This is old but I am working on something new, you know, in between takes (of life that is)

I had to find a middle way; In fact, I have to do it over and over in my life. And, I loathe reductionism.

Reductionism: “The practice of analyzing and describing a complex phenomenon, esp. a mental, social, or biological phenomenon, in terms of phenomena that are held to represent a simpler or more fundamental level, esp. when this is said to provide a sufficient explanation”

I like to believe that there is a little truth in everything and so I often like to draw from many angles. It makes my world more open, make more sense, and it feels compassionate. The middle way is not an exact point on a continuum of extremes, it just means that I find peace by not indulging in all my wants and I am aware enough to recognize my inner needs, even when they battle with my lusting passions. Like wishing I was where there was a Starbucks on every corner so I could sip frappacinos all day and eat scones while I read people magazine online. Yet I know, that waking and walking the forest every morning actually heals me and somehow makes me feel wiser.

So, this challenge that has been particularly dominant, the one where I am a girl with city urges living in a rural world. My parents had me grow up in the country, on farms and even some more rural areas where than where I am now. I moved to the city as a teen and I am in love with the nightlife, the food, and the culture. Yet I am always drawn back to the country and while I bitch and moan about it, I love it. It’s the place I always retreat to lick my worldly wounds.

In a famous psychology study they found that rats in cages, in laboratories when given the choice between water with morphine and plain water, drink the drugged water. However when the overseeing scientist created a “rat park” an outdoor oasis that rats would love with garbage and such, they were again given the choice between the plain water and the morphine laced water. They all drank the plain water. To read more about this study, look here:

http://www.parl.gc.ca/Content/SEN/Committee/371/ille/presentation/alexender-e.htm

(Scroll about halfway down to animal research behaviour)

Sometimes, I think that being “civilized” is similar to being in a cage in a labratory. Our lust for big screen t.v.’s and Chanel are our morphine and water. And for me, maybe my innate rat park dwells in the nature. I think I believe it does for all of us, as it tends to be where we go when we holiday. The difference being that for some it’s a hot beach and for others it’s the powder filled mountains of a ski hill.

Many of my city friends have come to live and stay for short periods. They mostly come to the conclusion that this is the kind of place you come to retire or die. They are mostly (but not all) male. And the only conclusion I have drawn so far is that their great need to piss on a tree (make their mark) is less likely to happen in a celebrity fashion in these parts. There are many more trees “out there” now than there were even 20 years ago, so they find no satisfaction in a pine when there is a great oak out there waiting for them.

But what do I know, even less the more I learn.