Here are a few altogether different ideas on May, 1st, the International Labour Day!
We live in two different worlds: the world of culture and the world of nature. Our actual participation in the latter dwindles into nothingness. Our self-made world of culture occupies almost a hundred per cent of our existence.
Listening to the raindrops falling on my head, the wind blowing through the trees, or the birds singing in the forest, I remember what the world of nature is. 
Unfortunately, I am surrounded by the sounds of civilization. I live in a mostly quiet area, yet I hear the noise of cars and planes around the clock.
Very rarely, I experience moments of absolute stillness and clarity far away from all civilization. Then I can see the stars in all their glamour and I remember how dark and quiet it used to be not so long ago.
For us, the world of culture has become natural; the world of nature is alien. We fail to accept death; the birth of a child is the last wonder of nature. Our human emotions surprise and scare us. We eat meat but could not kill an animal if we had to.
On weekends, we go mountaineering or sailing, consuming our small portions of the world of nature there. But afterwards another week of the world of culture starts.
I guess it all started with mixed farming, and then came technical developments, mobility and communication. A school, children learn abstract knowledge, they know all types of cars, but they cannot tell you the names of the birds.
We spend our time in the car, or in front of the computer or television set. In meetings, we provide abstract solutions for non-real problems and in doing so permanently make matters more complex.
Our food has become “convenient” and we can no longer live without electricity and drugs. The least important issues have become the most important: the stock market, money, and the media. Index numbers, outlooks, stock-market values, list positions determine our way of thinking. “Germany is looking for the Superstar” and “Germany’s next top model” are favourite topics of conversation.
Irrational anxieties determine what we do, replacing normal fear.
This is why I like it in the great outdoors, away from all civilization. It is also why I go by bike whenever possible. Lately, I even enjoy the sensational adventure of hiking. For me, these are small excursions (escapes) on a daily basis from a world of culture back to a world of nature.
It is sheer lunacy. But there is a silver lining. Man can neither predict and dominate the world of culture, nor the world of nature – mediocrity and extremists to the fore!
RMD
P.S.
On the picture, you can see the artificial well in my garden. It gives me the illusion of hearing the sounds of nature at home.
(translated by EG)
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