there are places and there are things that defy our ability to conceive of them, places and things of which we could only dream of knowing.
somewhere between the skyscrapers and concern for your house payment, between the 40 hour work week and 400 channels of television re-runs, we catch little glimpses of this other reality - we can feel in the hum of our unnatural repetitions these slow-moving ripples seeping in, but coming always from somewhere else, somewhere other than wherever we are. most of us now live far removed from nature and this has made the existence of other lifstyles difficult to imagine, but what we do know is that we want to believe that such things exist. i can assure you, they are there, and they are calling to us.
there are many things that can be said about us, but as with most things, it is easier to say what we are not than to define who we are. primarily, we do not measure values by how much we profit from them. we do not want to be rich; none of us will probably ever have a 401k plan or own a bmw, we want only what we need to stay active and creating.
principally we question whether it is fair that most of your life be consumed by forces that have little interest in your existence. the values we see in popular culture and government make us sick, and we feel that it is a sad tragedy to live your life only after you are too old to enjoy it. however, we are also very cognizant of the fact that we have no right to tell people how to live their lives. we can only avoid supporting such values, and live with more natural, responsible standards.
we have a deep respect for and love of the earth that we share life with and we want always to live near the things that we love.
we are dirtbags, wanderers, and pseudo-hippies who stand for the modest life filled with great adventures. we rarely shower, we eat rice and pasta almost exclusively; most of us don't even really have a home apart from our car or sleeping bag. often times we are somewhat reserved, we tend not to speak too loudly and try not to attract too much attention. we respect what is past but we want only what is new, what remains unfinished, what could be. we make fun of pretty much everyone, especially ourselves. we believe very strongly that no one gets anywhere without being embarrassed once in a while.
we live for single instants charged and dragged out into infinities. where we, our selves, where our identities become silent. we rely on what is unseen, what is in us but which we cannot attain except at the limits of our ability. we seek this moment of understanding, this harmony which is completely unthinking. we are not adrenaline junkies nor are we radicals. we are transforming ourselves, we are about control.
this is being alive. this is what we were like before we were muddied with media, culture, language and consciousness.
we find something here.
we seek what is important, and i know that this might strike some of you as absurd, that we are anything other than selfish. perhaps you are right, perhaps we are escaping, avoiding responsibility, familiarity and convenience; it's probably all true - everyone is running from something - but, assuredly, we are moving forward. as we remain perpetually in motion, shedding all attachment and the resulting complacency, we have dug out a place for ourselves, everywhere and nowhere at once, separated from and connected to every place and every one. we cherish these people and these moments because, grateful and defiant in the same breath, we know that we will not find this ever again.
we want simply to be curious, to explore,
we want to show that the world is still something wondrous.
we want to have things that scare us, that inspire us, we want things to look forward to. we absolutely do not want a life of convenience; sometimes i can't convince myself otherwise than that we make things more difficult than they need to be (even sentences). but the harshest, most unbearable, wishing-you-were-anywhere-else moments are the ones we cherish, because they speak to our character and our ability to persevere.
we have found a place... somewhere-in-between, you might say, hard to define and maddeningly illusive, but somehow this is always where we seem to find ourselves. we want to show that another world is possible, and more so that it does exist, many of them, if only you'd care to look.
we are excited. we want to see what people are doing, what people can do, how far we can take this movement.
it doesn't matter what or where it is,
only that you find it.
welcome to somewhereelseland,
please enjoy the view.
slackline, highline, trickline