Ah, the good old days

I thought I'd add a picture today. This is me directing the junior monks in gardening methods of the late 1800's. We keep up appearances for the tourists who visit us during the summer and autumn months and I like to think we give them a vision of a simpler time that was actually in fact very recent, no more than 150 years ago.

The last two centuries have seen unprecedented change in our landscape, society and lifestyles. Having once lived in the burgeoning metropolis of Cardiff, I feel I have a direct connection to the stresses and anxieties lumped on people by the constant change that our species faces. My current situation only serves to highlight how far we have removed ourselves from what was a simpler and less crowded lifestyle not so long ago. In the solitude this island offers, I can afford my brain and body the time needed to absorb, assimilate and adjust to all the challenges my more rustic life faces, a luxury that city folk are sadly missing. They are buffeted from all sides by commerce, marketing, advertising, peer pressure, cost of living increases, subliminal bullshit, propaganda, bias, stereotyping and all sorts of other crapulence.

It is in our nature to seek out other people and to interact with them. On an animal level we require contact for mating and continuation. On another (perhaps spritual) level we need to find that we aren't alone. We need affirmation daily of who and what we are, even where we are. The most obvious yardstick then is to find other people and measure ourselves. There are better, more spiritual ways of learning about ourselves, but as a starting point we rely on other people to remind ourselves of ourselves. But at what point does it all become unhealthy? People gravitate towards each other naturally, but at what point does such a grouping become unnatural? City streets, flats on top of flats, the press of people on the high street, grey faces. I moved away because I felt that there was no room to be human there. Cities twist life. Compare the rats from the countryside with those in the connurbations! Look at the 'seagulls' that inhabit the roofs of high rise buildings and terraced streets, as far removed from what a gull should be as you can possibly imagine. Look at the urban pigeons, all greasy and fidgety. Get yourself into the countryside and see a pigeon in its rightful place, full of colour and beauty. Look at the humans in the cities, crammed into boxes upon boxes, all directions chosen for them by the pavements and roads, nowhere that they can call secret or special or unique. Compare them to the humans who live in the hills, in the countryside, on the farms. How can a city human feel the seasons properly, understand the land and understand themselves in relation to it all? What it means to be human is slowly being lost. Whereas it once meant being in touch with our reality, more and more we have our realities made for us to keep us in thrall. Remove yourselves from your situations. Challenge and question everything and start doing things differently again, instinctively and animal-like. Reclaim your heritage! Be human again.


This pompous diatribe is brought to you courtesy of a pompous cock.