Hauntingly beautiful. I have no doubt the Gaelic voices you've heard on the wind were flashes from times that are, from our perspective, long gone. We nowadays may rationalise it in one way or another, it doesn't really matter, because the Land remembers.
I do believe time is not the same long, linear trajectory we so often think it is. I suspect that, one day, there will be science-backed research to prove this, too. Memory and place and emotion seem to so often become overlapped, mixed through time. I also wonder if, by being out in a place as a part of the Land, as a part of nature, rather than apart from nature, we can become more receptive to these flashes from other periods, too.
Thank you for this thoughtful piece. Much to ruminate about here, and it put me in mind of something that I experienced a couple decades ago, in a 19th century washhouse on an old plantation in South Carolina. Maybe I will write about that when I have time. So much we don’t know, and have not the ability to comprehend. And that’s okay. Sometimes it is enough to have lived the experience, and set it down for later memory.
So much we don’t know—this is truth. I think acknowledging this fact is something many struggle with—yet, to me, the adventure of not knowing and, then, seeking out potential answers, testing theories, is what makes us such a strange and wonderful species. And if we still can’t work it out? That’s fine, too.
Hauntingly beautiful. I have no doubt the Gaelic voices you've heard on the wind were flashes from times that are, from our perspective, long gone. We nowadays may rationalise it in one way or another, it doesn't really matter, because the Land remembers.
I do believe time is not the same long, linear trajectory we so often think it is. I suspect that, one day, there will be science-backed research to prove this, too. Memory and place and emotion seem to so often become overlapped, mixed through time. I also wonder if, by being out in a place as a part of the Land, as a part of nature, rather than apart from nature, we can become more receptive to these flashes from other periods, too.
Many thanks for commenting!
Really evocative -- thank you
Thank you! I’m really happy to have you reading.
Thank you for this thoughtful piece. Much to ruminate about here, and it put me in mind of something that I experienced a couple decades ago, in a 19th century washhouse on an old plantation in South Carolina. Maybe I will write about that when I have time. So much we don’t know, and have not the ability to comprehend. And that’s okay. Sometimes it is enough to have lived the experience, and set it down for later memory.
So much we don’t know—this is truth. I think acknowledging this fact is something many struggle with—yet, to me, the adventure of not knowing and, then, seeking out potential answers, testing theories, is what makes us such a strange and wonderful species. And if we still can’t work it out? That’s fine, too.
Beautiful. Great atmosphere.
Thank you so much, I’m really happy you enjoyed it.