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D. H. Lawrence and the Wilds of New Mexico

D. H. Lawrence had little to do with contemporary Christianity.  He believed Augustine destroyed its original intent with his Confessions and "Original Sin."  He saw man as this Stranger on the planet - not its master - especially the white race which he felt self-destructed during WW1.  When officers on both sides could order their men to literally run into lines of machine guns, deliberately killing them by the thousands on any given day, well, to him it revealed that the white race had become mad.

He loved Taos, New Mexico - as do I.  Although he died in Paris, he willed that his ashes be buried in Taos, and they were.  He roamed the back country - marveled at the great stone formations - the lizards - was always astonished at his own insignificance; his smallness in relation to the glory of wilderness.  Yet at the same time he felt that somehow he was welcome in wilderness - even loved Here’s his poem “Sinners” (from D. H. Lawrence Collected Poems):

    The big mountains sit still in the afternoon light,
        Shadows in their lap,
    The bees roll round in the wild-thyme with delight.

    We sitting here among the cranberries
        So still in the gap
    Of rock, distilling our memories,

    Are sinners!  Strange!  The bee that blunders
        Against me goes off with a laugh.
    A squirrel cocks his head on the fence, and wonders

    What about sin? - For, it seems
        The mountains have
    No shadow of us on their snowy forehead of dreams

    As they ought to have.  They rise above us
        Dreaming
    For ever.  One even might think that they love us.

            Little red cranberries cheek to cheek,
            Two great dragonflies wrestling;
            You, with your forehead nestling
            Against me, and bright peak shining to peak -

    There’s a love-song for you! - Ah, if only
        There were no teeming
    Swarms of mankind in the world, and we were less lonely!

When you visit such places to renew yourself - to find new sources of strength - new sources of hope - take responsibility for your own body wastes.  For ALL your wastes.  For man is a waste maker personified.  Our Packit Toilet kit is affordable - lightweight (a child or an old person can carry one) - easy to use - makes it simple to deal with our own poop and toilet paper (the two culprits that now harass the wild places and the wild things).  In fact, with our Packit Toilet kit there are no excuses left for being indifferent “Sinners” with regard to your own body wastes - when out in wilderness or back country.

Posted on Saturday, February 23, 2008 at 11:39AM by Registered CommenterMark Marchus | CommentsPost a Comment
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