{"id":1337,"date":"2009-08-19T00:04:07","date_gmt":"2009-08-19T04:04:07","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/s265039441.onlinehome.us\/philpaine\/?p=1337"},"modified":"2018-08-08T19:53:51","modified_gmt":"2018-08-08T23:53:51","slug":"wednesday-august-19-2009-on-relaxation","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.philpaine.com\/?p=1337","title":{"rendered":"Wednesday, August 19, 2009 \u2014 On Relaxation"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"09-08-19<\/a><\/p>\n

I spend most of the day on my feet, walk\u00ading and car\u00adry\u00ading things. When I come home, I often put in fur\u00adther hours sit\u00adting upright at a com\u00adput\u00ader. So when I final\u00adly relax, I want to be hor\u00adi\u00adzon\u00adtal. When I had a stan\u00addard couch in the apart\u00adment, I often found myself drift\u00ading to the floor, where I could \u201cgap and stretch\u201d, and feel some freedom.<\/span><\/p>\n

The couch is no more, chucked into the trash. I now have a futon that is nev\u00ader fold\u00aded up in sofa posi\u00adtion. Instead, it\u2019s unfold\u00aded in the \u201cbed\u201d posi\u00adtion, per\u00adma\u00adnent\u00adly. My idea of liv\u00ading in a liv\u00ading room takes its cue from clas\u00adsi\u00adcal antiq\u00adui\u00adty. The ancient Greeks had it right: relax\u00ading, enter\u00adtain\u00ading, and social\u00adiz\u00ading are best done hor\u00adi\u00adzon\u00adtal\u00adly. That posi\u00adtion keeps my pro\u00adpri\u00ado\u00adcep\u00adtors hap\u00adpy. I don\u2019t real\u00adly need to have slaves pluck\u00ading grapes and drop\u00adping them into my open mouth, but I do want my alone time to be sen\u00adsu\u00adous, self-indul\u00adgent, and free of stiff-necked dis\u00adci\u00adpline. The Epi\u00adcu\u00adri\u00adans had it right. None of that Sto\u00adic non\u00adsense for me, and go tell the Spar\u00adtans they\u2019re a bunch of goofs.<\/span><\/p>\n

I\u2019ll nev\u00ader be one of those strange crea\u00adtures who fills every minute with use\u00adful labour, and sac\u00adri\u00adfices plea\u00adsure for ambi\u00adtion. I have no more ambi\u00adtion than a daisy does. A lit\u00adtle bit of sun\u00adshine in a mead\u00adow suits me more than stand\u00ading on a podi\u00adum and accept\u00ading an award (some\u00adthing I now doubt will ever hap\u00adpen). Com\u00adpe\u00adti\u00adtion leaves me cold. If I do some\u00adthing, I usu\u00adal\u00adly don\u2019t care if some\u00adone else does it worse or bet\u00adter. I enjoy my own knowl\u00adedge and abil\u00adi\u00adties, but don\u2019t see any point in find\u00ading out where they rank in com\u00adpar\u00adi\u00adson to oth\u00ader peo\u00adple\u2019s knowl\u00adedge and abil\u00adi\u00adties. School bored me to tears, marks meant noth\u00ading to me except irri\u00adta\u00adtion. Knowl\u00adedge, from the moment I began to look and read, seemed to me strict\u00adly for my own pri\u00advate plea\u00adsure. Some nosy boob \u201ceval\u00adu\u00adat\u00ading\u201d my knowl\u00adedge, or urg\u00ading me to com\u00adpete with some ran\u00addom bunch of oth\u00ader peo\u00adple for marks or lit\u00adtle tin\u00adfoil stars just struck me as idi\u00adot\u00adic. This view was firm\u00adly in my mind by at least the first grade. So was the belief that relax\u00adation, the splen\u00addid art of doing lit\u00adtle or noth\u00ading in the most enjoy\u00adable way, is a noble pur\u00adsuit. Cats, nature\u2019s great\u00adest mas\u00adters of relax\u00adation, should be our guides in this. When cats relax, their bod\u00adies dis\u00adsolv\u00ading into a semi-liq\u00aduid state, they purr. Humans can, and should purr. Once a friend remarked that I was the only per\u00adson she had ever met who real\u00adly purred. I took this as the most pleas\u00ading com\u00adpli\u00adment I have ever received.<\/span><\/p>\n

Relax\u00adation comes in two main cat\u00ade\u00adgories: with friends, and alone. Relax\u00ading with friends is sub\u00adtler, because it needs a spe\u00adcial art to main\u00adtain its puri\u00adty and inno\u00adcence. But I only wish to med\u00adi\u00adtate, right now, on relax\u00ading alone.<\/span><\/p>\n

I\u2019ve just fin\u00adished a nice lit\u00adtle bit of relax\u00adation, and while my writ\u00ading about it pre\u00adsup\u00adpos\u00ades that I\u2019m not actu\u00adal\u00adly doing it, I\u2019ll write about it in the present tense to evoke its texture:<\/span><\/p>\n

On this par\u00adtic\u00adu\u00adlar occa\u00adsion, all the ele\u00adments of fine soli\u00adtary relax\u00adation have lined up like the plan\u00adets in grand con\u00adjunc\u00adtion. The pre\u00adced\u00ading day was exhaust\u00ading, with a lot of hus\u00adtle and bus\u00adtle done in hot, humid weath\u00ader. But now, I\u2019m bask\u00ading in air con\u00addi\u00adtioned bliss. Let those who despise tech\u00adnol\u00ado\u00adgy con\u00adtem\u00adplate the world before air con\u00addi\u00adtion\u00ading. (There\u2019s noth\u00ading more amus\u00ading to look upon than a pro\u00adfuse\u00adly sweat\u00ading lud\u00addite.) I\u2019m fresh\u00adly show\u00adered, freed of tor\u00adment\u00ading shoes and clothes, and grate\u00adful\u00adly sprawled on the futon. No pil\u00adgrim to Lour\u00addes, throw\u00ading away his crutch\u00ades, ever felt the grate\u00adful\u00adness that I feel for that futon. If some\u00adone were to run into the room scream\u00ading that I\u2019ve won the Nobel Prize, I would tell them \u201cIf I have to get up to get it, I don\u2019t want it.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

Every\u00adthing in my apart\u00adment, by slow evo\u00adlu\u00adtion\u00adary incre\u00adments, has come to be in its most con\u00adve\u00adnient place. Things I want prac\u00adti\u00adcal\u00adly leap into my hands unbid\u00adden. Even the pil\u00adlows seem to want to fluff them\u00adselves. Lat\u00ader, per\u00adhaps, I\u2019ll watch an old sci\u00adence fic\u00adtion film, or per\u00adhaps a harm\u00adless sit\u00adcom that a more seri\u00adous per\u00adson would sneer at. But at the moment, I\u2019ll let music wash over me like an incom\u00ading tide, and read some\u00adthing. First, Ralph Vaugh\u00adan Williams\u2019 third sym\u00adpho\u00adny, the fine \u201cpas\u00adtoral\u201d one. Then some old BBC<\/span> Essen\u00adtial Mix from the gold\u00aden era of 1993. Then some Ali Far\u00adka Tour\u00e9.<\/span><\/p>\n

Sup\u00adper is already made and eat\u00aden. It was effort\u00adless: a lamb kebab pan fried with tan\u00addoori paste and tossed onto some cous\u00adcous and peas.<\/span><\/p>\n

The ani\u00admals have tired of chas\u00ading each oth\u00ader back and forth, and have come to join me. The larg\u00ader cat has curled up on the pil\u00adlow to the left of my head. The small\u00ader cat and the rab\u00adbit are stretched out beside each oth\u00ader next to my right low\u00ader leg. The bong and the stash are emp\u00adty, and there\u2019s no alco\u00adhol in the house, but I\u2019m in the mood for read\u00ading with a clear mind. Anoth\u00ader time, a toke or a shot of scotch would hit the spot, but this time, a home-made malt\u00aded milk\u00adshake it more to my liking.<\/span><\/p>\n

Now, a sit\u00adu\u00ada\u00adtion like this needs the right book to make it per\u00adfect. I\u2019m not in the mood for fic\u00adtion, and def\u00adi\u00adnite\u00adly not in the mood for any\u00adthing relat\u00aded to the arti\u00adcle I\u2019m writ\u00ading. For\u00adtu\u00adnate\u00adly, I have the per\u00adfect thing at hand, found in a small town book\u00adshop: Aubrey Burl\u2019s Pre\u00adhis\u00adtoric Ave\u00adbury<\/em>. This allows me slip into a gen\u00adtle reverie.<\/span><\/p>\n

I\u2019m very fond of Ave\u00adbury, that most delight\u00adful of all pre\u00adhis\u00adtoric mon\u00adu\u00adments. I\u2019ve been there twice, but on nei\u00adther occa\u00adsion had the time or mon\u00adey to take it in prop\u00ader\u00adly. For Aver\u00adbury is the focus of one of my best relax\u00adation fan\u00adtasies. If I could swing it, I would spend a week there. Every day, I would take my break\u00adfasts in the bay win\u00addow of the Red Lion Pub, which sits right in the mid\u00addle of the great cir\u00adcle of sarcen stones. That\u2019s the spe\u00adcial charm of Ave\u00adbury. There\u2019s an Eng\u00adlish vil\u00adlage right on top of it, min\u00adgling with the stones and avenues and the cir\u00adcu\u00adlar trench and embank\u00adment. Oh, it\u2019s all very fine for Stone\u00adhenge to loom mys\u00adte\u00adri\u00adous\u00adly on the emp\u00adty stage-set of Sal\u00adis\u00adbury Plain, look\u00ading all spooky and ooz\u00ading mys\u00adti\u00adcal oom\u00adpah-pah. The hip\u00adpies love it. But Ave\u00adbury\u2019s mag\u00adic is sub\u00adtler, and appeals to me more. The domes\u00adtic set\u00adting, with cot\u00adtages, a pub, high street shops, and a church super\u00adim\u00adposed on the five-thou\u00adsand year old mega\u00adlith\u00adic mon\u00adu\u00adment, like an acci\u00adden\u00adtal\u00adly dou\u00adble-exposed film neg\u00ada\u00adtive, makes for a pow\u00ader\u00adful evo\u00adca\u00adtion of the depths of time. Per\u00adhaps human sac\u00adri\u00adfices were per\u00adformed at the post office, and who knows what orgias\u00adtic, Pan-like rites were per\u00adformed where now the Angli\u00adcan com\u00admu\u00adnion is held. The won\u00adder\u00adment is, like the Pur\u00adloined Let\u00adter, hid\u00adden in plain sight, and all the more won\u00addrous for that.<\/span><\/p>\n

After each dai\u00adly break\u00adfast, I would amble casu\u00adal\u00adly to some of the archae\u00ado\u00adlog\u00adi\u00adcal items that lie scat\u00adtered with\u00adin a mile or two of the vil\u00adlage. They are quite var\u00adied, and most of them are rarely vis\u00adit\u00aded by any\u00adone but local farm\u00aders and archae\u00adol\u00ado\u00adgists. With\u00adout back\u00adground knowl\u00adedge to give them mean\u00ading, most have lit\u00adtle appeal to the day trip\u00adpers and New Age inno\u00adcents who are drawn to the big stones. Any\u00adway, I would prob\u00ada\u00adbly do this in the off-sea\u00adson. I\u2019m Cana\u00addi\u00adan \u2015 I don\u2019t mind a lit\u00adtle chilly weath\u00ader, and don\u2019t enjoy crowds. When the sun goes down, I\u2019ll retreat to the pub for a pint of best bit\u00adter, and enjoy the pleas\u00adant talk of an Eng\u00adlish coun\u00adtry pub.<\/span><\/p>\n

Come to think of it, such a week of relax\u00adation would be all the sweet\u00ader if I came to Ave\u00adbury, not by bus (like the last time) or hitch-hik\u00ading (like the first time), but by walk\u00ading the full length of the Ridge\u00adway. This is the old\u00adest known \u201croad\u201d in Eng\u00adland. Actu\u00adal\u00adly, it\u2019s a hum\u00adble foot-path that winds for 85 miles (137 km) from Iving\u00adhoe Bea\u00adcon in Buck\u00ading\u00adhamshire, through the Chiltern and Berk\u00adshire hills, past the Iron Age fort at Uff\u00adin\u00adg\u00adton and the Vale of White\u00adhorse, and ends just to the south of Ave\u00adbury, near Sil\u00adbury Hill, the most mys\u00adte\u00adri\u00adous of all British pre\u00adhis\u00adtoric mon\u00adu\u00adments. Such a dis\u00adtance is noth\u00ading, for me, espe\u00adcial\u00adly with reg\u00adu\u00adlar oppor\u00adtu\u00adni\u00adties for a plough\u00adman\u2019s lunch along the way.<\/span><\/p>\n

That lit\u00adtle fan\u00adta\u00adsy is in the spir\u00adit of some of my finest moments of relax\u00adation. I have some real-life ones under my belt that equal it.<\/span><\/p>\n

One I espe\u00adcial\u00adly cher\u00adish in mem\u00ado\u00adry occurred in the desert and mesa coun\u00adtry of north\u00adern Ari\u00adzona. There was a hid\u00adden box canyon, well off any well-trod\u00adden trail, where was hid, at least for a brief sea\u00adson, a pool of crys\u00adtal clear water under the shade of a red-rock cliff. Not orangy-brown, not sand\u00adstone red, but blood red, the cliff was. I spent two care\u00adfree days there, nurs\u00ading a sprain and a bro\u00adken toe. The splen\u00addid set\u00adting made the pain seem triv\u00adial. I did absolute\u00adly noth\u00ading except take dips in the cool water, tend the fire, and look at the stars. No wast\u00aded time was ever less of a waste. The soli\u00adtude end\u00aded only when two Nava\u00adho shep\u00adherd boys arrived. This occurred at the pre\u00adcise moment when it seemed right to break the spell of soli\u00adtude. Since I was a trained shep\u00adherd myself, there was a com\u00admon\u00adal\u00adi\u00adty to ease acquain\u00adtance. I fol\u00adlowed them out of the canyon, and up the mesa. But that starts anoth\u00ader, irrel\u00ade\u00advant story.<\/span><\/p>\n

Forests and moun\u00adtains fig\u00adure promi\u00adnent\u00adly in my cat\u00ada\u00adlog of Great Relax\u00adations. One can be as snug and com\u00adfort\u00adable out of doors as in the cosiest of apart\u00adments, if the con\u00addi\u00adtions are right. One British Colum\u00adbia moun\u00adtain mead\u00adow, with a breath\u00adtak\u00ading view of rain\u00adfor\u00adest, glac\u00adi\u00aders, mist and sea, was so esthet\u00adi\u00adcal\u00adly over\u00adwhelm\u00ading that it often pops up in my dreams. The climb to it was exhaust\u00ading, and I don\u2019t take well to thin air. Rest was a neces\u00adsi\u00adty, so per\u00adhaps I should\u00adn\u2019t count it as \u201crelax\u00adation\u201d. But I lin\u00adgered past the strict neces\u00adsi\u00adty of recuperation.<\/span><\/p>\n

Among fine acts of relax\u00adation, I would def\u00adi\u00adnite\u00adly include paus\u00ades on jour\u00adneys on the Cana\u00addi\u00adan Shield. These have been too numer\u00adous to keep track of. They all con\u00adtained the same ele\u00adments: a lake, or a swimable riv\u00ader; pre\u00adcam\u00adbri\u00adan rocks scat\u00adtered about for fur\u00adni\u00adture; a crack\u00adling fire cook\u00ading fresh trout; blue\u00adber\u00adries and rasp\u00adber\u00adries handy for the pick\u00ading; a well-made teepee; some ragged paper\u00adback books stained with sweat and crushed mos\u00adqui\u00adtoes; loons call\u00ading; whiskey\u00adjacks singing; and a soft breeze to keep the black\u00adflies at bay. What does civ\u00adi\u00adliza\u00adtion have that can com\u00adpete with it?<\/span><\/p>\n

Well, there is one form of relax\u00ading that requires quite a bit of civ\u00adi\u00adliza\u00adtion to sup\u00adport it, and is hard\u00adly ever cel\u00ade\u00adbrat\u00aded by writ\u00aders and philoso\u00adphers. I don\u2019t think Thore\u00adau would approve of it. It\u2019s too mun\u00addane to attract the poets. But it\u2019s just as \u201cspir\u00adi\u00adtu\u00adal\u201d in its own way. I don\u2019t own a car, and it\u2019s been a long time since I have, but this is what I most miss about hav\u00ading one. It\u2019s extreme\u00adly relax\u00ading to dri\u00adve your car aim\u00adless\u00adly along coun\u00adtry roads, with no timetable, no des\u00adti\u00adna\u00adtion, no place where you have to be. Just dri\u00adving for no rea\u00adson, fol\u00adlow\u00ading a road because you like the look of it, play\u00ading roller-coast\u00ader on the bad\u00adly grad\u00aded hills and dips, kick\u00ading dust and peb\u00adbles behind you. That\u2019s when a car feels like a home, not a mere trans\u00adporta\u00adtion machine. Bet\u00adter yet is to dri\u00adve for hours, late, late at night, on a near\u00adly emp\u00adty high\u00adway, lis\u00adten\u00ading to obscure radio sta\u00adtions emerge from sta\u00adt\u00adic, play some half-for\u00adgot\u00adten tune from anoth\u00ader era, then ebb and fade back into the sta\u00adt\u00adic sea. This is waste\u00adful of gas, but ful\u00adfill\u00ading of the spir\u00adit. It works best in Cana\u00adda, where emp\u00adty high\u00adways snake mourn\u00adful\u00adly across shad\u00adowy moon\u00adlit land\u00adscapes, and every Tim Hor\u00adton\u2019s donut shop is an alabaster oasis in the ebon night.<\/span><\/p>\n

\"09-08-19<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

I spend most of the day on my feet, walk\u00ading and car\u00adry\u00ading things. When I come home, I often put in fur\u00adther hours sit\u00adting upright at a com\u00adput\u00ader. So when I final\u00adly relax, I want to be hor\u00adi\u00adzon\u00adtal. When I had a standard \u2026<\/p>\n

Read more \u00bb<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"wp_typography_post_enhancements_disabled":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1,9],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1337","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-a-blog","category-ar-blog-2009"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.philpaine.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1337","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.philpaine.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.philpaine.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.philpaine.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.philpaine.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=1337"}],"version-history":[{"count":6,"href":"http:\/\/www.philpaine.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1337\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":7965,"href":"http:\/\/www.philpaine.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1337\/revisions\/7965"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.philpaine.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1337"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.philpaine.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1337"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.philpaine.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1337"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}