The map versus the terrain

the limits and liberation of language

Mark Bradford, Scorched Earth (2006)

Can we get metaphysical?

Thank you. Because I’ve been getting strong Matrix-vibes lately. As in, what’s the truth anymore? What is reality?

Of course, I’ll wait for you get a cup of tea.

There’s this idea from multiple traditions* that we each hold a map to guide us through the terrain, but the map is not to be mistaken for the actual terrain itself. To put it another way, we constantly navigate between maps (ideas, models, labels) and the terrain (direct experience, reality as it is).

Now, a map is a useful tool, but attachment to it leads to fun house mirrors. Maps can be inaccurate. They can be read wrong. Terrains can be tricky, too. The more we mistake the map for the terrain, the more we suffer because, after all, reality cannot be wholly reflected or explained through concepts or words.

Mark Bradford, Portable Water (2005)

This uncertainty surrounding what is true or false can be disconcerting, but for me, it feels “normal”. I’m not trying to brag, but something had to come out of the lived experience of your father’s death while you’re on a family vacation when you’re 5 years old.

Perhaps this is what ultimately attracted me to cozy mysteries and majoring in anthropology/archeology. I wanted to dig, discover, uncover, and sleuth out the truth, whatever that may be. But most of all, I wanted to be okay with the unknowning.

*Apparently, this map-versus-terrain thought appears in Western Philosophy, Daoism, Zen Buddhism, as well as Madhyamaka and Huayan Buddhism. [This also reminds me of the hundreds of versions of Cinderella found in cultures around the world!]

“Cartography is an attempt to understand the world by drawing lines upon it.” — Robert Macfarlane

So, maps can be many things: class, culture, ways of knowing, political ideologies, religion, but it can never be the terra firma. We should never rely too heavily upon it, but this is easier said than experienced, as those are the limits of language.

In other words (wink, wink), if someone wrote a paragraph about me, is that me?

Mark Bradford, Father, You Have Murdered Me (2012)

“Every map is a set of assumptions about the world, an invitation to look at it a certain way.” — Madeleine Bunting

For the explorers

🗺️Time is a Magpie by

Chloe Hope

at Death & Birds is a gorgeous essay that meanders and aims right through your heart with a sigh.

🗺️A Serenade to The Ghost. by

G. K. Allum

at A Crow At The Beach Is Like A Seagull At A Funeral is filled with incredible imagery, poetry at its finest.

🗺️The Savoring by

Stefanie Mullen

shares her story about cutting her hair off before chemo and what it means to look strong. It’s powerfully good.

“Maps are like campfires—everyone gathers around them, because they tell stories.” — Mark Jenkins

✨ And for those of you who are joining me, I’m taking a short break from MC because I’m integrating new material. For years, I ignored the military correspondence and paperwork regarding my father’s death (because it was painful to look at), but now, I’ve been giving it careful consideration.

There isn’t anything major to edit, actually, but as a teacher, I have other obligations to attend to as well!

“The map is not just a tool for wayfinding—it is a way of seeing.” — Reif Larsen

Wishing you nourishment for your body and soul ~ and plenty of mindful moments on the terrain. xo