I guess many would say that at worst, I don't have the right to think I can live in 'paradise' when the world is anything but; at best I am just naive. I'll accept both. It was pretty naive of me to think I could find peace and quiet in a coastal tourist town.
One of the tenets of spiritual philosophy says something like: in the spirit world, like attracts like; in the material world opposites attract. That's why trying to live in paradise just doesn't work. Beauty attracts ugliness, peace attracts noise, calm attracts frantic. Stressed, busy people descend on beautiful places to unwind, reconnect with/destroy nature etc. The problem is they bring their shit with them - their alcohol fuelled stress-relieving activities, loud doof-doof music, lack of awareness, money, greed - it goes on and on. In their frantic and selfish need to gain as much from the experience as they feel is necessary they completely miss the point. In the end, en masse, their behaviour destroys what their souls came for.
This past week, after hearing raucous drunken laughter for 3 nights, over the TV from the deck of a house 3 properties up, we left a note to the effect that: we hoped they were having a good holiday but did they think they could take the party inside later in the evening, because this was actually our home. This sort of thing happens regularly, along with lack of food at the local IGA and the occasional resident feral neighbour just to make it more interesting.
Modern life with its lazy approach to anything that resembles 'manual' labour, the pressure to constantly control, order and improve - do the rest. Whoever invented the leaf blower should have one shoved up their arse! What was wrong with the good old-fashioned rake? It is actually a good workout for the core muscles. Oh that's right - that takes effort. I can actually hear my neighbour using a leaf-blower as I write. I feel like strangling him, and he is a nice man.
Suburbia in any form is complete madness. I have decided I just don't want neighbours I can see or hear. We are making plans to leave 'paradise'. I am nearing the completion of my docorate, I have 4 x 2.4 m paintings to accomodate, some to finish, we can't afford to move and our financial options are limited. We will have to leave a great house we purpose built for ourselves. My partner doesn't want to go, which has caused a fair bit of tension in the relationship. We are looking for a few acres in a rural zoning. It is probably not going to be as beautiful as where we are right now, but I am thinking - fuck 'paradise' (which explains why I chose the image)
7 comments:
I never got leaf blowers either, or neighbours. It's always been a constant negotiation over chickens and dogs around here.
I think I'd rather dogs and chooks!
‘I lack all temperament for paradise, real or facsimile,’ writes Joan Didion in her ‘Letter from Paradise’. I suspect you'd agree.
Your 'safe haven' sounds nothing like paradise to me, real or imagined, Michelle. That's sad, and worse that you now feel compelled to move.
As for those leaf blowers, I agree, they're ghastly.
Well if paradise is what I am living in, then yes, I agree Elisabeth. I know that peace is really something we find within, but I think it is OK not to want noise and conflict too. I am no coward when it comes to conflict, but these days I just can't see the point of it.
Just goes to prove that Paradise for some is Hell for others :)
Very true Mr Heron.
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