Unique places, unique actions
 

Hi all.
I've only recently signed up so hope this is the correct sub forum etc.

Ever since I was a child I was fascinated by the idea of whether anyone had ever walked on a given piece of the earth before. The thought occurs typically when I am outdoors somewhere remote and therefore I start to find it plausible that no human has ever placed their feet where I now place mine.

The thought recurred strongly for me a few days ago, now as an adult, on the first day we had snow. Walking through a field it was very clear exactly where people had trodden that day by their imprints on the snow. I was very surprised at just how much of an extremely large field had been trodden on in just one day alone. I couldn’t see an area more than a few metres across which didn't have an imprint on it. The field is in an area of dense population and during lockdown might be getting more use than normal but I was surprised nonetheless.

I like the idea that I am treading somewhere that no-one has ever trodden before.

Putting my rational/scientific/mathematical hat on I suspect though that few, perhaps none, of my steps are unique. Maybe if i took a long walk in the artic some would be :smile:

Possibly to remedy the disappointment of this I adapted my fasciation to locations and actions. So although someone may have stepped on this rock before, perhaps no-one has ever hopped on it with their left for 3 times in a row. Maybe this is linked to the idea of a ritual in some way.

There is a related idea, where the steps I take are not in a unique place, what has occurred before on the ground that I have trodden? For example when I visited Pompei several years ago I was made explicitly aware that many lives had been liven on these grounds. The scenario encourages one to make conscious effort to imagine and speculate about the activities, thoughts and emotions of those who were here before. The same physical place serves as a portal to a time past when things may have been very different.

I'm aware that this may seem like a half formed idea but just wanted to put them out there to see what people make of them. Have you ever had the same or similar thoughts?

Are there any existing concepts or terms out there which encompass or link to my post?

Look forward to reading your posts.

in philosophical terms, I believe it was once stated in the bible there is truly nothing new under the sun, we keep going down the same well-trodden paths over and over. In those terms it could be said it is only relative infrequency that keeps us thinking things are somehow new...