Battleangel | Personal

It sure helps when you’re easily entertained and oblivious to monotony. Not to mention immune to the effects of not having changed your clothes or taken a shower for the better part of a week. Now that is a real vacation, just not having to care about anything. Just giving the world the finger and grunt your way through the week. But seriously. Being able to take a walk in the morning, a long, brisk walk, no matter if it’s raining because you’ve already thought of that, and powered only by water and caffeine. It just doesn’t matter if your body turns on itself and the mind starts to unravel, floating essentially free, because you have no appointments. No one you need to please. No pink goo getting in your way. These stimulant-augmented mind-clearing and cleansing exercises have indeed become very dear to me. They have a profound mental effect that I never quite experienced even back in my brutal but ultimately futile days of running. The mind is just never as unfettered as a cool summer morning in the woods and the mysteries of the world, for once, seem to be within my grasp.

Of course, over the years I have been criticized more than once for not taking this to “the next logical level” as it were and for thinking small essentially. That is the pink goo talking and the pink goo never gets it. Competitive and delusional as they are. They urge long hiking trips, backpacking and the traversing of great distances mostly so that they can have something to brag about. For them, outdoors activity of all sorts is a social web. They are fettered by the ideals of society. Driven by constant accomplishments and endless gratifications that aren’t even their own. Ideals that have been thrust upon them and that are no doubt spillovers from the corporate, capitalistic and recently neoliberal philosophies that have poisoned the well for everyone. Some deceitfully call it self-fulfillment as if it can be gotten to with external means. Don’t fall for it. What is the point of climbing mountains or visit famous sites when you can do the same thing at home. You’re just putting one foot ahead of the other and most of your cells wont know the difference anyway. Regardless of whether you’re walking the Inca trail or just traversing local scenery. Not to mention the human interaction and, once again, external means that are required to go Peru or wherever. Or the disappointment when you find out that you’ll be crowded with more pink goo as tourism has ruined much of the experience for the true and pure believers. It’s scandalous really. And worse still, it will set you back a pretty penny too. Money that will have to be reacquired speedily by working the ferret wheel of market economy. It’s quite the vicious circle really and some ingenious trap that has been set for us. So much for one of the last remaining redeeming features of globalization. See more, spend more, work more. Run, don’t walk! And all of the aforementioned will just distract you from the inner voyage and enlightenment anyway. This may seem like somewhat constricted thinking perhaps but it is the way I have come to understand the world. For now at least.