Walking is continuous movement. It is both a metaphor and an embodiment of jiyu shukyo. By engaging in a practice like the contemporary derive which asks you to intentionally see the world differently, walking could help you embody this sense of positionlessness or if you want positionfulness.
Walking means multiple views, grounded views. Important to cast a wider net to things we consume: read, listen to, watch.
I shouldn’t look at other people in just one perspective.
See walk and talk as done by Craig Mod and others.
free-religion; free, creative spirituality that which “frees” is what “binds us together”
- a strong sense of who you are as a human
- a strong connection with the other human
- a strong connection with the unhuman
This matches the patterns Phil Smith saw in the walking arts.
- collectivism (pre-2008)
- individualism and subjectivism (post-2008)
- embodiment and the unhuman (now)
A Walking Aesthetic: Writing as A Subsistent Spiritual Practice
Walking on Large Rocks Across a Creek
For writing to become a subsistent spiritual practice it has two do two things for me:
- It has to help me get through with life.
- It has to help me satisfy my need to be seen and to help others get through with life.
Writing for myself
- fragmented
- Writing as archive
- Writing as therapy
Writing for others
- requires craft
- tends to be more whole
How to use writing as a spiritual practice?
- Use it to practice faith: trust the images that come forth
- Use it to practice care: writing as archiving (taking care of the words)
- Use it to go deep within yourself
- Use it to practice faith on others
Natalie Goldberg’s zen teacher once ask her, why do you need meditation if you have writing?