Where am I, or how'd I get here

From where do I begin?  

     I am here.  

Where is here?

     This is a journey of it's own that is in no way a simple or short/static answer.  

But, for a beginning this is what I know:  

     In this almost 49 year old body, in this chair, in a wooded part of the world I know to be east, the direction the sun rises, and a bit north, the direction the sun goes away from in the winter, by about 2500 miles of where it was I first knew to be.  

     All else, like this being earth, in a solar system......is convention, assumption, and not so relative.

     What is the difference between my knowledge of where I am now, and my knowledge of where I was when I was in France, or Japan, or any other place that I was flown to or driven to and did not mark the passing of each moment of the journey?

     The first time I came to the Northeast of the United States I flew her on a commercial airline.  I didn't keep track of the flight in it's entirety.  I just took it for granted that I was being taken to where I was going.

Now that I have actually driven the distance from where I first began, to where I am now, and marked every bit of the way, finding it myself, I think I have a better idea of where I am.

     It is important for me to know, just what it is I know of where I am, and to differentiate between this and what I assume or accept as convention.

     I could say that I am on planet earth and that earth is at a certain place in the solar system, galaxy, universe.....

All of that would be convention, what I have chosen to accept as true, and not of my own personal knowledge.  This doesn't mean it isn't so, it just means that I haven't experienced it, really.

There was a time not so long ago when so much of what we knew, was what we experienced.  It was knowledge that was earned by living it.  Now, so much of what we think we know is what we choose to accept as knowledge.  Do you really, really know where these words on the screen are coming from? Going?  Where do they exist?  Can you actually pinpoint them.  (don't actually try this or you might ruin your monitor screen)

In my quest to understand where it is that I am, so that I can understand where my path begins, I need to look around me and asses what it is that I know.  It isn't necessary that I have science reports of climate change or news of oil spills or mountains being mined, or forests being cut down, to recognize the state of my world, the one I live in.  It is as easy as noticing, really looking, listening, smelling, feeling.

My world is crowded.  My world is noise polluted.  My world is chaotic.  It is littered.  Life around me is stifled by tarmac and concrete.  The roads are littered with the bodies of the dead, killed by vehicles who's drivers put schedule or entertainment over the value other, and sometimes their own, life.

The world around me has been changed so that I can't find the food or materials I need to survive, in the area I live. 

I can't walk from my home to visit my friend a few towns away with out having to be threatened by speeding tons of steal (cars) or with having to walk thru privately owned land, or that which is as limited to me as private, but labelled public.

All of this, and more, define where it is that I start my journey from.

More,

There is still a growing and regenerating world around me that can supply much of what I need to, not only survive, but thrive.  Water still falls from the sky and stores under ground, in lakes, and runs in rivers.  Their are still those around me who choose to nurture life, rather than exploit it.  They understand the on going nature of life, and the end of our individual lives, the co-dependancy that benefits us all and the affects we each have on one another.  That these kind of people exist, and choose to be stewards the world is energizing and comforting.

    Though the place I find myself has the scars of generations of abuse, it takes very little effort to produce healing.  

A Path is made with respect and consideration of the elements found to already exist.  It is different than a road in this respect.  Many paths can exist in a place and reveal the place to those who would walk them, never changing the nature of a place.  A road is different in this respect.  One road, forced upon a place can change the nature and integrity of place.  A road cuts through a place and allows one to look away from and disregard what is around it.

A path is something sought after with every step, every moment