Freedom in Dreams and Small Worlds

Apollonian detachment, urban moralism

The discovery of a small patch of woodland or series of low bushes behind a row of houses, this is a feeling of great freedom to a child. They have the ability to enter small worlds and discover what manner of things lie behind the mundane - a secret path out of here, a campfire, a hollow inside an old tree carved with initials. Sitting still in a forest can have the same effect, as animals will slowly reveal themselves to you, or you can get lost in the miniature universe of a spider’s web, glistening with dew. All things wet and quiet.

This spontaneous freedom of youth is naturally lost as we acquire the exoskeleton of adulthood, but it is striking how little liberty contemporary western people now have. When the COVID-19 lockdowns began across the