He existed a step or two to one side of the common world, largely out of sight, a shadow, all but invisible. Whatever he owned, either he could hoist it on his back and lug it along or he could walk away from it. Anonymity was the thing he loved most about the city, being a part of it and apart from it at the same time.
Interpretation
The quote reflects the desire for anonymity and detachment from societal expectations.
In this quote, James Sallis describes a person who navigates through life on the fringes of society, embracing both connection and separation. This individual finds freedom in anonymity, valuing the ability to exist without the burdens of ownership and societal visibility. The juxtaposition of being part of the city yet apart from it highlights a unique perspective on life, where one can appreciate the surroundings while remaining distanced from the pressures they might entail.
In practice
In a discussion about modern city living, this quote can highlight the contrasts of urban anonymity.
Mostly what you lose with time, in memory, is the specificity of things, their exact sequence. It all runs together, becomes a watery soup. Portmanteau days, imploded years. Like a bad actor, memory always goes for effect, abjuring motivation, consistency, good sense.
Evolution is gaining the psychic zones of the world... life, being and ascent of consciousness, could not continue to advance indefinitely along its line without transforming itself in depth. The being who is the object of his own reflection, in consequence, of that very doubling back upon himself becomes in a flash able to raise himself to a new sphere.
What does it mean for a civilisation to be a million years old? We have had radio telescopes and spaceships for a few decades; our technical civilisation is a few hundred years old ... an advanced civilisation millions of years old is as much beyond us as we are beyond a bushbaby or a macaque
Canada will be a strong country when Canadians of all provinces feel at home in all parts of the country, and when they feel that all Canada belongs to them.
I have discovered that all human evil comes from this, man's being unable to sit still in a room.
[I]t is truth alone-scientific, established, proved, and rational truth-which is capable of satisfying nowadays the awakened minds of all classes. We may still say perhaps, 'faith governs the world,'-but the faith of the present is no longer in revelation or in the priest-it is in reason and in science.
I was becoming post-ideological.
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