I walked into a very busy
open plan restaurant today to order a take out lunch. I sat at a bar overlooking the dining room. The disjointed
chorus of conversation pulsed rather loudly throughout the place and I visualized a layered carpet of sound hovering over the crowd of people, who were all engaged in various restarurant type activities, most of which consisted of putting heated bits of
erstwhile biomass into their mouths. Perhaps it was because I made out no words, only the unintelligible music of many people eating and emoting, perhaps it was just a
random quirk of my
hindbrain, but suddenly each table seemed a small
tribe unto itself, and I suddenly pictured them all at each other's throats, hoarding food and water, dragging mates from table to table, shouting threats back and forth, etc.
Did we ever really live like that? Do we still? Whether we did or not, something
primal stirred within me. Voices from deep inside, perhaps the voice of
some hidden god translated by the body, triggered by the large group of people fulfilling one of their basic survival requirements en masse like
a flock of seagulls or
school of fish, sang to me of silent strength, untapped potential, pure possibility...the strange spirits swimming
inside.
I paid, walked out, went back to the office, and enjoyed a humble feast of garden salad,
lentil soup, and
foccacia.