"Only those within whose own consciousness the sun rise and set, the leaves burgeon and wither, can be said to be aware of what living is"
About this Quote
Awareness, for Krutch, isn’t a heady mental state so much as a biological rhythm you’ve agreed to join. His line makes “living” less about mere survival or productivity and more about an interior calendar synced to the planet: sunrise and sunset, budding and withering. The force of the sentence comes from that verb choice - “rise and set” happens “within” you. Nature isn’t scenery; it’s the metronome of consciousness. If the seasons don’t register inside your mind and nerves, you’re technically alive but existentially absent.
The subtext is an indictment of modern detachment, written in an era when industrialization and mass urban life were turning time into schedules and space into infrastructure. Krutch, a mid-century environmentalist and critic of technological triumphalism, often warned that progress can thin experience until the world is processed as convenience rather than encounter. Here he draws a bright, almost moral line: people who don’t feel the world’s cycles are not merely distracted; they’re missing the defining texture of being.
He also sneaks in a radical redefinition of “awareness.” It’s not self-consciousness in the narcissistic sense; it’s self-as-ecosystem, a mind porous enough to be changed by weather, light, and growth. That’s why the imagery isn’t dramatic - no storms, no wilderness heroics. Just ordinary cycles, the kind you stop noticing when your environment is climate-controlled and your attention is monetized. Krutch’s intent is to make that numbness feel like a loss, not a neutral lifestyle choice.
The subtext is an indictment of modern detachment, written in an era when industrialization and mass urban life were turning time into schedules and space into infrastructure. Krutch, a mid-century environmentalist and critic of technological triumphalism, often warned that progress can thin experience until the world is processed as convenience rather than encounter. Here he draws a bright, almost moral line: people who don’t feel the world’s cycles are not merely distracted; they’re missing the defining texture of being.
He also sneaks in a radical redefinition of “awareness.” It’s not self-consciousness in the narcissistic sense; it’s self-as-ecosystem, a mind porous enough to be changed by weather, light, and growth. That’s why the imagery isn’t dramatic - no storms, no wilderness heroics. Just ordinary cycles, the kind you stop noticing when your environment is climate-controlled and your attention is monetized. Krutch’s intent is to make that numbness feel like a loss, not a neutral lifestyle choice.
Quote Details
| Topic | Meaning of Life |
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