Random Out-of-Context Paragraphs #2

This is what we need to do with the natural world: listen. Then we might know how to live and what to do. I’m not the one to say what that is, since I have a lot more listening to do myself. But we can find people who listen and hear what is being said: the remaining hunter-gatherers, Native Americans, or those who have spent their lives immersed in their bioregion. These are the masters that Confucius talks about, those who have trained themselves through a lifetime of roles and rituals, those who know what to do. Heidegger said “a completely new method of thinking [would be], at first, possible for but a few men to achieve.” The naturalization of the world would be a new method of thinking for many of us, but an old method for others. So we should begin to train ourselves for this new way of thinking, and start listening to those who are already the masters.

A few years ago I watched clip from a Thelonious Monk concert. The song began with the bass player, drummer, and saxophonist playing first, with Monk walking across the stage to his piano. But halfway there he just stopped, and then started to tap his foot and snap his fingers. For the next few minutes he just tapped and snapped, then walked back and forth in a casual, rhythmic dance, staring upwards at nothing, lost in the music. Minutes later he finally sat down and started to play too. After the concert someone asked him why he didn’t play right away, and he said something like “they were already in a good groove, so they didn’t need me playing yet.” This is my best metaphor for what we should do in the natural world. We should try to be Thelonious Monk with the natural world. We should listen to nature, find its rhythms, snap our fingers, enter into its music. It’s already in a good groove, so it doesn’t need us stepping all over the notes. And if we listen well, we’ll know exactly when to sit down and play along.