{"id":13124,"date":"2023-12-26T16:32:34","date_gmt":"2023-12-26T23:32:34","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.gemtactics.net\/wordpress\/?p=13124"},"modified":"2023-12-27T07:49:58","modified_gmt":"2023-12-27T14:49:58","slug":"clearing-the-fog","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.gemtactics.net\/wordpress\/2023\/12\/clearing-the-fog\/","title":{"rendered":"Clearing the fog"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p>I&#8217;m experiencing a sadness. This time of year. Aging. The suffering of the Middle East is on my mind a lot. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>A therapeutic walk yesterday, on the Old Rail Trail. The trail is bumpy with roots and old railroad ties. Not to mention muddy and icy in places. And hazardous with many fallen trees leaning over the trail, ready to fall on your head. But the scenery is mostly beautiful and unspoiled. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The graffiti on the railroad bridge is sweet. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"750\" height=\"396\" src=\"https:\/\/www.gemtactics.net\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/12\/img_7640-1.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-13119\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.gemtactics.net\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/12\/img_7640-1.jpg 750w, https:\/\/www.gemtactics.net\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/12\/img_7640-1-300x158.jpg 300w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 750px) 100vw, 750px\" \/><figcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">Graffiti on the old railroad bridge<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"750\" height=\"563\" src=\"https:\/\/www.gemtactics.net\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/12\/img_7639-1.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-13122\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.gemtactics.net\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/12\/img_7639-1.jpg 750w, https:\/\/www.gemtactics.net\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/12\/img_7639-1-300x225.jpg 300w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 750px) 100vw, 750px\" \/><figcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">The sky at the start of our walk &#8211; starting to clear in the west<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"750\" height=\"1000\" src=\"https:\/\/www.gemtactics.net\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/12\/img_7638-1.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-13120\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.gemtactics.net\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/12\/img_7638-1.jpg 750w, https:\/\/www.gemtactics.net\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/12\/img_7638-1-225x300.jpg 225w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 750px) 100vw, 750px\" \/><figcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">Somebody felt compelled to decorate this tree<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"750\" height=\"563\" src=\"https:\/\/www.gemtactics.net\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/12\/img_7637-1.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-13121\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.gemtactics.net\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/12\/img_7637-1.jpg 750w, https:\/\/www.gemtactics.net\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/12\/img_7637-1-300x225.jpg 300w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 750px) 100vw, 750px\" \/><figcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">Zoomed in close &#8211; in the distance &#8211; a land bridge at low tide? <\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.gemtactics.net\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/12\/img_7636-1.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-13123\"\/><figcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">The sky at the end of our walk<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p>I don&#8217;t remember seeing this old rail car before. Maybe it was hidden by leaves. Or I just wasn&#8217;t paying attention. It&#8217;s in the backyard of a commercial property at the head of the trail. It must have been running on the rails at some point. I would love to know more. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"750\" height=\"1000\" src=\"https:\/\/www.gemtactics.net\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/12\/img_7635-1.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-13132\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.gemtactics.net\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/12\/img_7635-1.jpg 750w, https:\/\/www.gemtactics.net\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/12\/img_7635-1-225x300.jpg 225w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 750px) 100vw, 750px\" \/><figcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">Was this one of the rail cars?<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p>I&#8217;m going to put this quote here because it&#8217;s meaningful to me. Even though I&#8217;ll probably never read this book. (Two volumes, dense, too much.) The author, Iain McGilchrist, is a Scottish neuroscientist and philosopher who studies the hemispheres of the brain. My brain is busy making connections between his ideas of the Right Hemisphere, spaciousness, meditation, God, art, an open mind, new eyes, and &#8211; everything.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n<blockquote class=\"wp-block-quote is-layout-flow wp-block-quote-is-layout-flow\">\n<p><em>If you want to understand why curiosity is in vogue but wonder is not; or why we aim directly at happiness and in doing so ineluctably become less happy; or why we like to talk about \u2018the environment\u2019 while Nature, upon which we utterly depend, we quietly desecrate; if you yearn to comprehend and question the rise of a desperate clinging to \u2018identity\u2019 within both the Left and the Right of politics; or if the way our civilisation tends to model human beings as machines disturbs or hurts you, then please read this book; for it sheds a profound light on these and so many other literally vital questions.<\/em><\/p>\n<cite><strong>Rupert Read<\/strong>, Professor of Philosophy, University of East Anglia, reviewing <em>The Matter of Things<\/em> by Iain McGilchrist. (https:\/\/systems-souls-society.com\/insight\/perspectiva-press\/the-matter-with-things\/)<\/cite><\/blockquote>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>I&#8217;m experiencing a sadness. This time of year. Aging. The suffering of the Middle East is on my mind a lot. A therapeutic walk yesterday, on the Old Rail Trail. The trail is bumpy&#46;&#46;&#46;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":13126,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[336,29],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-13124","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-landscape","category-walking"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.gemtactics.net\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13124","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.gemtactics.net\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.gemtactics.net\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.gemtactics.net\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.gemtactics.net\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=13124"}],"version-history":[{"count":7,"href":"https:\/\/www.gemtactics.net\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13124\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":13134,"href":"https:\/\/www.gemtactics.net\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13124\/revisions\/13134"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.gemtactics.net\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/13126"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.gemtactics.net\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=13124"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.gemtactics.net\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=13124"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.gemtactics.net\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=13124"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}