being outside v. being in the outside

[Ken Meeks]

..Just a quick little observation I had today.  I am staying at a friend's house in Salt Lake City; beautiful house at the base of the mountains.  Like many expensive homes these days, it is a big house built on a small lot.  This means that the occupants are meant to spend most of their time indoors, not outdoors. There is, of course, a huge outdoor deck so that the occupants can enjoy being outside.  But, when one is on the deck are they truly being outside; are they truly experiencing the great outdoors. I think that they are more like an audience at a play-  they see the outdoors, they smell the outdoors; and they hear the outdoors, but they are not on stage being a part of the great production called nature.  They are merely sitting in their seats being spectators.  They are not lying in the grass lettting bugs crawl on them, or being watchful of snakes and spiders abd thorns and getting rocks in their shoes or dirt under their nails.  Sitting in the audience is safer, but less enriching.  We came from the natural world but we seem to be incrementally removing ourselves from it.  Is this evolution? 

 

[Joseph Bronson]

Wonderful observation. I do not believe that this is evolution. I believe this is what we should call a self imposed prison. It is so much more comfortable to observe than to participate.