to nest or not

what in fact is a home
and just how relevant is the idea of home
to existing in the world
for of course we know there are people who are homeless
who live with the mere vestiges of the necessary elements
that go into making a home a home


most humans on the planet orient themselves to a specific place
and identify their place on the planet with who they actually are
this gives our discussion of home a profound geographical quality


yet my purpose here is to give physical description to an actual structure


of course there are degrees of permanence when we consider the notion of home
nomadic peoples have always erected structures which may appear flimsy
in contrast to the heavy structures built today to house people who as a matter of fact
may be as temporarily located as your average hunter/gatherer family
we live in a cultural atmosphere where houses are built and inhabited in sequence 
by numerous familial groups who put down shallow roots and seem to move on
at the slightest provocation


I in fact do not live in a structure that has about it a warm sense of home
I live in a concrete block building
and even though I've inhabited the same cell for 25 years I am given over to a life
that advocates a consistent awareness of earthly ephemerality
yet I am at the same time rooted in a tradition
that speaks to me and the world of solid stability
I have a pretty good idea as to where I will be buried


are there some elements of home which characterize every attempt to be in one place for no matter how long?


humans are given over to the desire for home in order to assure themselves of safety,
of some comfort,  of the possibility of sustenance,  of a tangible separation between ones private life and the demands of the public world,  home is a structure that speaks of security and individual freedom


let's just say... fire
 a way of ensuring warmth
a way of creating a context for warm food
this is a common almost universal and central element of what it means to be a home


and bedding
a place where one can assure oneself of sleep
under the protection of a roof and walls
against the onslaught of weather or hungry beasts


so physical sustenance and sleep
require some form of heat and some means of being
reclined in such a way that sleep is possible
even the briefest tent on the desert asserts these two phenomena


beyond that what goes into a home?
indeed for the nomad his fire and his mat for sleeping on the ground
perhaps his tent and some tools for survival are his most treasured possessions


in our day we live in widespread exaggerations of buildings used as home
people are utilizing and enclosing private space far in excess of their temporal needs
it is simply a matter of capability
let us look at the modern American home in practical terms
in the subdivisions of America we see thousands upon thousands of structures
whose main visible feature is the garage
a not so subtle testimony to the status of the automobile in the conducting of our culture
the car is used as a  life source to the world 
it is hard to imagine someone these days deciding that a car is not important


what else about the home


at least one large room in your average modern domestic structure is dedicated to
electronic entertainment: tv,  music stereo system, computer, games of various sorts


indeed this room has taken on a certain prominence unbefitting of subject matter
and yet it is safe to say that hundreds of thousands if not millions of americans
resort to these entertainment centers as  places of benign distraction...collective sites of time wasting and useless and often unhealthy eating and drinking


the dimension of physical sustenance is evidenced in the modern home by the
placing of the kitchen at a rather central location on the first floor
and perhaps supplemented by an outside mode of cookery
yet with the ridiculous plethora of restaurants and easy food access
the actual time your average woman spends in the kitchen is greatly minimized so while food is still given some honor with the existence of stainless steel refrigerators pantrys swollen with easy access food supply and cupboards with clear demarcations of immediate practicality...it is nonetheless more and more the case that families do not sit down and eat together and the role of meaningful sustenance is subsumed in a swirl of frenetic activity which militates against the fundamental purpose of home


what else...
the bedrooms
this takes us to the most primitive aspect of home creation
and at least somewhat associated with the bedrooms are the rooms for toiletry
and it would seem that a classic space should be set aside for library/books/study
in every home yet I find this is less and less the case as study rooms have been usurped
by the computer phenomenon


and to fill the place up let us consider storage
basic utility space
and space on the immediate outside of the structure utilized as porch patio or deck


these seem to be adequate descriptions of what a common expectation of home is to be
again it is significant to note
that while the structure is empty in the process of being sold or renovated
it is not a home
it is only proper to suggest the word home when in fact a human dimension is present
for at least long enough to attain to a sense of relative security in the world


man tends to amplify his own needs for comfort, for space, for distraction, for purpose
if survival was indeed a demand of daily life the presence of a garden
and perhaps other food sources like dairy or foul would figure in the mix
but very few people live with these sorts of survival concerns
the modern grocery store accounts for all the food gathering requirements
most anyone would possibly need...and now with online delivery services one does not actually need to go out to acquire physical sustenance


when human life, food, necessary activity, rest,  an abiding sense of security, and the comfort of relative privacy all come together to sustain any one human life,  it is safe to say there is a home


so then we are moved to further inquire as to the distinction trying to be made in this discourse
extended as it may be
between a living space which is given over to purely utilitarian ends
and one that affords the constant possibility of the means of transcendence


does the home have some inherent quality that helps us define a place
of relative universal necessity in terms of sanctity?




now I live in a place that is dedicated to sanctity
yet the cloister appears in rather bold utilitarian terms
a certain minimalist asceticism is explicit in the very lines and contours
the very materials that make up this building


it seems that once we include ideas such as creative and artistic endeavor
the potential inherent in a designated place of prayer or meditation
a place of concentrated study
and the ready availability of the possibility of nurturing love
then we can begin to discuss some ways in which
the ordinary home can be understood as a place of holy activity


the degree to which homes are diluted of the human activities of transcendent being
is the degree to which any culture diminishes itself and enslaves itself to destructive
cultural definitions and activities which give rise to man's enslavement in the world


man adrift is a man who has no place to long


home is where most people belong




....