Saturday, July 2, 2011

Inukshuks et al

I just read Marly's blog, in which one of her faithful readers mentioned the concept of an inukshuk, an Eskimo word that describes rock formations or constructions that look like a person. They are an effort to proclaim one's existence in a natural world that sometimes seems devoid of humanity or indifferent to it. As a city person, I have never had this problem. The world I live in reeks of humanity. It is the natural world that has almost no presence in it. And the danger and indifference is all too human, not that of the natural world, which seems to be buried in garbage and overwhelmed by our temporary and temporal shrines and headlines.

4 comments:

Marly Youmans said...

So I was a bit off in my half-guess--monolith or stacked stone. Interesting.

Robbi N. said...

An interesting concept.

marja-leena said...

Interesting further thoughts on inukshuks and humanity.

Robbi N. said...

Thanks Marja-leena for the inspiration, and for teaching me something today. I hope we will be inclined to visit each others' blogs frequently. Cross pollination is a good thing, right?