Wednesday, January 9, 2008

To Walk or Not to Walk...That is the Question

Jim and Terre Greer passed this article (click here for link) from the New York Times, "To Walk a Landscape is to Know It." Henry Shukman, who wrote this article, writes about what is learned about a landscape, a terrain, a geography, when one walks it rather than those who ride or fly over it. As Wendell Berry once wrote, we process information as fast as we walk. We know the land better by walking it rather than flying or riding over it, moving so fast that we fail to appreciate the land under or around us.

Shukman wrote this wonderful line that reminds me of pilgrimage: "There’s no telling what you’ll find once you start walking." That is the very thrill of pilgrimage, making it a challenge; throwing the gauntlet down to ordinary life and saying "I dare you to shock me and surprise me!" It is the very unexpected God who greets us in unbelievable ways or times or people or moments that keeps us on edge and in the land of wonder. A "wild creature (is) itching to break out," writes Shukman.

Roar!

Bien Camino!

Pilgrim peace, Brett

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