Rebelling against the dictatorship of safety

Every journey, whether physical/geographical or in a symbolic sense, even understood as life itself, has as its destination not the fleeting pleasure of the eyes or entertainment, but knowledge and experience. In some way it means using the outside, other people, places and so on, to get to know ourselves. In some way it means absorbing the outside into our own inner geography.

The entertainment society, on the other hand, mis-educates people, pushing them to seek the ephemeral, which, of course, must not cost any effort.

This miseducating tendency can also be observed in the way we visit places. We recently went to Canyonlands National Park in Utah, a majestic place full of evocative scenery. I watch my fellow humans drive from one "highlight" to the next, taking photos and chatting. The long, demanding trails are not even marked and are, of course, discouraged because they are risky.

Fortunately, my dear friend Max, whom I thank publicly, recommended the "Confluence Overlook" before we left, a spot where the Green River (the one from the fall in the previous post) flows into the Colorado River. The route is about 16 km of ups and downs among the canyons, marked only by small piles of stones, with a fair chance of getting lost in the middle of nowhere.

The beauty that reveals itself to our eyes with every small climb or long descent among the canyons is what it is because it has been "earned". The sensations we feel on seeing something magnificent are so intense above all thanks to the effort, the jumps needed to get over rocks, the moments of difficulty that are overcome. For much of the route we walk in a spontaneous silence, because in the end it is a true journey into ourselves. If everything had been served up without any risk, without any effort, it would have had no value. It would have remained in memory as little more than one of the many digital "experiences".

Human beings today must rebel against the dictatorship of "safety" and comfort and cultivate their humanity through small, great daily challenges. Of course, if those challenges take place in a majestic setting, that is a bonus, but that is not the point.

Photo: "Confluence Overlook, Canyonlands UT"

m.m.