Some evening reading

[rebeccmeister]

As I mentioned recently, I have been finding inspiration through reading No Impact Man's blog. Tonight I came across an older, philsophical entry where NIM writes about his thoughts in response to an article by Curtis White in Orion Magazine.

I'm glad for NIM's optimism, and for the following:

Why do we bury the big questions that confront us all? What is the meaning of my existence? What is my relationship to your existence? How should I live my life? If I accept that I will die one day, is there any meaning to my life that will endure? Because if we embrace these questions—or I should say when I do—Having just seems so much more trivial.

Comments

[sandokai.livejournal.com]

BTW, after your last post I boookmarked No Impact Man. Thanks for posting about him.

[rebeccmeister.livejournal.com]

You're very welcome. I'm also quite grateful to have come across his blog, and I'm happy if others feel likewise.

No Impact Man

[(Anonymous)]

I have not read NIM's blog, but the entire idea of attempting to live with "no impact" strikes me as strangely incongruous. This passage from Wendell Berry's book, "The Gift of Good Land", resonates with me:
We can [not] live harmlessly or strictly at our own expense; we depend upon other creatures and survive by their deaths. To live, we must daily break the body and shed the blood of creation. The point is, when we do this knowingly, lovingly, skillfully, reverently, it is a sacrament; when we do it ignorantly, greedily, clumsily, destructively, it is a desecration…in such desecration, we condemn ourselves to spiritual and moral loneliness, and others to want.

--Dad

Re: No Impact Man

[rebeccmeister.livejournal.com]

Ahh, yes, you should perhaps read his philosophy: he seeks to have no NET ecological impact. In some ways, this means a large re-evaluation of his connections to the world around him, to change previously thoughtless relationships into thoughtful ones. I wouldn't consider his philosophy or practice perfect by any stretch of the imagination, but I do like the perspective it provides.