286 / Travelling at the speed of the soul
mail.google.com
286 / Travelling at the speed of the soul
In the nineteenth century, the initial development of the railroad and photography led to the proliferation of a cliché cribbed from Alexander Pope—the phrase “the annihilation of time and space.” You didn’t have to run to get somewhere fast, and you didn’t have to travel somewhere to behold its image.
Ben Ratliff • Every Song Ever: Twenty Ways to Listen to Music Now
“Rebecca Solnit put it much the same way…: ‘I suspect that the mind, like the feet, works at about three miles an hour. If this is so, then modern life is moving faster than the speed of thought.’ In other words, thoughts – or souls – can get left behind if their hosts move too quickly.”
Speed and efficiency are the promise of modernity. But speed and efficiency are all destination and no journey. And it is journey that gives life meaning.
Things I'm thinking about
The walking cure: when an injury forced me to slow down, I learned that we can only amble our way to wisdom | Justine Toh
theguardian.com
Speed is essential. Beyond tech speed, I can recognise other types of speed, though I'm unsure how many there are.
Here are a few ideas:
Tech speed – Efficiency in digital processing, communication, process reproduction, raw calculation. No need to think.
Cheetah speed – Raw, biological speed; physical speed at its peak. Evolutionary speed.
Human speed