Varied Surroundings

There is more to being human than travelling around the world sampling its many delights, and recent reading has taken me deeper into subjects like philosophy. Though I am a scientist by training, the humanities continue to appeal to me, and various life events have led me to explore them more than otherwise might have been the case. That is now the main thrust of what you find here, along with other things that have a use in navigating life’s journey.

Our Surroundings, Our Environment

The point of this section is to collect artefacts and musings of the things that surround us in life. Some are external and others are internal, but they accompany us on our journeys anyway. Either way, they can intrude in both happy and unhappy ways.

It is tempting to seek solace in the external when our lives go through rough patches. We think of travelling somewhere nice to get away from it all. Unfortunately, dependence on these havens raises a few questions that first came my way during the 2014 Scottish referendum, and successive events have continued the trend. External solace is insufficient when it comes to allowing inner healing; that needs interior work.

Both aspects pervade here in some deliberations, but there also is space for ruminations on the human experience, such as essays from Henry David Thoreau and Ralph Waldo Emerson. Additionally, there are poems and songs that continue the theme, since the arts are not all visual. Towards that end, there are collections of places where you can find the work of accomplished photographers.

Amid the travails that have hit us since the Great Recession, it is important to try and keep some fullness of life even when our fears are close to overwhelming us. A sense of perspective is also in order when pandemics, wars and other global events stop you from travelling to peaceful places. Then, the interior life matters in concert with more enriching external stimuli.