There have been some rather remarkable walkers throughout history. Charles Dickens was known to walk hours at a time, sometimes throughout the night, his dazzling shape-sifting imagination working away. Jean-Jacques Rousseau too, a distant relative of mine, very distant to be sure if you were to look at my current walking regimen, was another, and then, of course, Henry David Thoreau.
Tonight I was reading an essay on walking written by Thoreau when I happened on the following passage: “When a traveler asked (William) Wordsworth’s servant to show him her master’s study, she answered, “Here is his library, but his study is out of doors.”” There is something familiar and spiritually delicious there. As if we are being allowed a peek into something ineffably special. I am by no means unique when I say that immersing oneself in nature brings you about as close to God, or higher power, or essence of life as you can get. You are dipping into nature’s design, untrammeled by the whims of humankind.
Since I was a boy I’ve had and still have a wonderful relationship with nature. There is a kind of freedom to free spirit walking, the body warming up, settling into its own rhythm, and then the mind opens, ideas move into the open, perhaps carried on the mellifluous song of a bird, or the rhythmic percussion of tree branches dancing in the breeze, or the joyous beat of the heart you feel when a baby rabbit darts into the open, gives you a quick look, the disappears so quickly you wonder if you even saw it in the first place. Your mind, heart and spirit open, and you are alive, joyously so.
Life is good. Live it. It’s here for you too.
___________________________
Peter,I may not read your blog as often as I would like, but when I do, you never disappoint. Yours is the first and only blog I follow, and it is an interesting window into someone else's life. I really enjoy your words, your insights and your humor. I feel like I "get" what you are talking about especially when it is nature and the human experience. I just wanted to you to know there is a reader out here that gets pleasure from your blog, especially when you make me laugh. I can get caught up in the day to day craziness and for some reason your words center me back to what is important. Thank you and have a great day. It is so beautiful, go smell the earth outside your door! Katie