WALKING AND THE CARDINAL POINTS

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This post is about how our external and internal senses participate in our cardinal orientation, when we decide to start walking.

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1.-EXTERNAL SENSES AND INTERNAL SENSES.

Surely all our senses, both external and internal, act and deploy their functions with different degrees of participation in relation to the decisions we make to choose a direction and a sense when we start walking. (Future posts WALKING AND THE EXTERNAL AND INTERNAL SENSES; THE SENSES OF SIGHT AND THE WALK-RWD SYSTEM; THE INTERNAL SENSES AND THE WALK-RWD SYSTEM).

Of the 5 external senses, I consider that 3 are the ones that make the most effort on these occasions to direct and give meaning to our walks: sight, hearing and smell; however, touch and taste should not be completely discarded.

Likewise, the internal senses, also called spiritual or intellectual are an important part in these activities when we start walking; these have been noticing, discerning, understanding and defining over time, although they have always been with us, and we can make a list of them without having a precise specification of all, namely: Orientation, Spatial, Common Sense, Intuition, Memory, Perception, Cognitive, Imagination, Fantasy, Muscular, Movement, Temporal, Proportions, Aesthetic (Future Post WALKING AND THE EXTERNAL AND INTERNAL SENSES).

There will be enough objections to discard several of them, however, they serve as a guide for our purposes in this post.

Ortega y Gasset considers the existence of 11 senses, expressing: there are 11 senses that psychologists have taught us to differentiate. Among them … visible, audible, tangible … are differentiated by the very objects they perceive (“objects of the senses”), … generating in us sensations, by which we notice and perceive the presence and existence of those objects.

For this subject of the cardinal points and orientation, we could consider including some instincts, such as the instinct of preservation and survival of the human species, since this generally leads us towards less aggressive (offensive) points for the care, conservation and development of the species. Again, it could be objected to this as an internal sense, since it is an instinct and not a sense, but I consider that it should be taken into account when discussing and reflecting on the spatial and temporal orientation of the human being.

It is clear to anyone that the direction and sense we take when we start walking are influenced by both our conscious and unconscious parts. In this regard I would like to express some aspects related to this confabulation of our senses with reason. Some years ago I defined a character, I called him GOVOT, who was intrinsically designed to listen and attend only to his senses in order to be able to face his rational part. From this idea arose 2 books where this character always discourses with soliloquies, with brief monologues -GOVOT. HIS SILENCE DECONSTRUCTING HIS SHADOW (1)-, where I try to transmit that we must become aware (to be conscious ?) -or should I say unconscious- of the struggle to which we are always exposed between our conscience and our unconscious, and generally we do not realize it; and the other, a theatrical play GOVOT. THE SPEECH OF THE SENSES (2), which are also succinct monologues but I considered that, presented as a theatrical work, could communicate this issue of the permanent struggle between these two functions of the human being. Both texts are GOVOT’s speeches where he tries to detach himself from all reasoning, and achieves a long self-absorption with himself, that is to say, with his own senses that procure him a quasi-isolation from reason.

I believe that GOVOT could be a guide on this need to move away from reasoning and help us in this choice of direction and sense that we must take every day of the year, regarding the walks, but also in terms of our work and social activities, and likewise, we could transmit to him that he must accompany us in our walks.

2.-SENSE OF ORIENTATION

For the development of the present post, perhaps the most relevant is the sense of orientation, which obviously will have a close relationship with others, both external and internal. What degree of participation does it have? Apart from this fundamental one, which of the 3 external physical ones will be the one that most participates, so that we incline with some direction and sense, while we walk? The smell of the vegetation, of the wind, of the absence of humidity, … the sound of the song of the birds, of the wind crossing the branches of the trees or bushes, … the color of the grass, of the plants, of the sky, of the flowers, … In what percentage do all of them participate to place us in a certain direction and in a certain sense?

We could affirm that we hardly become aware of these senses when we walk, and surely, the one we are least aware of is that of orientation; however, we do consider its participation when we feel lost somewhere.

This internal sense of orientation is fundamental to direct and give meaning to our walking (Future Post LABYRINTHINE WALKING EXERCISES ON THE SENSE OF ORIENTATION).

We can assure that all cultures that have developed on Earth, have formed a system related to the cardinal points: North, South, East and West; and some like the Mayan Culture were more conscious of this phenomenon; and as an example of this astronomical and physiological-mental inclination, we will expose the system that represents the plastic work of the Chac Mol -one of the most prominent sculptures of the Mayan Culture and that has been located in several archaeological sites-, that the faithful practitioners used, adjusting to the orientation of this venerated divinity: Towards the sun, to the East, which is where it rose with its first rays (Future Post THE WALK-RWD SYSTEM AND A SOLAR RAY BATH). The Chac Mol is one of so many plastic works, besides the architectural and astronomical ones, that this people used in their orientation on the terrestrial surface, in their astrological daily life and for the cosmic observations and their respective mathematical calculations used in the construction and operation of their calendars.

It is very probable that this millenary people in all its fundamental and glorious three-dimensional sculpture had incorporated the cosmic coordinates and the cardinal points, as we can appreciate in the Chac Mol.

On spatial orientation, Cassirer expressed: “The primary intuition of space and the primary articulation of time merge into one and the same basic concrete intuition, namely, the alternation of light and darkness, of day and night. Likewise, the same scheme of orientation, that is, the same distinction of the zones and directions of the sky, which is at first purely emotive, governs both the decision of space and that of time at certain periods.” (Filosofía de las Formas Simbólicas [Philosophy of Symbolic Forms], Volume II, F.C.E., Mexico, 2003, pp. 143-144).

Of course, it is the three dimensions of space together with time, which in an accurate way, mathematically and precisely, the Mayan people were able to develop great advances, to unravel the astronomical orientations, which in the last century have been able to confirm their great advances in this field.

3.-THE SEASONS OF THE YEAR.

We have already commented on other occasions on the symbolism that the seasons of the year have represented in the cosmology of some ancient peoples. Besides being aware that the cardinal points have a different effect on our being, it is also essential to take into account the impact we suffer throughout the calendar year; that is, that is, during the changing months in the weather and sidereal-astronomical position, and according to our actions and activities, we receive different degrees and types of influences on our bodies, both physical (body) and mental and spiritual.

In the future Post IMPACT OF THE SEASONS OF THE YEAR ON WALKING we will present – as in fact we have already commented and written – on the determining effect that each of the climatic seasons exerts on sexual relations and others. There are many factors that influence, in this aspect of the seasons of the year, on human behavior: heat, cold, rain, humidity, snow, sweat, -the temperature of the environment in general-, but also the place where we are geographically -both locally and globally- affects us differently, either by the sun’s rays falling directly and perpendicularly, or not (Future Post THE WALK-RWD SYSTEM AND A SOLAR RAY BATH), by the winds, the cold, rainy, hot or temperate, desert or cool, extreme or balanced environment.

Thus, we can affirm that in addition to the placement, direction and orientation (sense) that we have when we walk, we must consider the impact that these seasonal forces exert on our organism.

Specifically, we can say that it is not the same to walk towards the north in spring than in winter; and thus, for any decision we have to make to take a walk, it will be necessary to be aware of the time of the year.

4.-CARDINAL POINTS AND THEIR SYMBOLIC MEANING IN THE ANCIENT PEOPLES. ASTRONOMICAL ASPECTS.

As we were saying, practically, in all the cosmologies of the ancient peoples existed the essential conception of the orientation towards the 4 cardinal points. The Sun always rising in the East has transferred and defined this point as the giver of life, and the opposite, the West as the bearer of death. The Sun as messenger of life or death. A generalized antithesis fundamentally due to the origin of the light coming from the solar star, which has formed part of all mythologies, giving rise to the antagonisms of light and darkness, birth and death, day and night, and to the simplest human spatial manifestations of up and down, right and left, forward and backward, which we could affirm that all of them are generated under the conception of the line that is traced between these two cardinal points, and following the solar star in its East-West direction.

In the ancient Maya these 4 cardinal points plus a central one governed. The structure of the Cosmos (heaven, earth and underworld), conceiving it always conformed by 4 sectors that corresponded to the 4 cardinal points, which were represented with trees (ceibas) plus a central one, which was the “Great Mother Ceiba”. The sustaining, ordering and reconstruction of the Cosmos and Heaven were carried out by 4 gods (Bacabes), which were placed in the four cardinal points.

On this cosmological conception, Cassirer explained that “the cardinal points in the mythological space are not, therefore, conceptual or intuitive relations but entities endowed with demonic powers. One must immerse oneself in the plastic representation of the gods and demons of the cardinal points, as found in ancient Mexican cultures, for example, to fully feel that expressive sense, that ‘physiognomic’ character that all spatial determinations possess for the mythological consciousness.” (Filosofía de las formas simbólicas, [Philosophy of symbolic forms], volume III, F.C.E., Mexico, 2003, pp. 181-182).

Regarding Maya architecture, astronomy had a determining influence in its definition: the orientation of its plazas, temples and buildings, their relative location, was made according to the positions and movements of the stars. We can also comment that the distribution of the rooms and certain important architectural elements was made attending to an orientation towards the cardinal points, and also towards the position of appearance or concealment of certain stars, fundamentally of the Sun and the planet Venus (Future Post WALKING WITH VENUS-MORNING STAR):  the bedrooms, the entrance doors, stairways and small windows of the dwelling houses as well as of the temples, altars and tabernacles.

The cardinal points -in the Mayan culture- were associated with the numerals four and five. The numeral four was assigned to the goddess Alom, the progenitor, the giver of life, the one who gives birth to her children. Her progeny were oriented towards the four cardinal points. Her ideogram was the flower and the square. Four was her spiritual and sacred number.

The numeral five was also linked to the 4 cardinal points by the “Great Mother Ceiba”, who was placed in the center of the Cosmos, Heaven and the Underworld.

Cajalom is the divinity assigned the five; he is the Progenitor God, the father who gives life. His pictographic sign is the cross and this is formed by the Sun King by the vertical line that traces its rays from its maximum position in the firmament (celestial zenith) to the central point of the Earth and the horizontal line that is the cosmic path that traces the Sun since it rises in the east and hides in the west, that is, the cardinal points East and West.

In Maya architecture these two numerals associated with the cardinal points were used, as well as others. In “El Castillo” or “Pyramid of Kukulkan”, in Chichen Itza, you can see the “use of the number 4, which is the number of sides of the pyramid as well as 4 are the doors that the temple has oriented to each cardinal point. The pyramid consists of 9 superimposed platforms and the stairways are composed of 91 steps” […] “The following question could be asked: To what extent or to what degree are the Maya Ceremonial Centers sanctuaries that reproduce images or models of the universe (Imago Mundi)? Archaeoastronomical research has made progress in this area and has given us a very clear and accurate answer. It has been demonstrated that the location of some sacred buildings, their arrangement and alignment give an answer to the Imago Mundi; even the architectural configuration of some temples, together with their orientation, distribution and pyramidal base, represent celestial models”. (3)

In general, each altar that was located in this type of buildings with 4 sides, conforming their temples, were located in the upper part of the pyramids, representing the 5 cardinal points with which the Mayas were oriented towards their divinities: the east (in Maya likin) or the rising of the sun; the west (in Maya chikin) or the setting of the sun; the north (in Maya xaman); the south (in Maya nohol) and the center (in Maya lamay) or the position of the sun at the zenith.

Now, we can ask ourselves after these brief texts, which show us the importance of the cosmic and geographical aspects in our cultures over the millennia, if we should incorporate in our routines and rituals of walking, to be aware of the impact of the cardinal points.

I am sure that they have the greatest relevance in our physical and spiritual body when we decide to walk following the procedures that we have expressed in the WALK-RWD System.

Every time we walk, let us become aware of which cardinal point we are walking to, for how long we do it and let us evaluate the effects that this may have on our organism, body and mind.

(1) Loya Lopategui, Carlos, GOVOT. Su silencio deconstruyendo su sombra, EMULISA, México, 2017.

(2)Loya Lopategui, Carlos, GOVOT. El discurso de los sentidos. Obra teatral, EMULISA, México, 2018.

(3) Loya Lopategui, Carlos, El Dintornismo en la Plástica de los Antiguos Mayas, EMULISA, México, 2015.

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