Musings of a Road Shaman
Oct. 9th, 2002 09:22 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
vaxjediThis is another set of disconnected rants.
The truth is, I don't like driving all that much. Especially in the city. I do it because I have to in order to survive in the world. I'd much prefer mass transit if I had the option.
But I like roads. And I like cities.
Roads are ley lines, built by man. Down the center of each lane of a road, energy is hurtling at incredible speads. A road is just a long thin artifical desert - desert energy is hard and fast.
Drivers are riding that energy. Theenergy of all the drivers behind them, all those people whose thoughts are pushing towards their destinations, are slamming into the back of your car. They push you forward, needing you to go faster. And you have all those mirrors focused on the road. The energy reflects off of them, all focusing on you on the other end. It saturates you. You must go faster - you must reach your goal. Each driver becomes the focal point in a device of speed and power riding a never ending flash flood of ever-moving need to go somewhere.
No wonder road rage happens. No wonder people get pissy driving like nowhere else.
But when you are a pedestrian, you can take a look at the road, not just hold onto a bubble of metal being propelled along it. The needs of thousands of people leave their mark on the asphalt. The roads are the arteries and veins of the city. They are its breath and blood. They are the life of the city, moving from one place to another.
But the blood cannot see itself. The breath cannot consider itself. The driver will never understand the full ramifications of the road unless he walks it. Of course, the walker will not understand the nature of the energy unless he becomes it, by driving.
I am connected to nature more than I like to admit. I like the environment in Oregon much better than Iowa or Southern California. I like forests, really. Deserts aren't me. Neither are plains. But forests are good.
The thing is that while I am a pagan, I'm not gonzo about nature. I'm not an animal person. A lot of pagans are of the opinion that nature is an ideal. I don't buy that. Gaia evolves. That includes humans, technology, cities, roads, satelites, etc.
I love people, not animals. That's where I find God. Not in sunsets or wolves or flowers, but in people's eyes. In their kisses. In their voices and in their smiles.
That sounds incredibly sappy. But I don't know how else to express it.
The truth is, I don't like driving all that much. Especially in the city. I do it because I have to in order to survive in the world. I'd much prefer mass transit if I had the option.
But I like roads. And I like cities.
Roads are ley lines, built by man. Down the center of each lane of a road, energy is hurtling at incredible speads. A road is just a long thin artifical desert - desert energy is hard and fast.
Drivers are riding that energy. Theenergy of all the drivers behind them, all those people whose thoughts are pushing towards their destinations, are slamming into the back of your car. They push you forward, needing you to go faster. And you have all those mirrors focused on the road. The energy reflects off of them, all focusing on you on the other end. It saturates you. You must go faster - you must reach your goal. Each driver becomes the focal point in a device of speed and power riding a never ending flash flood of ever-moving need to go somewhere.
No wonder road rage happens. No wonder people get pissy driving like nowhere else.
But when you are a pedestrian, you can take a look at the road, not just hold onto a bubble of metal being propelled along it. The needs of thousands of people leave their mark on the asphalt. The roads are the arteries and veins of the city. They are its breath and blood. They are the life of the city, moving from one place to another.
But the blood cannot see itself. The breath cannot consider itself. The driver will never understand the full ramifications of the road unless he walks it. Of course, the walker will not understand the nature of the energy unless he becomes it, by driving.
I am connected to nature more than I like to admit. I like the environment in Oregon much better than Iowa or Southern California. I like forests, really. Deserts aren't me. Neither are plains. But forests are good.
The thing is that while I am a pagan, I'm not gonzo about nature. I'm not an animal person. A lot of pagans are of the opinion that nature is an ideal. I don't buy that. Gaia evolves. That includes humans, technology, cities, roads, satelites, etc.
I love people, not animals. That's where I find God. Not in sunsets or wolves or flowers, but in people's eyes. In their kisses. In their voices and in their smiles.
That sounds incredibly sappy. But I don't know how else to express it.
