There is a rapture on the lonely shore;
There is society, where none intrudes,
By the deep sea, and music in its roar;
I love not man the less, but Nature more...
- Lord Byron
The Not So Lonely Shore:
Where yesterday I breathed crisp mountain air and hiked to the sound of the wind in the pines and the crunch of snow under my boots, today I drank in thick, sea air in great gulps and sat listening to the ceaseless crashing of wave against rock. Which do I prefer? Well, I'm a mountain-man myself, but I hesitate to assign value to either, for they are different. Plus, I recognize that I can't get into the mountains every day and so have to find solitude somewhere closer by. You've got to take what you can get. Sometimes it's a question of stealing a moment here or there to sit and ponder or to scramble around and get your feet wet.
Though Alexander Supertramp might have argued that we couldn't truly experience nature so close to the San Diego, I think that in the end, as he reverted back to being Chris McCandless, he would have enjoyed our experience today at Cabrillo. After all, as he wrote in his final days: "HAPPINESS IS ONLY REAL WHEN SHARED."
Today, I think it was less about the destination and more about the company.
Tomorrow, it's going to be more about the mission. Come prepared. Come Early.
While standing on the cliff overlooking the tide pools I began to reflect on the movie. It seems like we are raised in a society were we all try to follow the same framework. Go to school, go to college, get a job. Alexander Supertramp broke away from this routine and was able to get away. People often get so caught up in human society they don't get a chance to enjoy nature.
ReplyDeleteI can't say today was as good of a day as yesterday, however it was still very enjoyable. Although I was quite exhausted from the week's countless adventures thus far, I still enjoyed the movie, "Into the Wild" and visiting the tide pools and such. Hank, R.B. and I has dome epic ParKore adventures which we got on tape and will be posting shortly. Even though I feel into a Polar Bear trap and cut up my legs and stuff it was very fun. I found peace when I sat in one of the small caves and wrote some haikus while listening to the beautiful sound of the ocean. Today was another success and I can not wait for tomorrow's treacherous hike.
ReplyDeleteBecause today was a transitional resting day, I was not expecting a lot. Therefore, I was caught completely off guard when the terrific movie "Into The Wild" coupled with 10 minutes of peace and quiet on the western coast (after a sweet parkour sesh) struck a chord deep within me and led to a revelation. I realized that a life with purpose will never be a wasted life. This is a pretty big idea and I am still trying to wrap my head around it as best I can but I encourage you all to give it some thought. The biggest breakthrough I have made thus far on this topic is that in order to achieve a life with purpose, everyday must have a goal that we must strive to achieve. If you guys, my brothers in arms, my fellow DMB's give this thought and make important breakthroughs, please enlighten me. Thanks!
ReplyDeletehttp://chebahut.com/new/menu/
DeleteWow!
DeleteIs that "wow" meant for R.B.'s revelation or the Cheba Hut menu??
DeleteYou can take a lot of liberties with that approach; mostly by twisting goals into a whole lot of things. But to me that's a positive, as life is unpredictable, and one's goals should be adjustable. My question however is this; the time that we spent simply exploring, not knowing what we were looking for, was that wasted time? Just playing devil's advocate here, happy you got something powerful out of today.
DeleteThe Cheba Hut menu Matt.
DeleteI do not regularly set daily goals, but R.B.'s revelation has caused me to recognize that I will strive to achieve two things tomorrow:
Delete1. Get you all back to Parker safely from our hike.
2. Bash a Cheba Hut pinner.
Bash? Perhaps the Cheebs will barter with me, and i will have no need to use paper 'money'
DeleteMitch, I'd like to forward a possible answer to your question: time spent exploring is not time wasted if you are seeking truth, whether it be truth about yourself, your companions, or the world around you. It's those who explore with a goal in mind/who look for something in particular, be it material wealth, natural resources, a mountain to conquer, people to subjugate, etc. that waste time, because as Matt suggested in his post, those things are abstractions. Those people are the ones wasting their time, because what they find will ultimately be empty.
DeleteI know my fellow Sweeney Todd participants are going to hate me for making this reference, but there's a good reason Mrs. Lovett is so determined to live By the Sea (WITH THE FISHES SPLAAAAASHING!!!!). The ocean is a perfect representation of Nature as a whole. It is deceptively powerful, able to dominate any man, yet indescribably beautiful.
ReplyDeleteI've always had this special bond with the ocean. I've been able to spend entire afternoons just watching waves sweep in for as long as I can remember. Today, during my time of solitude, I tried to understand why I love the ocean so much, and I had quite a revelation. I love it so much because no matter what deep turmoil is occurring in my life, no matter how much changes, the waves always keep battering the shore. This unchanging force reminds me that in the grand scheme of things, my current faults and worries are pretty damn trivial and will eventually work themselves out, and life will continue on just like the waves will always come.
Also, check out that menu. That is a fiiiiine menu.
When writing haikus
I find it to be easy
working on the go.
Though some people are overwhelmed by the ocean for those very reasons, I, like you, take solace in the ocean. It has always helped me keep things in perspective.
DeleteAh Dave, I really enjoyed our discussion today about your thoughts and im enthralled you went even further here on the blog! I find myself now applying your words to some aspects of my life...I find myself finally moving on from bits of inner turmoil - because you hit the nail on the head. Those waves will keep on as the earth goes headstrong in its grand orbit.
DeleteThis comment has been removed by the author.
ReplyDeleteOver the course of the past two weeks, I've been delving deeper and deeper into the writings of Karl Marx. What comes to mind in particular, with respect to our journey to Cabrillo today and especially R.B.'s comment, is the following quote from the 'Critique of the Hegelian Dialectic and Philosophy as a Whole' found in his 'Economic and Philosophic Manuscripts of 1844:" "The mystical feeling which drives the philosopher forward from abstract thinking to intuition is boredom - the longing for a content." I feel as if this quote truly ties in to your breakthrough R.B. I agree that in order for our lives to have a purpose - and I write here only from my own personal experience of course - is to reach for our goals and tap into newer, higher levels, whether by degree or by virtue, and keep on marching towards the beat of our drummers in a true existence and not one of abstraction!
ReplyDeleteCompanions! We are all philosophers my brothers! The very act of putting forth out pens on to our moleskines is certainly a philosophical exercise. Also, this blog has been a true phenomenon of sorts, we've all expressed our inner tinkerings and poised thought-provoking questions right here in the webspace which is proof that we are thinking! That we are Thinkers! I feel very proud to write that this blog has become the medium, in a way, by which we have all been able to express both profound and intriguing ideas; we have formed our own great circle of talk and thought just as Plato, Apollodorus, Phaedrus and Aristotle did ages ago.
For me, the next step in my own process, is to materialize some of my thoughts, my revelations. In reflection, I actually almost did so today. I experienced a powerful moment during my solitude. While listening to the ceaseless hurling of water down below, the sound bouncing off the tripple-facetted rock surrounding me ,I felt a full-fledged tingle, a fire burning inside of me! I wanted to through my phone out into the great blue to be devoured by the frothy waves; to be swallowed up by the heaving sea! How liberating it would be, for In too many aspects of life do I live according to the pinpoint, programmed perfection of this wretched device.
Although, I did not execute this, I feel strongly about the very act, of even thinking about it. But, in the spirit of the quote, next time, I may just have to throw that phone and absolve myself from the abstraction that is the "thinking" and achieve my intuition that is the "action." My longing for a content then achieved and my boredom obliterated! And as I ponder this more...my phone is, perhaps, only one very small and yet incredibly important, part of a great list of abstractions which come to mind. There is so much to think about...Alexander Supertramp struck a strong staccato inside of me when he burned the monetary bills in the film. Here's one more excerpt written by Marx, from "The Power of Money in Bourgeois Society," also found in the Manuscripts, that suits Alexander's sentiment very well, "Being the external, common medium and faculty for turning an image into reality and reality into a mere image (a faculty not springing up from man as man or from human society as society), money transforms the real essential powers of man and nature into what are merely abstract conceits and therefore imperfections -- into tormenting chimeras -- just as it transforms real imperfections and chimeras -- essential powers which are really impotent, which exist only in the imagination of the individual -- into real powers and faculties. In the light of this characteristic alone, money is thus the general overturning of individualities which turns them into their contradictory and adds contradictory attributes to their attributes."
Ladies and Gentleman, our Matt is back. And thank goodness for it. Not one of us but him could have found the perfect quote from Marx. Now, the question remains: will he put his proverbial money where his mouth is? Will he answer that strong staccato and burn his Cheba hut money?
DeleteLoved this Matt! I completely agree with you that we are all philosophers whether we acknowledge it or not. I also agree with you that writing in our little notebooks is a philosophical exercise that we all have adopted. Thanks!
Deleteand Mr. Aiston, lets get our priorities straight here
Cheba Hut > Truth
Perhaps, as I wrote above, R.B. the Cheebs will do with some bartering
DeleteLeave it to R.B. to help us all keep our priorities in line.
DeleteI don't think any of us would contend that today was as magnificent as yesterday, but I would like to point out why I think that is. For me, part of what made the mountain so awesome was the solitude, which we obviously didn't have at the tide pools. With that said however, the familiarity of the tide pools couldn't provide me with the same awe that the snow and ice did.
ReplyDeleteWhile I was more impressed by yesterday's escapade, that's not to say that today didn't have a certain worth to it. What I found today is that if you are willing to scramble around a little bit you can find a bit of solitude and peacefulness very close to home. By taking the time and effort to seek out a spot I found new possibilities in a place that I had previously condemned as touristy and uninteresting. Perhaps the movie today got me in the mood to appreciate things more fully, as well as instilling a bit more caution. The one thing that I was struck with when I sat down to write was that I was sitting on the cliffs of the mighty sea on a Thursday, in February, at noon. It's safe to say that I should have been in school, but that lead me to realize that a real education should include moments like these, and for these moments I am thankful. Here is a series of Haiku's I wrote on the subject:
Sit on windswept cliffs
Beneath the sharp, snaking canyons
This is class today
Feel the directed wind
Knifing through those jagged chasms
This is class today
Hear the sea's breath
In. and out. And in. And out.
This is class today
Do not shield your eyes
Light shining back from the sea
This is class today
Class enough for me.
I think you've found our class mantra!
DeleteI just sent you my photos by the way. Bummed my emasculating crab didn't make the photo cut, even if it was just to show how huge the other crab was. Haha.
DeleteLook again, my dear Mitch.
DeleteYes! I'm pretty sure that little champ won the race by default, not that I'm worried about it or anything...
DeleteWhile I also can't say that today was as epic as yesterday (as Mr. Aiston pointed out it is apple and oranges), I still really enjoyed the day. Cabrillo is truly a beautiful place that can offer an excellent opportunity for solitude on an average day. Also, Into the Wild is an incredible film. Aside from being quite entertaining, it lends itself to the type of deep thought that seems to have given us a wonderful revelation on which to spend the night pondering. However, I think that there is an important distinction to be made in this new life philosophy. I think that there are plenty of people who live each day with purpose and motivation, and yet they never really accomplish anything and, in turn, "waste life." In order to truly achieve a life of any significance, one must not only live each day with purpose, but one must also make that purpose meaningful, one step in the direction of an ultimate life goal. If I commit fully to working as hard as I possibly can in each class I have in an average school day, my life will not be better based solely on that decision (as much as Parker would have believe it would). However, chances are that my hard will will eventually payoff to get me into a good college, so that I can further my education. That success would be my ultimate goal, my true purpose. Obviously, that is only one example; getting into an ivy league college is not necessarily everyone's goal, and it certainly isn't mine. My point is that the mere act of fully committing oneself to achieving excellence in every endeavor that one undertakes on a daily basis is not the recipe for a significant life, it is only a step in the recipe. To truly achieve a purposeful life, a person must choose a goal, whether it is mainstream success, college, a job, and so on, personal enlightenment, as was the case for Chris McCandless, or any other number of options, and then work tirelessly on succeeding in that particular goal. In my opinion, a life in which each day is filled with unrelated and perhaps trivial goals is a life wasted indeed. But a life with a purpose, with something to strive for, that is ideal, that is living.
ReplyDeleteWell put Matt. I agree with your idea of what "wasting life" is. I find it to be that inevitable consequence of living the life of abstraction.
DeleteI really appreciate his post because your definition of a wasted life is really accurate. It also has helped me with my thoughts from earlier! Thanks man!
DeleteWell put, indeed. I think there is definitely something there. As I try to flesh it out, I am reminded of a Thoreau quote we read on the first day:
Delete"Aim above morality. Be not simply good, be good for something."
Though the focus is slightly different, the sentiment is similar; plus there's a thread there that helps me put my finger on the pulse of Matt's thinking. It's the "something" - whatever that "something" might be - that matters.
An added bonus to Matt's post: I finally understand why Matt Gluck is a slacker. I will paraphrase Thoreau here:
"Aim above slacking. Be not simply a slacker. Be a slacker for something."
Here's something I know about Matt, though, and it's something I know about all of you: when you guys find that "something", your purpose or higher goal or whatever you choose to call it, people are going to be blown away.
Into the wild set a somewhat gloomy mood to the morning. But it was not a totally depressing movie. It inspired me to rebell and try to enjoy the smaller things. It helped me to want to enjoy nature even more than we have in the past few days. It also gave me the feeling of getting out and doing something. And we did. Cabrillo was a beautiful change of pace. I was glad to be able to see the contrast that San Diego has to offer. R.B., Jake, and I tried to spice up our lives before we ventured to Alaska and died by doing a little bit of parkour. It was great because there were several falls and those were captured on film. R.B. and I also had a great conversation about how if we were placed in Alexander Supertramp's situation, that we would have attacked the bear that walked by alexander. We thought that becuase we thought that if we knew that we were going to die, we would rather be maled by a bear than simply die in a bus. Just some thoughts during the day. It was a fun day and i am stoked for tomorrow.
ReplyDeleteDozed off while writing this last night. imagine this was posted around 930ish
ReplyDeleteWow i looked on here after i get back from dinner and there are six comments. Now i come on to almost 30 comments and have spent the last 20 minutes deciding what i should pack my blunt with tomorrow, being enlightened by both the Matts and RB, and reading some sweet haikus by Mitch. This blog has become a chamber of philosophical ideas. Nine boys walked into the classroom monday but nine men, transcendentalist geniuses will walk out friday. Thoreau, Emerson, and Alexander Supertramp could easily join our blog and discuss with us. I'm sure they're smiling from wherever they are now.
As far as today and yesterday, Mr. Aiston said it best; "it would be unfair to today for us to compare it to yesterday." I completely agree. The snow adventure on Wednesday put all other hikes and treks to shame. Perfect in so many ways, it brings forth waves of happiness just thinking about it. But today at Cabrillo was great in its own way. I strolled through the tidepools, my bare feet being cooled and tickled by the wet algae, observing the amazing sea life i had no idea existed. From sea enemies to crabs and starfish to the mudskippers, i touched and appreciated all of them. A day like today is not a wasted day. Sure it wasn't as great as the snow adventure, but it wasn't meant to be. The purpose of today was to explore the wonders of a completely different type of nature, one that's a mere 20 minutes from parker. It was a day meant to reflect on the week so far and the inspiring movie watched in the morning. A man that embraced true solitude and evaluated his life in a way any of us could only dream of. It's inspiring to see a man set a goal and stick with it. And even though Alex, or Chris dies at the end lonely and starved, am i right in saying he accomplished his goal? I can't believe we only have one more day. It has undoubtably been the greatest school week i have ever had. I'm excited to have a mission tomorrow and complete it.
Sea stars, crabs, and fish
A fun day at Cabrillo
Rest day successful