The world is moving sideways for many people over the previous days, weeks, and months as they attempt to reenter what had been their normal, and it’s proving to be elusive. Fears of recession, inflation, war, political divisions, a cryptocurrency rout, starving babies as our country runs out of formula, lack of workers, various food shortages, impossibly expensive vacations, rising interest rates, unaffordable housing, all these things are nagging at Americans’ sense of well being.

Meanwhile, I watch Rome burning while I fiddle on my way into adventures. Am I so aloof as to be above it all? Absolutely not, but two years ago, with the pandemic unfolding, I considered how, after previous encounters with pestilence, the localized world had changed, and COVID was a global phenomenon that promised even greater change. Today, I think we are seeing the effects of a gut punch that is causing nausea within society as it readies itself for the full-on retching that will see humanity disgorge itself of the poison that is man. But you thought I was going to New Mexico, right? Well, all trips away from home have a starting point, and this launch is no different.

I only began with this intrusion after finishing the blog posts from our trip to Bryce two weeks ago. I didn’t feel like finding my way into other posts that might document the intervening time, so my big epiphany had to be alluded to here at the coffee shop prior to our departure later this afternoon. That’s right, you read it correctly: BIG EPIPHANY!

Just a few days ago, I started reading François Laruelle’s The Last Humanity; The New Ecological Science, and not more than a few pages in, I realized that something extraordinarily huge has been occurring. I was trying to interpret Laruelle’s idea of non-philosophy, and for some inexplicable reason, I started thinking about Crass’s 1978 declaration that Punk is Dead, which triggered the thought that Philosophy is Dead. In a flash, philosophy died before my eyes.

At that moment of perceiving this new gravity, I watched a vast philosophical history, while not rendered totally worthless, get moved into the backseat or maybe even the trunk. Holy holy of holies, a new global phenomenon has emerged, and while elements of it have been with us since the late 1800s, though it didn’t really pick up steam until the 1960s, the environment has taken on a new global importance. Stretching further back into history is the world of philosophy, the male universe of thought that, like religion, has various pockets of belief distributed around the globe, but the practitioners are spread far and wide and are, in reality, but a small minority. What is suddenly emergent and a force of such spectacular scope that I’m left with my mouth agape is this new ecological awareness that has captured people’s imagination from around the earth. Ecology and the environment are the new lingua franca of hundreds of millions, if not billions, of people who want to see plastic bags, straws, and single-use plastics go away while clearing the air, protecting sea life, and caring about all this stuff we require to be at home.

Whoah, seriously, stop a second and try to understand the first major intellectual global phenomenon to displace the old guard; the environment of the world we share is about to eclipse the concerns of those who are being pushed to the margin. Business as usual will be a thing of the past, although those who are enriched by the old ways will not go quietly, witness Mr. Putin and his antics.

But wait a minute, it’s Friday, and the beginning of trip number 9 of 2022 that is supposed to bring us to New Mexico for a weekend of hiking; what do global shifts have to do with local travels? A large swath of northern New Mexico is on fire, likely due in part to climate change. Right now, Caroline and I are fortunate enough not to be impacted by the supply of baby formula, the price of gas, inflation, cryptocurrency, a war in Ukraine, or the other ailments affecting the mental well-being of others. Our focus is to enjoy the world around us and take advantage of being out in nature. In just a few hours, we’ll jump into the car, this time armed with our binoculars, a camera lens suited to photographing wildlife, and the other things that will support our adventure of taking in the Zuni Indian reservation along with El Morro and El Malpais National Monuments.

Regarding my epiphany that I touched on here, it is not fully formed or realized yet, but I did feel the need to note that it was just this week that these ideas were dumped into my consciousness. Enough of trying to predict a future based on some anecdotal heavy intellectual musings of whose veracity I’m trying to convince myself. I’ve got lunch I need to make and dishes to clean afterward before we can get underway. The next entry should reflect where we are on the road in this weekend’s journey together.