We moved to Patagonia because we thought we could raise our daughter here in a culture and in a way that didn’t exist back in the US.
That doesn’t mean that we “like it better” necessarily.
There are things I like about here more than I like there.
There are things I like about there more than I like here.
When I say “we live in Patagonia” people form certain images in their minds.
Before we moved here, whenever I thought “damn, we’re moving to Patagonia,” I formed certain images in my mind.
The images I formed were mostly wrong.
I believe the images that people form are mostly wrong.
A couple days ago a TV producer described me as “being down in Patagonia in your bliss.”
I feel like this is wrong.
But I feel like this is so common.
People don’t want the truth, they just want the particular concept or brand you represent that they can “resonate with.”
I’ve written a lot about the Colque family that lives next door.
Layla and I were just walking around with two of the little girls, Fatima and Abril, and one of the little boys, Anton.
We were out by the road picking apples. On the other side of the fence, the older Colque kids were playing soccer with a half-deflated basketball. One of them dribbled it around the side of the house and then another one was screaming “Faggot, faggot” (Maricon).
Over the last couple of days someone has dumped a bunch of trash on the sandpile where the kids play. Today I pulled out a board with this gnarly nail stuck through it. I showed it to them, more as a way of saying ‘watch out’ than ‘throwing trash is wrong.’
The truth is that people throw trash on top of kids’ sandpiles here.
the truth is that the kids chase each other screaming “faggot!”
This is the truth about Patagonia.
There’s no “bliss.”
And that truth is stronger than any “message” I might try to give them about trash or their language.
Any “message” I might deliver is equivalent to that TV producer’s concept of this place being my “bliss.”
It may exist as a concept in my mind, but it has no truth at ground level.
And thus to try and “apply it” is a way of reducing or obscuring truth instead of recognizing it.
But I believe this–trying to apply concepts–is the way most people think.
And it is always the way thinking is “attributed to” more than one person, say a group or party or organization.
The packages and categories allow one (or many) to add or subtract things to truth and thus “use it for their own purpose.”
They use it to gain power over others.
They use it to lie to themselves as a way of justifying things.
They use it because “hey, it’s business, not personal.”
They use it because it’s “company policy.”
They use it because “this is how it’s done.”
They use it because it’s a “commandment.”
They use it because it’s “in the bylaws.”
They use it because it’s “marketable.”
They use it because it’s “hip.”
They use it because it’s “moral.”
They use it because they’re afraid.
There are things I can do though.
I can pick up the trash.
I can stay at ground level.
I can tell my story.
4 Comments
David –
I guess I’m not sure what to say or how to feel after reading this post. It’s so much — the fact that you’re right about all of it, and so few people are perceptive enough to see that there may not even be a thing such as ‘bliss,’ especially when at any point in time, somewhere, there will be trash getting thrown where a kid is playing. I wrote about this recently but we have to be SO careful with our words. Calling Patagonia ‘bliss’ may seem innocent (or not) to a producer, but in reality, ignoring such complex conditions.
I guess all I really want to say is thanks for sharing your story.
This tied my head all up. I love being made to think like this.
“I believe the images that people form are mostly wrong. ”
“But I believe this–trying to apply concepts–is the way most people think.”
This is it right here. Something here is basic, basic, basic to being human. Basic to our minds. Really a “big truth.” Or concept. Maybe “the” concept.
It’s like looking up the Eiffel Tower from beneath. The framework is all around you so you have no idea how the structure works, what it looks like. But meditating on this concept, the one in your quotes, maybe it helps you see the structure.
Good stuff. Grounded.
Great David. As I read this, the friends I’m staying with are reading out an email form their friends who are in Laos in the moment. It started off saying “the last three weeks have been AMAZING” and goes on to list how magical everything has been and all the “super fun” things they’ve been doing.
Now I’ve traveled enough to know this can’t possibly be true. Surely there have been some amazing and beautiful things, but I wonder why they don’t mention the trying things they’ve done, the arguments they had with the hotel owner or taxi driver, the time they missed their bus, the people who are harassing them for money, dealing with diarrhea for three days.
Maybe everyone is sick of how the news is all negative, so they compensate by only sharing the positives. Maybe they think people don’t want to hear the struggles. But mostly I think people want it so badly that they project their “paradise” onto their experiences.