He said that a man had to escape to the country to see the world whole and that he wished he lived in a desolate place like this where he could see the sun go down every evening like God made it to do.
The orientation facing the ocean, facing its void, the mythic character of this watchman's wake before the immensity of the oceanic horizon were not distinct from the anguished waiting of populations for the arrival of bomber squadrons in the darkness of the sky at night. From then on, there was no more protective expanse or distance, all territory was totally accessible, everything was immediately exposed to the gaze and to destruction.
Paul Virilio, Bunker Archaeology, 1975
Sometimes I can feel my bones straining under the weight of all the lives I'm not living.
One thought fills immensity.
William Blake, The Marriage of Heaven and Hell, c. 1800