writes.casaSmall is beautiful
The way down was not the way up in reverse. We had learned about the inner workings of what we are made of: star dust, quantum mechanics, chemistry, DNA, cell biology. We had learned about how maths suffuses everything around us. We had counted the incredible variety of lifeforms that had lived with us, even as we wiped so many of them out.
We held onto that understanding but we also let some things go.
We learned to forget. We forgot that we ‘needed’ to transport ourselves and millions of tonnes of stuff everywhere as fast as possible. Although, we didn’t really choose to forget. It just didn’t stand up anymore because we had burned so much. We forgot about hoarding tokens that stood for nothing and so stopped elevating those who had the most nothings.
And we remembered to put soil and life and art and joy at the centre of everything. And we loved a whole lot more again.
We held onto that understanding but we also let some things go.
We learned to forget. We forgot that we ‘needed’ to transport ourselves and millions of tonnes of stuff everywhere as fast as possible. Although, we didn’t really choose to forget. It just didn’t stand up anymore because we had burned so much. We forgot about hoarding tokens that stood for nothing and so stopped elevating those who had the most nothings.
And we remembered to put soil and life and art and joy at the centre of everything. And we loved a whole lot more again.
— urlyman