Maybe because I grew up on an island, and live on a larger island at the edge of mainland Europe, I've always been drawn to the sea, while being very respectful (that is, scared) of it. The power and energy of the waves pulls me towards them, while fear and sea-sickness generally keep me firmly on dry land.
So I was fascinated to learn about ocean roads and sea lanes in Robert McFarlane's book 'The Old Ways'. These invisible trackways through the sea are apparently called in Gaelic 'Aster Mara'. He writes: 'Along these sea paths for thousands of years have travelled ships, boats, people, objects and language; letters, folk tales, sea songs, shanties, rumours, slang, jokes and visions'. I love the idea of invisible channels running between people and places; channels you can see, once you know how to look We always assume that our (very limited) version of the world is the real one, when other people/birds/insects/trees can perceive beyond consensual reality, and inhabit an entirely different world, which overlaps with ours, but is also uniquely theirs. Same with stories; my inner stories about the world, and about other people (what happens/ why/what 'should' happen instead etc...), are different from 'yours' or 'theirs'. I think I'm right and therefore you/they must be wrong. You think you're right, therefore I must be wrong, or stupid or both. Acknowledging and accepting that someone or something perceives the world differently is, I think, a good first step towards peace.
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