Being Filled with Awe and Wonder?
I’m a city dweller and proud of it. I’m also quite lazy. These things combined illustrate my own personal truth, I actually don’t take that much pleasure in the great outdoors.The architect Frank Lloyd Wright once said “I believe in God, only I spell it Nature”. I don’t spell it like that all.
It’s not that I’m not impressed by really spectacular scenery, I am, but my enjoyment of the beauty of even the most amazing views or sights is fleeting. Added to that, all these things usually involve walking some way, probably up a hill and as I say, I’m lazy. I’m not averse to a short walk in the woods, I enjoy the peace and quiet, but mostly, I’d say that it was quite nice, rather than awe inspiring.
I can get a lot more enthusiastic about beautiful modern architecture than I do about scenery. I’m passionate about travelling, but I’m much more interested in what people have done to a place, than the raw environment. But even then, it’s a simple curiousity that drives me, rather than seeking great inspiration.
On the other hand, if I want to change or heighten my mood, I listen to music. I have reasonably eclectic tastes ranging from thrash metal, through folk and mid 20th century avant garde classical stuff. It astounds me that there’s always something new and exciting to say. Just by listening to music I can be brought into a different state of mind, I can experience joy, happiness, sadness, anger and cathartic release. I’m with Nietzsche when he said “Without music, life would be a mistake”.
It seems somehow a bit pathetic (and certainly human-centric) to say that I believe in God but I spell it music, but really it’s true for me. I should probably be grateful that I can play a musical instrument and can create my own if I need to. I’m certainly grateful to be living since the advent of recording technology, as I’m experiencing probably the most music drenched environment that there’s been.
I’m sometimes surprised that not everyone is attached to music as I am, I guess that people can be inspired by all sorts of different things, that other people merely appreciate.
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I love both music and the outdoors. My sons have inherited the music gene (the youngest will definitely surpass me in skill by the time he finishes college), but their outdoor gene seems to be dormant, especially in the older one.
I guess that it sometimes comes up on people as they grow older - others of us are never going to get it.
I’m tagging you for the blogroll meme. Come over to the chapel to check out the really easy rules.
It usually takes me about two weeks of being away from civilization and immersed in nature before I’ve unwound enough that I can really begin to appreciate the experience. But that’s just me.