Writing A Toddler’s Ethic
Read my Newest Essay “The Living Chest,” now out with Dismantle Magazine
When I was little and my mind, out of boredom, couldn’t help but make dreams appear in front of me, like orcs and elves or pod racers, things from the big movies of the time, I’d find myself wandering the creek in our backyard pretending it was the Fangorn forest, enamored and scared of what I might find down there. Maybe there would be leaches, or quicksand, or some strange sea creature had found its way up this tributary and now was trapped in shallow waters.
But these were just the dreams of a small child trying to understand the world, not knowing much of anything that surrounded him. Today, I technically know more material facts, but most everything of consequence still seems clouded in mystery.
From these walks in the creek, the time spent making up the world as I went, along with a choice encounter with a chest full of photographs in my house growing up, I inadvertently created an ethic of respect to live by. Unknowingly I had created my own form of reverie and appreciation for the world beyond people. Remembering this childhood encounter when I was in O’ahu speaking with Kalehua Krug, a Native Hawaiian educator and Hawaiian independence activist, I started to write down this ethic, seeing some similarities between how I see the world, and how Krug spoke of the land and ocean. The article, “The Living Chest,” out now with Dismantle Magazine (link here), is my attempt at writing down this ethic.
Putting any sort of philosophy down in writing inevitably has its faults. You want to convey your idea clearly, but often it can come off either too reductive, or so nuanced that that essential meanings are lost. This essay, to put it simply, is an exploration of a childhood worldview that shapes how I interact with the world today. This worldview is not set in stone. I’m sure, one day, how I write about this encounter with the chest, or my adventures in the creek, will change. But for now, this is the best I can do to describe how I see the world.
Hope you enjoy the read!
https://dismantlemag.com/2023/06/28/animism-living-chest/
