(H3) Do you ever just look at the world around you and wonder how
beautiful it is and how much more it must have been before humans destroyed it
with their own ideas of perfection? Skyscrapers and housing developments
replacing forests and valleys, chasing our own version of a perfect reality. Do
we even really know what defines perfection? Is it just a certain amount of
reality's imperfections we deem acceptable? We “correct” the world around and
make the landscape bend to our will. I have such mixed feelings about the world
we have manipulated into our own. Sometimes I look around and see beautiful architecture
and mind-blowing technological advances and I think, wow, what a great age to
be alive. Simple things that we take for granted, like how a car or a camera
works, amaze and inspire me to explore and contribute to this man-made world in
which we live. Then I feel appalled by the excesses. The hundreds upon hundreds
of cars lined up in parking lots and traveling down extensive roads, the
unnecessary amount of restaurants and brands of foods in grocery stores, and
the obnoxious amount of people constantly glued to their phones walking down
the street. I'm not innocent of abusing any of these "luxuries" and
more, not by far. Now, I find myself feeling guilty for walking through the
world and not being a part of it, the real world, the way it was without our
interference. Recently when walking to and from class, I’ve been trying to
notice the beauty of our campus. The abundant number of squirrels scurrying
about, everywhere! The chorus of birds hidden in the trees. The way Walnut Grove
looks when the sun is peaking through the trees, illuminating every leaf. You
know what these all have in common, humans have not influenced these stunning
events. Yes, humans planted the trees, but nature took over from there. I guess
the purpose of this long rant is to ask you if you are taking the time to
notice the environment you live in, not the people or buildings but the trees
and the landscape. After all, isn’t a vibrant sunset more perfect than a structure
made of metal, glass, and stone.
(H3) There is a Japanese concept called Wabi Sabi. Wat is is basically imperfect perfection. It is accepting that we do not live in a world of perfections but a world of flaws. A world where a perfect paining a a stray line from the paint running. A world where that perfect building is actually leaning one degree to the right. It is accepting the imperfections of the world and finding the beauty in it.
ReplyDeleteThis is how I like too look at the world. I am very well aware of all the problems it has, more so than I would like actually, but I have learned to realize that what makes this world remarkable is not what makes it perfect, but what makes it imperfect and how that brings out the perfection.
Hmmmm. In my opinion, I think perfection would be the natural world around us and by destroying it, we are only starting further from perfection.
ReplyDeleteCan we really say that what we are destroying by building these updated technologies like you said no one really knows what perfection is what if nature is perfection?
ReplyDelete