now much of the world is like a house

Ponto Vechio nella citta di Firenze, Italia

Invisible shields meet visible walls in most of the modern world. The world I have lived in, other than the short excursions into the wilds, has been full of the made environment. The made environment is a place where you can pretty much just feel at home. There are benches to sleep on, places to roll around on the grass, boats to carry you, cars to travel by, trees to climb without worry of other animals attacking you. You could even say "it's not a house, it's a home!" That's how friendly and easy the made environment is for us humans (assuming no political/social upheavals, wars, repression, etc.).

In the summer this land of Aso county in Kumamoto prefecture felt a little different. Because I never knew when a deadly poisonous snake would slither right in front of me the land all of a sudden felt more alive than most of the land I've lived on. Now that the winter is here it feels more like a made environment. I am assuming that Australia feels pretty alive because they still have so many animals there (same for some countries of Africa, some parts of North America, and fingers-crossed for places like Brazil where the forests are disappearing way too fast).

I taught my little kids the "Row, Row, Row your boat/ Gently down the stream/ Merrily merrily, merrily/ Life is but a dream" song today and realized that in the made environment life is really much more like a dream. And dreams can be very beautiful experiences, experiences that are very addicting. The made environment is the environment of the imagination. It is where you can indulge in whatever fantasies you have about the way the world really is. You can believe that fashion is of the utmost importance. You can choose to worship any deity. You can safely forget that other animals than humans actually exist. Etc. Etc.

Why do I say this? It's on my mind. I have lived in Europe/UK for 12 months total and I loved that time. Despite and maybe because of the deeply embedded madeness of that environment I was able to experience special things. My time in the made environment has been very much like a dream. My only question is should I try to wake up any time soon(or is that possible?)? The dream continues in these made environments of Japan...