Barry Lopez and "The Tree"

In the Paris Review, there's an interview with the great writer from Oregon, Barry Lopez.

From the piece...

The grandeur of nature makes you still feel that way too, and yet you don’t mind.

No, because you step into it. You know you’re included, necessary. In fact, you’re loved. I remember this woman once—I was traveling up north in a village and I was morose one day in this small village—this older woman said to me, “Barry, what’s making you sad?” And I said, “I think I’m just homesick.” She looked at me and said, “Don’t you understand? When you miss your place, your place is missing you, and this is how you feel it.” She took the reciprocity for granted.

What a beautiful perspective to have.

Absolutely. Isn’t it?

Right, the idea is that when you are pining for a missed connection, you imagine you are alone in feeling it.

You do. And that’s because you always imagine yourself talking to the world and that no one can hear you. Then you realize that there is that connection, and you renew it by walking out the way John describes his taking a walk at the end of The Tree. It’s an exercise in sanity.