Cesty za obzor: novodobý řád a divočina

The study concerns the theme of “horizon” (i.e. the boundary defining contemporary world view) and characteristics of current “Umwelt” (place to live). Based on the thesis “our place is part of what we are” (Gary Snyder’s The Practice of the Wild) the essay aspires to draw metaphorical comparisons of the Western world and the personalities of those who live there. It almost seems as though we have lost both the wilderness in the form of natural landscape and civility – the cultural information and symbolic meanings that have always been contained in cultural landscape. Our space-time is no longer what it was: is it possible that a glimpse into the alluvium of the modern suburban areas will help us better understand the soul of Western human beings? Again, here we are in the middle of a chaotic world, like early medieval colonizers surrounded by wilderness. This time, however, the wilderness is “cultural”.