{"id":38836,"date":"2015-12-09T12:49:22","date_gmt":"2015-12-09T17:49:22","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/wanderlust.com\/?p=38836"},"modified":"2015-12-10T18:24:05","modified_gmt":"2015-12-10T23:24:05","slug":"inspiration-from-the-rocks","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/wanderlust.com\/ko\/journal\/inspiration-from-the-rocks\/","title":{"rendered":"Inspiration From the Rocks"},"content":{"rendered":"

My\u00a0training as a geologist has taught me the beauty of slowing down<\/a>, of appreciating the deliberate and easy magnificence of our natural world.\u00a0In modern life we’re often caught in the moment, trapped in a loop of technology-mediated instant feedback and gratification. Within this loop we lose our horizon and become swamped by feelings of being time poor<\/em>.<\/p>\n

Scanning the natural landscape for tales\u00a0of deep time<\/a> has enabled me to gain perspective on my personal horizon; to slow down, accept my own ephemerality, and connect with the world around me.<\/p>\n

\"Photo
Photo by Abaconda Management Group<\/div><\/div>\n

It was over a decade ago that\u00a0I began my training and\u00a0realized that the natural landscape tells stories to those who listen.\u00a0Since then I have been listening to landscapes around the world: The ancient red center of Australia<\/a> speaks\u00a0of witnessing the earliest life on Earth. Permafrosted sand dunes in Antarctica whisper about their struggle for freedom from the ice. The Chilean Altiplano breathlessly chronicles a voyage from ocean floor to 4,500 meters that has left it bent and buckled, but not beaten.<\/p>\n

I live\u00a0in the Taup\u014d Volcanic Zone of New Zealand\u2014a north-easterly gut torn open by plate tectonics, relentlessly scarred and covered over by volcanic eruptions, and marked at each end with active volcanos (Mt Ruapahu is the south sentinel and White Island the north). This is a young landscape bubbling with life, chattering about slow constant change<\/a> punctuated by the catastrophic.<\/p>\n

My own life journey has been defined by constant gradual change cut though by the catastrophic, a parallel which perhaps explains why it felt right to settle here.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

The difference between us, however, is that the landscape experiences time at a greater scale and slower pace than is\u00a0possible from my human viewpoint.<\/p>\n

\"Photo
Photo via iStock<\/div><\/div>\n

The value of connecting to our landscape is well-known to ancient cultures. New Zealand\u2019s Maori people trace their genealogy back through human ancestors to the significant rivers and mountains of their homelands, and then beyond to the universe. This genealogy is known as whakapapa.\u00a0<\/em>Recounting whakapapa is a key part of establishing identity and the relationships between whanau (extended family), hap\u016b (tribe formed by a number of related whanau), and iwi (federation of hap\u016b sharing distant kinship<\/a>).<\/p>\n

Without such context and strong connection between people and place, we are all vulnerable to feelings of dispossessed emptiness and left scrambling to plug the void with things and noise.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Traveling a path that breaks the loop will strengthen your connection with people and place, and\u00a0requires only a few simple steps:<\/p>\n