“Was not their mistake once more bred of the life of slavery that they had been living?—a life which was always looking upon everything, except mankind, animate and inanimate—‘nature,’ as people used to call it—as one thing, and mankind as another, it was natural to people thinking in this way, that they should try to make ‘nature’ their slave, since they thought ‘nature’ was something outside them” — William Morris


Wednesday, March 30, 2011

Valleys: An Uncanny Tourist Guide


You can leave them. I'm not convinced this applies to ecological awareness.
The Valley of the Shadow of Death, the Slough of Despond (Pilgrim's Progress). Our devotees are able to exit them.
Let's think of some others together (comments welcome).
There are some undeniable gender complexities in the valley.
Frank Zappa, “Valley Girl.”
Valley of the Dolls.
What about other religions?
Shangri-La. Otherwise known as Shambhala.
La Vallée. Movie with soundtrack by Pink Floyd about a lost civilization. Primitivism.
Romanticism has its dells and nooks (“of paradise,” as someone said of Samuel Palmer's art).

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