Philosophizing on the grown up world

And now I introduce the other side of this blog, the other side of me. The grown up world.

I was thinking today about how people fit into the human experience, even when that experience is seemingly entirely human-free. I realized something: For me personally people are what fascinate me, but even in the times when I traveled alone in Europe/Ghana over the past few years, my greatest memories are the people I met. Yes, I loved some of the things I saw too, but why? For example, why do I think Gaudi's architecture (see photo) is so amazing? Is it the architecture? Or is it the idea of a human mind creating something so incredible? Or are those one and the same thing? Perhaps. Is art inherently beautiful? Or is it the interpretation of the world by the human mind who created it what is truly beautiful? For me, it’s the mind.

Similarly, when I look at a city from afar, I think not of the city itself necessarily but rather of all of the years of hard work and ingenuity that a group of individual human beings put into building the city. It’s not the city itself. It’s the idea of a city. It’s the fact that a city could be conceived at all. It’s the thought of time before cities, where someone shows up and whispers in your ear: “In 1000 years, there will be a city of 10 million here in a variety of buildings as tall as 1000 ft. There will be parks, and stoplights, and coffee shops, too.” That’s what I think about. That’s what amazes me.

So it’s people that amaze me. Maybe it’s because it’s people, and the concept of people as the “experiencers” of the universe, that scares me. Sounds a lot like thunderstorms in my childhood.

I dont think everyone thinks this way. Some people climb a mountain alone and for them the experience is being free from society and being connected with nature. I would climb a mountain with someone, and for me the experience is being free from inhibition and being connected with another human being in a way not previously possible. In reality, this isn't 100% true of myself, but I imagine it's certainly more true for me than for the typical person. At the least, it's a break from the traditional naturalist perspective. Surely someone else out there thinks similarly.