"Driverless Sled"

Tangential to this topic is an observation about human nature. Or more specifically, humans in nature. Remember the admonishments to use your "indoors voice?" That meant when one is outside, that's the cue to cut loose. Successive generations have trained us to abandon all restraint once the cage is sprung and we're let off the proverbial leash. This behavior can easily be observed by primates recreating anytime, anywhere in the great outdoors. Nature is empty and needs to be filled with the sights + sounds (and all the accompanying pollution, sight + sound) of our species. No wonder, despite the desirability to have many folks shut the hell up for once in their lives, it's called an "uncomfortable silence."

And power means noise - the louder the stronger, faster and better. Compare and contrast human means of locomotion and transportation: more power translates into ever-widening disconnect, physical and spiritual, from where we are, and what we are doing to the planet. Bicycle vs motorcycle, walking vs driving, skiing vs snowmachining, canoe vs jetski etc. We begin to look at the places we inhabit as someplace to travel over, skimming the surface, as opposed to going through, or being a part of instead of apart from. Awareness can be equated with immersion. I still remember commuting on my mountain bike one day and seeing with astonishment the sheer number of dead dragonflies littering the sides of the road, and mulling over how in a vehicle traveling at 60mph you have simply no idea your impact on the little things.

And there is a primal fear our collective shouting into the void, as so many people cannot handle it and need to have a radio or tv on in the background. More and more I encounter boaters blasting music or hikers streaming media, bringing along with them all of the same crap most of us are trying to take a break from. I've lamented for years the exponentially spreading number of people who attempt to bring as much of their belongings as possible instead of leaving it all behind.My guess is that would explain my personal perception of being in the woods as that of entering a shrine, and our silence reflects the reverence.