This is so beautifully and articulately written! I can't remember if I've commented before but i first stumbled across your account over a leaf on the pavement - it had such good textures and really captured it's leafy nature. So much so I had to show my mum who spends more time than most housebound. I knew she would appreciate it because you captured the more than humanness of it which is what she misses from being inside often. We talked about you, "oh this, this is a person who knows the things" and I was surprised but not to read about your ND (which I can't remember the name of 🫣 because I got good memory for textures and bad for word retrieval 😂). You have had to work harder and intellectualise in areas many take for granted and it's like through that effort you can explain the world with this heightened ability and I go YEAH THAT. I have nothing clever to say 😂 but to point and go YEAH THAT. And to tell you I really appreciate pieces like this where I find out there are actual words for thoughts/feelings instead of just pointing 😁. In summary - THANK YOU.
I've just encountered your writing as it was linked to another account I follow and I was going g to skim over it but ended up reading it forwards then, bizarrely, backwards (by paragraphs).
I too have developed a love for birch, maybe because I spent 3 weeks living in a tent in a Scottish birch forest, I felt strongly as I lay down at night that they, the birch trees, were trying to embrace me and pull me towards their roots. But the reason I read your piece twice was that I've been trying to express similar thoughts, that all living things are connected as part of a whole and that the purpose of the evolutionary dead end that defines us as humans is to be the consciousness of the whole and so give it worth (worthship or worship). Anyway, I look forward to reading more of your writing, thank you for posting it.
So much here that resonates, I am increasingly drawn to complexity of our interconnected world and what we can learn from it, and how essential it is that we remember we are but a part of her and only special in that we are a part of something so beautiful and intertwined... Thank you for your beautiful words which opened my heart and understanding a little more... I will take them with me on my next nature Journalling wander and see what I discover. 💚
Thanks for this piece Dru, it makes my heart sing and draws an emphatic YES from my body. Beautifully articulated.
I, too, appreciate David Abram's work. Just in case you haven't encountered this essay, I'll post the link - it's my favourite thing of his age I return to it frequently:
Thanks for the link to the article by David Abram's. I'll read it when I have a little brain space to give it the attention it deserves (which is not today!)
This is so beautifully and articulately written! I can't remember if I've commented before but i first stumbled across your account over a leaf on the pavement - it had such good textures and really captured it's leafy nature. So much so I had to show my mum who spends more time than most housebound. I knew she would appreciate it because you captured the more than humanness of it which is what she misses from being inside often. We talked about you, "oh this, this is a person who knows the things" and I was surprised but not to read about your ND (which I can't remember the name of 🫣 because I got good memory for textures and bad for word retrieval 😂). You have had to work harder and intellectualise in areas many take for granted and it's like through that effort you can explain the world with this heightened ability and I go YEAH THAT. I have nothing clever to say 😂 but to point and go YEAH THAT. And to tell you I really appreciate pieces like this where I find out there are actual words for thoughts/feelings instead of just pointing 😁. In summary - THANK YOU.
Thanks so much for your lovely comment, Jen, and I'm glad your mum appreciated my writing about the leaf too.
I've just encountered your writing as it was linked to another account I follow and I was going g to skim over it but ended up reading it forwards then, bizarrely, backwards (by paragraphs).
I too have developed a love for birch, maybe because I spent 3 weeks living in a tent in a Scottish birch forest, I felt strongly as I lay down at night that they, the birch trees, were trying to embrace me and pull me towards their roots. But the reason I read your piece twice was that I've been trying to express similar thoughts, that all living things are connected as part of a whole and that the purpose of the evolutionary dead end that defines us as humans is to be the consciousness of the whole and so give it worth (worthship or worship). Anyway, I look forward to reading more of your writing, thank you for posting it.
Living among trees can be a life changing experience. Thanks for your perspective.
So much here that resonates, I am increasingly drawn to complexity of our interconnected world and what we can learn from it, and how essential it is that we remember we are but a part of her and only special in that we are a part of something so beautiful and intertwined... Thank you for your beautiful words which opened my heart and understanding a little more... I will take them with me on my next nature Journalling wander and see what I discover. 💚
Thank you, Catherine, and happy wandering!
Thanks for this piece Dru, it makes my heart sing and draws an emphatic YES from my body. Beautifully articulated.
I, too, appreciate David Abram's work. Just in case you haven't encountered this essay, I'll post the link - it's my favourite thing of his age I return to it frequently:
https://emergencemagazine.org/essay/creaturely-migrations-breathing-planet/
Thanks for the link to the article by David Abram's. I'll read it when I have a little brain space to give it the attention it deserves (which is not today!)
I love the phrase 'more than human'. It reminds me of the Ojibwe word Indinawemaaganidag that means 'all my relatives, those that we are connect to'
Also, the birch 🥲, I didn't know that. Thank you xxx
That Ojibwe word is remarkable!
Really enjoyed this piece
A wonderful piece, so much in it, I will be rereading. 'More than human' is an idea I particularly appreciate.
This is so good Dru. Beautifully evoking what it is to be human in an entangled world. From the personal to the majestic... Thank you
Thanks, Peter. Entangled is an excellent way to describe our relationship with the world.