Ordinary

[Roaring Biscuit!]

This could maybe fit in LC better, but we'll try it here an see how people feel...

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Ordinary

In the city there is only one constant:  confinement.  We are confined by the walls around us, the concrete paths that we are shoe-horned into by some uncaring higher authority.  Every option is pre-determined, beyond our control.  Every idea is pre-meditated.

But people still want to be free, people still find ways to subvert and re-appropriate their environment, quietly changing it into something they prefer.  Every generation has a way of redefining the urban environment, but ultimately, they are all looking for the same experience, the same overwhelming feeling of being "in the moment".  Of flowing in their environment.  Of being free.

Of course, this state (dubbed "Flow") is not actually being free, it is just feeling free.  Then again, all we really do is feel, and react, so "feeling" free and "being" free are fair approximations of each other, in some sense.  Flow is often found in athletic endeavour, and is a concept referenced often in the extreme sports world.  Here the utter concentration on every muscular movement, and dedication to one goal can cause one to experience this peaceful sense of flow, or freedom.  Why?

Because in that moment you are completely alone.

Only the moment mattered, for a few seconds you can reach a state of focus where all of the false limitations placed on us by our government and our peers melt away.  For a moment, the only limits are the laws of physics.  In that brief time, all illusion evaporate, because you don't care about them anymore, you're eyes aren't drawn away by the smoke and mirrors, because you no longer care for smoke and mirrors.  There is only you.  And within yourself you are free.

Physical focus, however, is not the only path.

I found this sanctuary from oppression on the roof, with the cold slate against my back, feet pressed against the hard stone gutter and toes curled over the edge to stop me slipping.  I can watch the sunset from here, in a peaceful place, high above, once again gloriously separated from ordinary expectations and all at once connected to every ordinary life there ever was.  Here I can bask in the extravagances of the everyday experience that have affected mankind since its birth.  Billions of eyes have watched the same sun set, and billions have felt the breeze across their skin.  Here I find myself, connected through the ordinary, as an insignificant footnote in an ever expanding history.  I found it comforting to think that as an individual, briefly emancipated from civilisation, as a free primal self, I did not matter.


Down in the world, as a student, as a co-worker, as friend, in whatever role I chose a situation was created in which I was bound by responsibility for my actions.

But here on the rooftop, I am a solitary nothing.

And I am free.

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Comments?  Flames?  Praise?

[Triple Zero]

I say: yes.

I think I feel the same thing, not on a rooftop, but at similar "lost" places, at night. Parts of the City I can call my own. Beautiful parts.

[navkat]

"...and if the ground yawned I'd step to the side and say "Hey ground, I'm nobody's lunch."" -EFO

[Mesozoic Mister Nigel]

I loved this! It was beautiful, and true.

"...and if the ground yawned I'd step to the side and say "Hey ground, I'm nobody's lunch."" -EFO

When did you talk to my child?

[navkat]

I loved this! It was beautiful, and true.

"...and if the ground yawned I'd step to the side and say "Hey ground, I'm nobody's lunch."" -EFO

When did you talk to my child?

?

[Archduke Omni-Fap!]

The sacred usually lies just round the corner from the profane...
There are solitary, hidden places in public places - train stations, hospitals and libraries - where no-one goes; not because they're behind locked doors, but because there seems to be an unwritten rule that you just "don't." Sometimes I like to stand there, to see what it's like amongst the purposeless signs and the drifts of receipts, all the little, unwanted secrets.

[Pope Pixie Pickle]

I smoked a joint in Reading in a place like that, post festie, my ginge friend is boring  and wouldnt let me stay for the riot on the last night. hes fuckin massive!

Im like 5"3 and a half and can hide 2 of me behind him!

hes a pussy.

[Cramulus]

great post, OP!

I grew up in fairly woodsy suburbs, and had a dozen little spots in the woods where I'd go to think. A walk in the woods can really quiet down your head.

I missed these spots when I moved into a city. Later, i'd find the same kind of solace on the roof of my building, or at this park bench in the middle of nowhere. Recently I've found some good spots to visit in local parks, but it's not the same when I can hear the highway.

I think that no matter where you live, you've gotta find "your spot". It's a little bit harder in urban environments.