On Walking
On Walking
Walking and humans have a perpetual relationship. Millions of years ago our ancestors descended the trees to tread on grasslands thereby freeing their 'forelegs' to grasp stones, bring them closer to the eyes and make tools out of it. Those advanced apes, thus, started on the path to becoming humans. Later the abilities to walk erect and fast, run and travel long distances were acquired. The hunting-gathering communities that followed made their primal movements and humans ever since "walked into" different stages of advancement to reach the point where we are living today.
Walking can take different forms- stroll, saunter, march, hike- the list goes on. Walking has got a long history: Certain walks in history clearly stand out. Aristotle had the habit of walking while teaching and no wonder his followers were christened as peripatetics. Hippocrates, father of modern medicine, saw walking as man's best medicine. Henry David Thoreau who proclaimed himself as a saunterer, wrote a whole essay on the need and importance of walking. 'Walking', as the essay is entitled, describes an event connected with William Wordsworth- the poet with the most fitting surname. A traveller asked Wordsworth's servant to show him her master's study and she answered, "Here is his library, but his study is out of doors." To quote Friedrich Neitzsche, the German philosopher, "all truly great thoughts are conceived by walking". He went even further and declared that "only ideas won by walking have any value." Beethoven was a habitual walker and he took extensive afternoon walks that provided him with necessary inspiration for his creativity. In 1969 when Neil Armstrong became the first person to walk on the Moon it was, indeed, not one small step for man but one giant leap for mankind. Walking continues to form the theme of famous writings and paintings. Siddhartha Gautama drifted from place to place before becoming 'the enlightened one'. Mother Theresa walked around the slums of Calcutta taking care of the needy and comforting them.
Circumstances of life allow some people to go on an endless journey without retracing their footsteps. To this category fall the wandering ascetics and sages and a handful of other men. This wandering nature is inextricably related to human nature and is beautifully expressed by Thomas Merton when he wrote, "Man instinctively regards himself as a wanderer and wayfarer, and it is second nature for him to go on pilgrimage in search of a privileged and holy place, a center and source of indefectible life".
Walking is not just an activity of putting one leg in front of the other. With each step we make, our mind is freshened and spirit is made anew. Rebecca Solnit defines walking as “a state in which the mind, the body, and the world are aligned”. Walking need not always be into a forest or field. We can have a walk into our mind, our own self, which has always been the beginning of self awakening.
Nowadays we are increasingly adopting a sedentary lifestyle. To say in Thoreauvian language we tend to consider that our two legs are made to sit upon, and not to stand or walk. As a result modern humans suffer under the weight of a slew of diseases. Instead of scrolling the internet for hours, take a stroll outside. Walk into everything that nourishes human civilisation and walk away from everything that destroys it.