14/12/2021
One of my hobbies/professions is what I refer to as arboreal shaping, and involves pruning trees and processing the biomass.
I think a lot of the time we don’t realise how our environment can influence how we feel, how we think, and how we function. We encourage and have created a society which is intensely focused and preoccupied on the boundless information that can be accessed through our electronic digital devices.
In real conversations (those not utilising any device) we often bemoan the deterioration of the social fibre which is such an integral part of being human.
Often just looking up, making eye contact, nonchalantly touching someone we know, smelling something, can fulfil us more than we realise, and because we do these kinds of things less and less, we are not accustomed to them and hence they can become uncomfortable, outside the comfort zone.
Being able to experience one’s surroundings, with all one’s senses, becomes more and more infrequent.
Pleasing environments are harder to find as they become less important to create. And so the snowball gets bigger the further it rolls. It is the natural course, and the more preoccupied we become, the more difficult it is to be conscious of what we actually need, of what is really good for us.
Working with the trees, being outside, making beautiful spaces, encouraging a healthy sustainable relationship to the environment, these are all things with bring me much joy and meaning, and also contribute something to the world - which I feel is an improvement.
Emil Bruwer
