I like ‘stuff’. I do. There are certain objects in my house that bring me much joy, they’re beautiful, they’re useful. When I put my imagination down on paper and design great big houses (son of an architect), I can picture myself in them, I get strong sensations of what it’d be like to meander through the various rooms and corridors.
This is the material stuff. I don’t knock it, it’s a wonderful part of life. Then, of course, there is the spiritual aspect.
From an incredibly early age, we are pitted against each other, we’re told it’s cheating to confer and we’re put under exceptional pressure to sit tests that many of us are finding are useless in the real world.
My generation (Millennials technically, I bracket myself in the convenient Xennial generation sandwiched between Gen X and Gen Y), experienced a world before the proliferation of the internet and the Age of Information we see now.
We’re moving away from the realm of experience – getting out and immersing ourselves in nature. It’s why I moved back to the countryside, being able to is a blessing I will admit, this weekend, as a contrast, I am visiting my cousin in Manchester. A major city! I am intrigued and a bit apprehensive, I also want to take advantage of ‘culture’ (we’re visiting a major art gallery so I can get a fix of stunning old master paintings and go to a nice café.
Youngsters now are filling their faces with fillers and crap and they all look modelled from the same alien breed. It’s so weird and so uncomfortable to watch. 20 year olds with trout lips and airbrushed skin. It’s not the natural way of things.
My aim is to spread being as authentic as possible, accepting the fact that life these days is very messy and chaotic but we can find a sense of self by rejecting the anger and hurry many appear to operate under.
Be yourself, unvarnished.
Spend time communing with nature.
Establish strong human connections.
These are the things, you realise, actually matter.