Home is Where Your Heart Beats Best

As of late, I've been further pondering the meaning, purpose, place and work involved with this concept of 'home'. Being an alien in a land that you love like an old friend, it grates on me to constantly have to justify and explain my existence here. "Where are you from?", a constantly fielded question. And I know nobody means any harm by it but it is not a simple answer for me. I come from a place that does not physically exist anymore, as really we all do. The exact geographical location of my early years can be pinned down to the greater DC area but it was really despite the culture I came to consciousness in not because of it that I am the way I am. Why don't we define ourselves by the place we choose to be presently, rather than the place we just happen to come from?

So what is home? Home is where you choose to be, wherever accepts you for all of you, where life is just challenging enough to afford you opportunities to grow but provide enough comfort to catch you when you fall. Sometimes the exploratory process can be scary but by looking, listening, and thinking "What is life really like here?" everyone can truly connect with the world. Home might be the place of your childhood, or somewhere vastly different. How can you know unless you truly think about it? It is suggested that you 'shop around' for big decisions such as purchasing a car or choosing a mate, why not the community in which you reside and contribute? We cling to similarities sometimes when we should be exploring our fantastic differences. How do you learn and grow by only asking questions which you already know the answer to? The best way to learn your way around is to take time to get lost for a little while, say "Yes!" to the unknown, look down a few dark alleys every now and then. The only barriers that exist are those we buy into. I think we should make the time in life to apply this concept to our definition of home. The world is too big and wonderful a place to just settle for what's handed to you.

So to all the past and future probers of the question,"Where is home?"I say, "I am here now! Happily, contently, serenely here now. And for the first time ever in my adult life, I have no plans to go anywhere else anytime soon*." That's why I think I am home.

(*I will keep traveling at every possible opportunity but now I will have a place to be excited to return back to time and again.)

Eco is Where the Oculus Animae is.

Ecology: the branch of biology dealing with relations and interactions between organisms and their environment. 

Economy: the management of the resources of a community especially with regard to its productivity. 

How often have you pondered the fact that economy and ecology share a root term 'eco'? Eco or oeco has both Greek and Latin roots to mean the same thing: home or habitat. While it's overuse in the advertising world to illicit 'green' sensibilities is all to common, its place in the concept of economics is downplayed almost equally. Resources used to be considered assets of a community geographically and culturally speaking, and they still are, but boundaries have blurred and communities aren't what they used to be. Everything comes from somewhere and theoretically you're going to be a bit more personally invested in the gold in your backyard rather than on the other side of the world. This also doesn't seem to be the case anymore. Cultures these days have evolved a phenomenal ability to compartmentalize. Life, love, work, and family would appear to be mutually exclusive. People, families, and corporations all make short sighted, self-destructive choices in the name of frugality. When did this happen? And is it a good thing?

Strange thing this idea of eco, the homeplace, community. As a vagabond I never fully belong anywhere but at the same time I see each place to land through a kind of rosy filter of optimism. It's all too easy to take something that's always there for granted and let the negative come more to light than the rare beauty.

Last Friday night I was abruptly reminded of the absurdity of my vacant sense of place. "We are all citizens of planet earth" the gentleman pointed out. While this has always been the case for all creatures here, now more than ever, we humans need to remember this everyday. Not only are we never truly alone, all of our daily actions have far reaching effects both geographically and pervasively through time. Also in this train of thought the concept of possession could be replaced with stewardship. Everything and nothing is truly ours, yours, here. So the best we can do is work with what's in front of us and value it to the best of our ability.

So I will leave you with this: What did you truly value today?