EARTH, PULL ME DOWN
The epiphenomenalists believe that we accidentally fell into consciousness. That the mind is an evolutionary by-product of identifying threats and poison colours, inert and unable to affect the world. Thought only survived natural selection because Nature saw beauty in knowledge of the whiteness of poison, a recognition supposedly without weight or consequence. Imagine that! Consciousness without weight. Nature had never seen anything so beyond itself, and presumed it a gift, marvelling at its ineffectual transcendence.
The mind is heavy, but not heavy enough to pull us back to dirt, or under it. A rock suspended in air. I think about when I was without it- when I was small. Thought was only the colour of barley, the sound of water, the taste of strawberries and tears and snot.
An animal.
In the old-growth forest, I feel it again. Between the headiness of the shadows, through leaves, in air. A richness I have ceased to know. Parts of me (hidden from my awareness) seep into the clearing, into trees and dirt, where Thought cannot follow. Things are quiet. Unknown, undiscussed, unseen.
Nature, let me stretch long wings and legs into the salty earth. Let the cage crumple to the forest bed.
Feed me the animal I miss.
Hunter Mirpuri, 18, a cul-de-sac ✯ IG: @huntermirpuri
“…philosophy exam on the 22nd wish me luck! Going to destroy epiphenomenalism”