THE CONCEPT OF EXPERIENCE AND WALKING

In the first post of the Blog, I commented on the experience of walking, pointing out the practice or custom that we have developed as individuals and as a human species, and also as a tacit invitation to enjoy walking. Later, in another post, I transmitted ABOUT MY PERSONAL EXPERIENCES OF CREATION, with the purpose of making known in a clear way, that walking -in a specific way- had led me to create plastic and literary works, a very real circumstance -according to my personal experience. In both posts I have defined experience as that which is conquered and which leaves a FOOTPRINT in our being; examples about those activities and participations that we have done in the past and that have left us a certain knowledge, because of those events lived.

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In this post, I think it is necessary to clarify certain aspects about the use of the word WALKING and its derivations.

The word WALKING, has been used at all times and in all cultures, as a metaphor, allegory, comparison, figure, simile, and translation; apart from its natural and established synonyms of Advance, Circular, Glide, Go, Err, Go, Arrive, March, Move, Depart, Pass, Exit, Transit, Move, Jog, Wander, Come, Travel, being used in substitution of Going, Functioning, Movement, Orienting yourself, Directing yourself, Focusing, taking a certain Order, Guiding yourself, Driving yourself, Discipline yourself, Tending towards, Moving, and some more; In addition, other twinned words such as Path, Route, Way, Passage, and other translations, which gives it a great capacity for use as a metaphor for almost everything, with the implicit understanding that it does not mean that it is certainly found “walking” physically. The use of the word WALKING -its derivatives and desinences- unfolds spreading to the generality of the predominances of the human experience.

So far my comment on the word WALKING, by which I mean that we must always be aware of the meaning that we give it or that we are told, to better understand what it is trying to mean.

Up to there my comment on the word WALKING, with which I want to mean that we should always be aware of the meaning we give it or are told, to better understand what it is trying to mean.

Up to there my comment on the word WALK, with which I want to mean that we should always be aware of the meaning we give it or are told, to better understand what it is trying to mean.

Now, let’s return to the concept of experience. Some time ago, Julián Marías wrote an essay about the different ways in which human beings ignore their experience in order to carry out their different activities, aspects that I have always had in mind, since I read it in the early 70’s, during my last semester at the University; especially when I was -and I will continue to be- at a fork in the decision making process or choosing to “walk” on another path in life.

Now then, in the present post I try to become aware myself -and in this way to transmit it- that there are those 2 scenarios that Julián Marías mentioned, where the human being ignores his experience; one of them is the involuntary oblivion, that in a frequent, daily and unconscious way -and sometimes even consciously- forgets the experience he has had in all aspects. The other stage – infrequent – is the denial of experience and we practice it when we find ourselves conscious but upset, situations that are part of our existence and that we reflect in our behavior and attitude towards our social environment.

Both the forgetting and the denial of an experience can arise from a repression of the consciousness, a significant blockage in the consciousness, generated by external stimuli, alien to our will.

Ortega y Gasset expressed “…if our life consists of deciding what we are going to be, […] that our life is above all to meet the future. …] It is not the present or the past that we live first, no; life is an activity that is executed forward, and the present or the past is discovered later, in relation to that future”. Existence is a concatenated series of decisions; and much of what we decide to achieve and attain that future of life is based on our experience gained in the past. The present feeds on the experiences of the past, to reach the future, in the past, we have acquired them, in the present we use them and evaluate them in the future reached; however, at certain moments we hesitate in taking actions and decisions, because sometimes we distrust them.

1203.-Rotación Sinfónica

FORGETTING OUR EXPERIENCES

We said that sometimes we forget our experiences, why do we forget them and on what occasions?

Generally, they are unconscious acts that lead us to forget certain experiences because they provoke a nervous or emotional shock, a violent and unforeseen commotion that upsets or disturbs us, and even generates psychological depressions. The consciousness blocks the memory and causes us to forget everything that is related to that experience.

Usually, we place our own experience in confrontation (reasoning) with other knowledge and with the similar experiences of other people we know and have heard about. It is a continuous, cyclical and complex process. Even without that process of confrontation and reasoning, sometimes, if not mostly, we enter into controversy. I also mentioned Ortega y Gasset, relating to Kant: … experience is not only the pile of data transmitted by the senses, but it is a composite of observation and geometry; it is a grid built by pure reason. He succinctly defined experience as a mixture of sensitive observation and reasoning.

All this is related to the acquisition of experience during the opportune vital stages of the existence of any human being: during infancy, childhood, puberty, adolescence, etc. While we are alive, we are on the move, we are walking. (Future Post WALKING AND VITAL OPPORTUNITIES)

As an example of a vital experience -during adolescence- that the human being -man and woman- must carry out by himself/herself, and encouraged by the parents, is to leave the parental home at a certain age (Post THE WALK AND THE INSTINCT TO LEAVE THE PLACE OF ORIGIN); if we do not carry it out in a timely manner, we will surely have negative experiences for a long time, and this will reinforce our inclination to forget and deny our own experiences. One could explain this by way of a question: What correlation exists between these two aspects of experience and the footprints that our feet have left on the various paths decided and taken by ourselves; or, in the scenario of being kept in our father’s house? This locution should not be understood as meaning that we should abandon our loved ones.

If we continue to lengthen this process, we will experience unpleasant emotions, acquisition of negative habits, sufferings, anguish, misfortunes, and distress; however, as we know, we could come to determine an identity between a negative experience (feeling) and a correlation with a vital opportunity (Future Post WALKING AND VITAL OPPORTUNITIES), so we could transform those negative experiences into positive and nourishing ones.

I must point out that almost 100% of our actions are based on past experiences, so these 2 modes of action, although not numerous, can be significant in certain moments of our lives, on the whole stage of oblivion, so I would like to point out below certain relevant steps within the WALK-RWD system, of reading, writing and drawing, while we walk, which can help us in our performance (empirical) to have world, to achieve adequate learning and fruitful experiences.

They are somewhat complex to achieve. The first thing we must do -as I have already exposed in other occasions- is:

  1. Take the first step preparing ourselves to “walk”;
  2. Refuse to suffer or have any negative feeling;
  3. Become aware and accept that we have certain negative feelings (experiences), identifying them by name;
  4. Make each experience (feeling good or bad) correspond with a vital opportunity;
  5. Listen to our unconscious, in any of its symbolic languages.

The 5 points should be carried out during the practice of the WALK-RWD system, since this will lead us to communication with ourselves.

1189.-Trompeta-1-Contrapunto en Sol-eá.

DENIAL OF OUR EXPERIENCES

We also said that on other occasions, to a lesser extent, we deny our experience. On which occasions do we deny it, and why?

Generally we refer to negative life experiences, which are those that have greater significance in our lives.

It is unquestionable that we doubt our own experience and this leads us to carefully observe other perspectives similar to the experience of which we have uncertainty, suspicion, hesitation and insecurity.

This type of case arises in certain typical and unmistakable occasions and generally are conscious acts that lead the person to the denial of certain experiences that he or she has had in the past. It occurs when we detach ourselves from reality, or deny it, from that reality of our own, from that which has served for us as the source of our existence; it does not mean that we disconnect from life, but simply that we are invaded by a sense of disorder, of failure, of denying ourselves, and therefore we deny our own experiences, even if they have been positive. And not only do they deny themselves, but they drift away and get lost. This is related to mental and emotional health, and to the tranquility of every human being, man and woman, child, young, adult or old.

These are times when life feels like it’s coming to a halt. A resource that we can use to clarify our mind, our emotions and our thoughts, is to go for a walk, because as we have mentioned, to live is to march, to march is to walk forward, always to walk.

By walking we continue to live, we hold on to life.

In these cases we must put into practice the WALK-RWD system with the structured activities of reading, writing and drawing, while we walk, which as we have already demonstrated also in other spheres of human behavior, is going to help us in our (empirical) performance of having a world, of achieving adequate learning and fruitful experiences. And in a similar way we will have to carry out the same steps that we recommend for the stage of oblivion:

  1. Take the first step by getting ready to “walk”;
  2. Refuse to suffer or have any negative feelings;
  3. Become aware and accept that we have certain negative feelings (experiences), identifying them by name;
  4. Make each experience (feeling good or bad) correspond with a vital opportunity;
  5. Listen to our unconscious, in any of its symbolic languages.

The 5 points should be carried out during the practice of the WALK-RWD system, since this will lead us to communication with ourselves.

These steps recommended both for the stage of unconscious forgetfulness and for that of conscious denial, will help us to listen to our interiority.

Each individual is the creator of his own experiences, and the process of bi-univocity that develops between the conscious and the unconscious, throughout life, is what places the being in the trajectory of all of them.

Therefore, all our experiences arise from the conjunction of these 2 functions, so they are all part of our personal and individual essence.

From now on, we must take each of our experiences more seriously, no matter how simple we consider it, because they are dialogues between the conscious and the unconscious, which enrich us by knowing – or trying to know – what is communicated between the two of them.

Many times it is not understandable why certain things happen to us; however, every experience, good or bad, is a product of those dialogues that develop in our deep interiority, between the conscious and the unconscious. (In the book “Evanescent Stories” (*) I present dialogues between the conscious and the unconscious in the mind of a writer). ) And I can assure you that they are more easily understood during our walks than if we struggle sitting on a couch or in a bed. There are several posts published where I refer to this type of benefits that the WALK-RWD system has to know our interiority, I will mention some of them:

  1. Post PRESERVING AND AFFIRMING HEALTH, CREATIVITY AND TRANQUILITY
  2. Post DIALOGUE WITH OURSELVES AS WE READ AND WALK
  3. Post THE WALK-RWD SYSTEM ENCOURAGES CREATIVE THINKING. PART I.
  4. Post DRAWING AND THRESHOLDISM, TO KNOW OUR INNER SELF
  5. Post WHY AND WHAT TO DRAW FOR? THE GREAT BENEFITS WHILE WALK
  6. Post DRAWING, TO KNOW BETTER OURSELVES
  7. Post WHY AND WHAT TO WRITE FOR?
  8. Post WALKING AND THE ELECTION OF LONELINESS. PART I
  9. Post OTHER DEVICES TO READ AND WRITE, WHILE WE WALK

Should we really avoid FORGETTING and DENIALING certain experiences, or should we only become aware of that FORGOT or that DENIAL?

The character most interested in starting to walk is our unconscious, which is the one most favored. Let us not have the least doubt. He has the answer.

Loya Lopategui, Carlos & Pinera, Edel C. , Evanescent Stories, EMULISA, Mexico, 2021. Distributed by Amazon, available in Kindle Edition.

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