Interstate 10 in Houston at dawn

I had an interested and interesting response on my post, Environment vs. The Environment, from my daughter’s friend who is a highly-trained professional violinist and violist.  She saw my post through a link on Facebook and wrote her comment there. (I get the majority of comments on my posts on Facebook, rather than here.)

She and her family have been living in Germany, and she has developed an alternate perspective on cities and how they’re put together from her sojourn in a foreign land.

With her permission, I quote Erin Shriver here:

Mrs. B, I read your post and it resonants within me–Though not nearly as eloquently, I could have expressed something similar–esp. your final five points. I am very sensitive to surroundings– I cannot help but to create something unique and beautiful around me, for others, for the sake of Beauty, out of worship and love– in personal praise to God. Being out in creation, creating for others and seeking beauty– for me, are active prayers. I haven’t been back to America in 4.5 years, and have been spoiled so much by beauty, nature, the combination of ancient city and furrowed field within blocks of one another, of a culture that actively cares for the earth and does not sell a plastic, disposable life… It will be hard to to return to the US. I think most of our souls are starving for real nourishment, but can’t pinpoint why they are atrophying. Anyhow, thanks for sharing, RM. Really spoke to me.

In addition to being a consummate musician, Erin does handwork of all sorts, so she is in tune with the maker-mentality and with the nourishment of body and soul.

It is possible that we gravitate toward more and more personal entertainment because our souls are starving from their long immersion in pretension and visual clutter, in the same way we are pulled toward food that isn’t nutritious in order to satisfy our taste buds that have been artificially stimulated by chemically-enhanced food-like products.

What do you think?