When A Tree Falls

A social aggregate is a collection of people who are in the same place, but who do not interact or share characteristics. In the past ten years, I have lived on the west coast of the USA, and I have observed these aggregates come and go especially inside of national parks and natural environments where we once lived. I have used my camera to record many of these aggregate happenings, though-out the West with a concentration on the Pacific Northwest.

During this study, I am continually intrigued by how there is such a disconnect, not only between the people but also the people and nature. When the people disperse from the environment where the aggregates take place, then the aggregate ceases to exist. This information raises an age-old philosophical question in my head…” If a tree falls in the forest and no one is there to see it, will it make a sound? “ The deeper meaning for me has to do with existence and how do things exist once they are no longer tangible. This existence is a little tear in the fabric of consciousness. Maintained by our thoughts.

However, the notion of an aggregate is not proof of it, nor will its accuracy hold up over time. How does it exist beyond the present moment? Simply though a picture which is a preserved moment in time.
Here is the place where the conversation ends and consciousness begins. These aggregates may be the proof we need to experience the non-dualistic essence of nature whether we are connected to it or each other or not.