Walking and breathing

Philosophy Walks (PW) has to begin somewhere. One good candidate: Thoreau’s essay “Walking,” which was probably where I first encountered the notion that perambulation and cogitation go together. [full text]

The same essay also expressed the coordinate discovery that one could walk away from discursive thinking, and that doing so might just as frequently be a good idea. Simplify, simplify.

The excellent public radio show “To the Best of Our Knowledge” just did a terrific hour on HDT, btw.

But on second thought, beginning with a sophisticated transcendentalist essay would be too far down the road already. The act of walking is much more elemental and pre-reflective than that. PW needs to crawl before it tries to saunter. I should first explore the genre of walking literature that sings its praises more simply.

Alan Cook’s Walking the World begins at the beginning:

MORNING WALK

Step, step, step, step,
left, right, left, right,
rhythm, rhythm, rhythm, rhythm,
chin up, shoulders back,
arms swinging, muscles singing,
blood is coursing through the body,
breathing, breathing, breathing, breathing.
Payoff for this undertaking?
Dawn is breaking, world is waking…

And so it goes. This is the right tone, the right rhythm to set out with.

Walking is the world’s oldest physical activity for human beings. People have walked since long before bicycles were invented. Walking also became the world’s first sporting event, predating the first marathon run by Phidipides to announce the victory of the Greeks over the Persians. Maybe if he had walked he wouldn’t have dropped dead at the finish.

But let’s not get carried away. We all drop dead at the finish, the point is to enjoy the journey and not fret so much about the destination. Left, right, left, right…  Breathe in, breathe out. Keep it simple in the beginning, and simplify again as needed.

An early-morning walk is a blessing for the whole day, for a lifetime.

Tags: Thoreau