Monday, March 22, 2010

the trees

This is going to be a little bit understated and simplified, but these realizations occurred to me whilst under the influence of psychedelic mushrooms, so there is really no other way. In my experience, nature is often considered to be simple, uncomplicated, direct and so on. Cities, on the other hand, are considered chaotic, busy, complex and the like. While these observations have truth in them, on the whole, I think they are backwards. Nature has millions and billions of complex, intricate, and beautiful ways of expressing itself, while in any given city (in America, at least) is nothing but a few reworkings of straight roads, straight lines, straight buildings, commercial and residential zoning, square parks with grid-based plant life trimmed and pruned. All of our systems have to be dumbed down and diluted so we can wrap our heads around them, but in any forest in the world, the planning and systems are only limited by what could possibly function, leaving a myriad of possibilities that are all explored and them some. If it doesn't work to build somewhere in the forest, then the plant or animal dies and they try again in a way that nourishes the existent and future plant life. Here we have to invest thousands and millions to build and if the business doesn't work, it could mean years of debt and material waste. Our systems just aren't advanced enough yet, I guess.

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