall trees that have up to that moment survived the actions of man. My greatest surprise was when I could very distinctly hear on the same tape the crushing sound of the big tree falling while Hayward was telling me of the merits of breathing deeply. To my mind the sound of a tree being felled is the worst sound of all, even more devastating than the sound of canon or explosive fire. In contrast, the sound of someone breathing deeply must be the most beautiful of sounds. In the killing of the tree there is death, in the breathing of air there is life.
No one can tell me that the felling of a tree is necessary in today's world. That would be a monstrous statement. There is no reason to kill trees to make more space for man to live. Such is the total disconnect of partial and misguided thinking that people don't see that trees have a right to life as much as people. Would that our people could realize this and give our forest friends, the wild birds, lizards, and pigs, a hope and freedom from human ignorance.
Hayward said to me, when asked by me, what could we do about the bad things that are happening to our beautiful canopies, 'plant a tree.'
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Sketches from scratches is a provocative blogspot that has grown out of the Wuh Lax experience. It is eclectic, which means that it might consider just about anything from the simple to the extremely difficult. A scratch can be something that is troubling me or a short line on paper. From a scratch comes a verbal sketch or image sketch of the issue or subject. Other sites have other stuff that should really be of interest to the broad reader. I try to develop themes, but variety often comes before depth.
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