Magic

I have felt displaced since I returned from Nepal - as though my world has been shaken. I am seeing things - life - people - much differently now. Until I read this yesterday, I haven't been able to find the words to describe how I have been feeling -

Most people in our society will never experience the adventure that still exists in places other than King's Cross and, for a privileged few, in space rides to the moon. This is our world. Its benefits are enormous, but so are its dangers. The dangers are those of existing for personal security and comfort, of remaining unaware of other sides to life. We worry whether our clothes and cars and emotions and opinions match the current fashion. We allow these things to assume more importance than the magic of being alive. Meanwhile most people on earth manage to live full lives with only the simplest of trappings. Living the city life it is easy to forget that humanity is not the centre of the universe.

Beyond the suburbs the bush begins. Our lifestyle does no more than acknowledge the existence of wild places. For most, the bush is seen as the distance between two towns, or as a place for a picnic, or to drive through for a change of air. Yet the stillness of green forest smells of life so much more than the noise and haste of concrete jungles. Mountains radiate a sense of timelessness. They are harsher than the forests, less malleable to the whims of industry. In the high mountains there is no question of values. Humans are simply insignificant. In the wilderness we can feel that something larger than us exists, and it is detached from our petty ambitions and frustrations, independent of our complex society. Reality "is", although we cannot describe it with words or photographs or mathematics. The need to seek out this essence has driven people from the comforts of civilised life to the remotest mountains and widest oceans. The struggle for the right to live is the ultimate challenge of life. People in our society are fortunate to be able to choose that challenge, when so much of the world faces the fight to live every day.