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The Myth of the Frontier and the Importance of Movement

711 Views Posted on: 07/27/2022

The Western Tale

The myth of the frontier has always been the driving force of many civilizations, especially the Western one which has increasingly linked its survival to the need to travel new roads and discover new worlds and possibilities. 

This unremitting lure of the unknown – emphasizing the positive connotations of possibility rather than the negative ones of risk – has pressed man to live in a condition of perpetual nomadism, both inner and outer, cultivating the hope that well-being is hidden just beyond the horizon. 

The Croatian Dream

This was the sensation I often felt when on vacation, as a child I would put down my bucket and spade for a moment and stop to observe that magical space where the sea merges with the sky. 

I imagined fantastic men sitting and observing me on the shore that while invisible, must necessarily be in front of me. It was an amazing place where all sorts of unlikely stories appeared to materialize, it was the land of the possible, where everything happened to its full potential. A place to which I was naturally attracted and where I was convinced I would find myself one day, sooner or later, without a doubt. 

"Dad, what's on the other side of the sea?"

"Croatia."

"And is Croatia beautiful?"

"Yes, very. And on particularly clear days you can see the outline of its coast, if you squint your eyes hard enough."

That was enough for me to live out the rest of my days – for several years at least – absolutely confident that sooner or later that exotic and magnificent coastline would materialize on the horizon, quickly coming nearer and filling my existence with sufficient joy so as not to feel the need to ask for more, for quite some time. 

Now that I think about it, this conviction that the appearance of Croatia – replaced over the years with the appearance of dozens of other figures and objects – was a legitimate and consistent attraction, allowed me to sustain and overcome challenges and adversities that would now make my stomach turn. 

The Western Tale Part 2 (Things Turn Bad)

The forementioned approach has also led me to commit a number of mistakes however, the first of which was to live constantly projected into a time-space dimension that was almost never the present but the possible, the futuristic or the potential. Living for a long time in this condition leads a person towards physical and spiritual degradation: the inability to accept and process the real, the transitional for what it is, slowly becomes an inability to just live, and a continuous struggle to evade reality.

This has driven many a person to lose themselves, to live in a disorderly and chaotic fashion, to make blunders in an ever-increasing gross and widespread way, up to the point of accepting and even condoning the most terrible crimes, just because they are apparently inevitable: theft, murder, rape, and the denial of others in general. 

The American colonists ended up exterminating the natives in order to continue their inexorable expansion towards the West, Nazism and Fascism led humanity to the brink of the abyss in the name of Lebensraum, the living space, and today we are witnessing the unbridled neo-colonization of Africa by the Chinese powers, and the return of war to Europe in support of the imperialistic ambitions of man.

"The Chinese locomotive needs the infinite spaces of Africa to keep running." 1

If we look at past history, it seems that all activities arising from the attraction towards the frontier must necessarily result in this, in the loss of humanity. 

It would appear that the only way to exit this vicious cycle is by distancing oneself from the great wheel of events, and devoting oneself to a life of ascetic contemplation, inhibiting one's own tendencies as a hardworking yet inadequate being.

But isn’t this a crime too? It is still a denial of one's own nature in the end, and not very different from the person who loses their way in the hangover of life’s incessant happenings. 

Is There a Way Out?

The historian Turner went so far as to argue in 1893, that the myth of the frontier generated a strong sense of freedom in America by “breaking the bounds of habit, offering new experiences, establishing new institutions and activities.”

In essence, the encounter of European culture with the challenges and harshness of the wild territories generated a new person, with all their limitations and virtues.  The further they moved west, the more they formed the new American identity.

Looking towards the frontier and feeling attracted by it is an ancestral and very human desire, and is at the basis of the continuous renewal that is a fundamental part of existence. Thinking we can do without it is the equivalent of denying the very meaning of living, which is nothing more than a continuous flow towards new things and situations. 

However, the transition must be carried out with care, it must not be forced or externally directed by particular interests, it must tend towards harmony, self-respect and respect for others.  

We should remain present and vigilant at every stage of our existence, savoring the beauty of the present, of things being what they are, without becoming attached to them, knowing that they will flow by and be different tomorrow.

Only in this way will we truly be able to become new people, hard-working pioneers who manage to live in harmony with ourselves and our neighbors, attentive and impartial custodians of Creation, able to live fully in the present without relinquishing the joyful excitement of inherent possibilities in the future.  

Being human implies accepting each and every part of ourselves without exclusion or preference, and watching it being born, grow old and die. We must be careful that no element becomes overly important,  that the flow is always light and healthy, and that respect for humanity and life in its fullness, is never lacking.

Stay Human!

"Above all, be men. All the way." 2

Dec Art was partly created to respond to the prerequisite we all feel, to be men and women, all the way. 

We think that visual art can give form and voice to our longing to explore the unknown, to penetrate the frontier of events, and it succeeds in part, to compensate for the evocative and transcendental limits of the written word. 

Too often we at Dec Art have hesitated, uncertain, afraid of getting lost in a project that is bigger than we are, and that maybe presents its risks, not least of which is to see art, the thing that matters most to us, distorted.

Nonetheless, we have accepted that this is where our destiny lies, and that there is nowhere else for us but here, at least for now.  

But let’s put our ink and watercolors aside for a moment to sit back and admire a skyline that can be glimpsed just beyond the light sea mist. 

You may not believe it, but for a moment it looked just like Croatia. 

Text by Oliver M. Pascoletti

Translation by Clare Viber Woodhouse 

Sources:

1 https://www.africarivista.it/la-famosa-invasione-dei-cinesi-in-africa/186594/

2 Don Tonino Bello

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Tags : Consciousness, Enlightment, Voyage
Posted in: Articles
Author: Oliver Maria Pascoletti
I like writing, sitting and hiking. I work in Dec Art as a copywriter and content creator.

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