Some thoughts on what matters
Four years ago, in spring 2021, we were starting to sow the seed that became Wonderland Community Project. The land as bridge to ourselves - as that-which-we-became. In April and May, we took a couple of exploratory trips to the property in McHenry County IL, previously known best to me from Tom Wait's song "Johnsburg, Illinois". We signed the contract in June.
In any project, there are twists and turns. You start at one place, adjust, start over. This is as true for a project like WCP as it is for something smaller, or more focused - "Try Again. Fail Again. Fail Better". For us, one area that has recursively surfaced is what the meaning is - what it means to form community, what it means to restore land, what it means to center value.
I was thinking of that this morning as I walked home in Chicago after dropping off the rental car, and came across this Guardian article. One such 'meaning of life' really rang true for the Wonderland Community Project experience:
"The Aristotelian concept of eudaimonia best captures what I have in mind here. Eudaimonia means living well, flourishing, doing that which is worth doing. It is not about pleasure or hedonic satisfaction, nor is it about selfless sacrifice for some greater good. It involves realising one’s potential through cultivating virtues such as reason, courage and wisdom. Fundamentally, it comes down to doing a bit of good and feeling good about doing so."
This isn't selfless sacrifice. Yesterday, I dozed on the bank of a stream where we had been working on our first Beaver Dam Analog, and where I had been clearing invasives. Temperatures hovered about 45F, but the bank caught the sun and kept me out of the wind.
Nor is it hedonic. A few weeks back I had cleared space to plant some of our 120 chestnuts, and we revisited the (half complete) space to talk though what we would plant, and where, and how. When I cleared it, I got caught by a branch in the face and had to stop because I was bleeding too much to go on.
But "doing a bit of good and feeling good about doing so"? Yes, that's a good place to start.
Written by Oliver.
