8/14/2019 The Walrus - You Are Here - Let's Get Lost

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the walrus

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You are here

Youarelo

st

inclement weather.

Lost in the woods. Lost in space.

Lost in the desert. Lost at sea:

In February, three men were found

near Australia nine months and

nine days after they disappearedoff the coast of Mexico. They

had drifted almost 8,000 km.Youshouldhave

were

were110,484missingpersons

60,461childrenvanished

Atlantis,ufos,timetravel,

enormousairbubbles,

freakwaves,and

magneticdisturbances

haveallbeenblamedfor

themysterious

disappearancesinthe

BermudaTriangle;

ofcially,theUSNavy

doesnotbelieveitexists.

Howlong

year it is? Delusion. Denial. Despair. You are lost because you dont knowwhoyouare.Oneinve

menta

llyillatsomepointin

their

lives;oneinthirteen

senio

rshasAlzheimersora

relateddisease;justover

8per

centofthegeneral

popu

lationisdepressed

prevalenceishigheramong

thosewhoaredivorced,poor,

female,oroversixty,aswell

asthosewhodidntgraduatefrom

Inthemiddleofthejourneyofour

lifeIcame/tomyselfwithina

because you dontkn

owwhereyouare.Yourcarbroked

own.Youweremisdirected,

co

nfused;therewas

Youwerentpaying attention. Do notp

anic.S

taywhereyouare.Conserveyour energy.

ofyearsoftechnologicalinn

ovationsu

pposedtohaveprevented this.

intheUSaloneattheendoflastyea

r.inCanadain2006;

Canadians will become

TheDivineComedy:

darkwoo

dwhere

thestraight/waywas

three-quarte

rsofthoseranaway

AnnLandershadaterrib

lesenseof

direction.Itcould

Londontaxi

beinyour

brain.d

rivershavehugeposterior

hippocampi. Thelongerthey drive,

thebigger

this navigationcentregets.

Wherewereyougoing?Why

didyouwanderoff?

has it been?Doyouknow

what

b

ecauseyou

are lost.

Val-dera-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha.Offthebus.Offthegrid

.Away from thep

ack. Psychogeographers

lets get lost

by Megan Grifth-Greeneillustration by Sabine Kraus

and Antonio De Luca

fromhome.

Buildare.

beenbetterprepared.

Compass,sextant,starmaps;gps

trackers in cellphones, watches, even shoes. Thousands

And

yet there

Fever. Amnesia.Hallucination.C

oncussion.

Paranoia.

term mid-life crisis in 1965 after he discovered abrupt style changes

lost.

ACanadian coined

the

8/14/2019 The Walrus - You Are Here - Let's Get Lost

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29

december 2007

ofconsciousnessorawareness?Memoryloss?

ReadWhatYouFeel

Researchershavesince

You have doubt. You have lost faith. You have lost

of the eyes are of two kinds,andarisefromtwo

causes,eitherfrom

coming

outofthelightorfrom

goingintothelight.

Lossofego.Lossof

attach-

ment.Nirvana.Salvation.

Youarelostsoyoucannd something.

Pouro

utwinetilIbecomeawanderer

R

school or who work the

money/allIdois

nightshift.Do you suffer

Attentiondisturbance?Alteredlevel

Do you havedifcultysleeping?Get better! G

eta

pet!Y

ouCanHeal!

found that very few of us a

ctuallysufferfromthem. be

causeyoudontknowwhere

youaregoing.Doyoubelievethat

Alabyr

inthtracesa

singlew

indingpath

toacentreorexit;

youma

ynotknow

whereyouare,but

youare

whereyouare

suppos

edtobe.The

waythroughamaze

isinterruptedbyfalse

pathsa

nddeadends.Itischaos.

theuniverseisalabyrinth

oramaze?

yourway.P

latosays,

Bewilderments

frommyself;/Forinselfh

ood

and existenceIhavefeltonlyfatigue,wroteRumi.

ZenmasterIkkyuSojunwanderedJapanand

attainedenlightenmen

tthrough booze,pro

stitutes,anderoticpoetry:fu

ckatterysucc

esslie

back

andsuckmythumb.Letyourhairgrowlong.M

akelove.

Mescaline. lsd.Psilocybin.Peyote.Val-deri,Val-dera,Val-

ctise drive, or drift:d

ropping

habitual urban pathsandlettingoneselfbe drawn

W

alkfourblocks.Turnright.Continue until you see a red sign. Turn left.

Continuefortwoblocks.Repeat.You are lost

throughthe

city without purpose.

because

you are free

a loss of

fromdisorganizedthink

ing?

You are lost

among

productivity

composersandartists over thirty-ve.