I’ve been told that for Shakespeare, England is always a character. England motivates and moves the action of the play.<\/p>\n
I recently discovered a character, Tim “Speed” Levitch, who gives tours of New York City and who is the subject of an existential and metaphysical rant of a documentary called The Cruise.<\/em><\/p>\n He tells the story of his city, New York, from the same heroic perspective. The City is a character.<\/p>\n The title of the movie comes from his concept of the motion of life. It’s a cruise, a magnificent and glorious forward motion.<\/p>\n In the interview I heard with Tim Levitch, he brought up another kind of forward motion: the commute. The commute is when all parts of me are focused on the goal of BEING THERE.<\/p>\n When I am going to work, I am commuting and I want to be THERE. Especially when I am commuting home.<\/p>\n The streets in California–wait, the highways<\/em>–have a complete character all their own. They have a life and a will that is implacable and must be reckoned with.<\/p>\n A consciousness, as I am beginning to see.<\/p>\n If I am in the city, and in the traffic, on my commute, and all I am focused on is BEING WHERE I AM NOT YET, then I miss so much of where I am.<\/p>\n The mindset of the commute robs me of my life. I am commuting so often, not only on my way to work and back, but also when I am at those destinations. I live in the future of when THIS project will be done, when THIS goal will be achieved.<\/p>\n I miss the now. It doesn’t even exist when I am so goal focused. I don’t even exist.<\/p>\n I recognize this in my life. I come in and out of that mentality.<\/p>\n I will get caught up in the goal, the desired end, and forget myself and forget who, what and where I am.<\/p>\n And my discomfort increases.<\/p>\n At which point I shake myself into awareness again.<\/p>\n \u00a0<\/strong>I will lift up mine eyes unto the hills, from whence cometh my help [psalm 121]<\/p>\n That’s what I see on my commute. Hills. And when I look up to my beautiful surroundings, I remember that my goals and my problems have a bigger context.<\/p>\n There is a whole world of beauty and love out there.<\/p>\n These roads are part of it too. The paint is just lines and dots. They are part of the city, not all of it. Even if they are the part I am most intimate with.<\/p>\n We are in this world together, agents of destiny. My desire is to add to the glory and beauty of this cacophony. With intention. Where I am.<\/p>\n I’ll get where I’m going in good time.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" I’ve been told that for Shakespeare, England is always a character. England motivates and moves the action of the play. I recently discovered a character, Tim “Speed” Levitch, who gives tours of New York City and who is the subject … Continue reading