The View

You know it well of course, you look over a house and one of the first things you look at is the view from the windows. It is deeply within us to look out, like our ancestors crossing vast stretches of tundra, we look not only to see what is around us but also simply to look. We are used to seeing.

I know we all assume it is mostly because we need to see what may be threats, as castles have been built in the places from which they can see most of the land around. But we have become in doing this, used to views. Views which simple take your breath away, the vastness, depth and beauty of nature not just at your feet but set out before you as if to entice and compel you to view yourself.

There is a beautiful place in Cornwall, one of many, where you can stand when the tide in, on the flat, huge rocks. Behind you is over one hundred metres of sheer cliff. In front of you is the Atlantic Ocean.  Very few people dare to stand on those rocks or even know you can and the feeling of nature’s strength and our own tininess is inescapable.

I think people living in cities are suffering from a  claustrophobia they don’t even realise.