I have already indicated the reading parameters while walking in “THE RECOMMENDED DISTANCES” and “READING INDICATORS WHILE WALKING“; now I would like to endorse the benefits that are achieved through this activity. The three activities that give structure to the system: reading, writing and drawing, generate benefits that are common to them, but also accentuates them in different degrees and also generate other additional advantages.
Traducido al Español
Regarding Why read
and what for?, while walking, the benefits we obtain are diverse, including:
1.-The thinking
of other individuals is known, whether from past times, very remote or
contemporary to the reader.
2.-There are
known patterns of circumstantial events different from those experienced by the
reader himself, which allows him to live different lives from his own.
3.-Various parts
of the brain are stimulated, which have been slow or diminished by not using
them.
4.-Facilitate
and increase the logical, psychological and imaginative constructions.
5.-Reflection
and understanding are increased.
6.-We know the
evolution that an idea or concept has had over time.
7.-Increase all
mental abilities, such as creativity, meditation, imagination, intelligence,
inventiveness, memory, conceptual thinking, intuition.
8.-It allows us
to move to distant places visited and described by the author of the book.
9.-Renew by
reviving the conscience and invigorates the unconscious.
10.-In relation
to the imagination, develops the ability to relive mental images and increases
the possibilities of combination of images. It impels fantasy imagination and
constructive imagination.
11.-Increases
psychomotor attention.
12.-Increased
mental concentration and meditation.
And dozens of
satisfactions more.
Let’s boost all these benefits. Let’s walk reading.
I only know that
I know how to walk (To paraphrase Socrates).
It would be very interesting to know what great thinkers and other creators have said about walking. From a few we have been able, in the course of time, to scrutinize in their works some references that have had about it, but it is too complicated and time consuming to carry out an investigation about it, for that reason I have decided better to leave it posed what I would ask them -according to what I have understood of each one in his specialties and in his inclinations- in 2 or 3 key words, on his onceptualization in relation to walking. I have chosen some authors that I once related to them in a poem, and now I direct them the question in concomitance with walking.
I would like to
comment, for those who are very strict in the structural conformation of
thought, that the configuration of the questions do not have a rigid or
consistent form, so that some are affirming the thinking, ideas or ideology of
the person to whom they direct, others in clear contradiction, others contrary
to their feelings, others are ironic, but all of them pursue a single objective:
WALKING.
Aristotle, Can
we reduce rationalism by walking? What is walking in rationalism?
Baudelaire, When
to walk to have the acceptance and my commitment?
Beckett, Is
walking a renewed need?
Benedetti, How
can I avoid despair, by not deciding to walk?
Bergson, How to
solve my truths when walking?
Beethoven, Is it
true that your hearing improved walking?
Borges, Walking
can I clarify my mental labyrinths and their multiple mirrors? Is it comforting
to walk in a labyrinth?
Braque, Tell me
how you walk in an expressionist way?
Brecht, Walking
with the 5 senses, will I contact reality?
Breton, Is it
better to walk in irrationality? Can you tell me how to walk surrealistically?
Cassirer, Is
walking a symbolic form?
Cervantes, Is it
better to know where you are walking? Is walking an adventure?
Chesterton, Will
my passion discover it with walking? Will I meet diversity with my walk?
Cicero, Should I
thank my pet for allowing me to walk with her? Can I ask my pet to accompany me
to walk? Can I walk with my pet to consider myself a human being?
Dante, Where do
you walk better, in hell, in purgatory or in heaven?
De la Cruz, Are
dark nights also conducive to walking?
Descartes, Is it
better to walk than doubt and exist?
Dostoievaski,
How do I get rid of my existential disturbances when walking?
Durkheim, Can I
exchange my social anxieties for my walks?
Eliade, Could it
be that walking prevents me from the eternal return? Could it be that the walk
will assure me the eternal return?
Epictetus, Will
walking lead me to participate in the Government?
Aesop, Will a
fantastic reality ensure me to walk?
Aeschylus, Can Prometheus
accompany me on my next walk?
Exupery, Will I
be able to walk when I am an adult?
Fichte, Can I
walk alone or accompanied? Is it a lie, an appearance, a phenomenon or a
simulation to walk?
Frankl, Can the
meaning of life simply be walking?
Freud, Will
walking help me (encourage) my sexuality? Could the unconscious go for a walk,
after sitting on the couch?
Fromm, Will I be
able to free myself from my socio-psychoanalytic anxieties?
Heraclitus, Will
walking lead me to the past? Is walking a constant becoming?
Hippocrates, If
I walk, will I always be healthy?
Huarte, Can I
increase my ingenuity, by walking daily?
Illich, Should I
attend a course to walk, or enroll in a school?
Jesus, Can
walking help us to love our neighbor more? Can you accompany us to walk through
the desert, in case the devil comes out? Will I be able to accompany you to
walk in the desert?
Joyce, When I
walk, can I better understand what you write?
Jung, Could walking
be considered as an archetype?
Kafka, Could it
be that walking is also absurd?
Kant, Is it
anguishing to philosophize while we walk? Can we make a philosophical critique
of practical walking and pure walking?
Kelly, Is it
true that when you danced, the previous warm-up you did walking a few minutes
earlier?
Keynes, Will I
have to walk by my private economic thresholds?
Lenon, Can we
also sing while we walk? Should I sing while I walk?
Lessing, What is
more important, painting, poetry or walking?
Lincoln,
Walking, will I stop lying to everyone, all the time?
Machado, In
addition to the road, what else can you do when walking?
Machiavelli, And
then why my distrust when I walk?
Maritain, Should
I accompany my sensibilities when I walk?
Marx, Could
walking be focused as a struggle with myself and not as a class?
Montesquieu, Can
I still walk accompanied by my nonsense?
Mozart, Did you
conceive or write any melody, walking?
Nietzsche, Walking, is Apollonian or Dionysian?
Ortega y Gasset,
Am I just myself and my circumstantial walk?
Paz, Should I
let my ambition rest when I walk or wait for pears from the elm tree?
Plato, Can a
walker be an idealist?
Popper, Are
freedoms good companions when walking? Should I walk in open or closed spaces?
Proust, Is time
an inseparable companion of walking?
Reyes, Should
the conscience of the word be abandoned when walking, or should it continue
with us?
Rousseau, When
we walk, should we be oriented towards equality?
Russell, Are the
concerns a placebo during the walk?
Santa Teresa, To
what Dwelling will the walk lead us?
Sartre, Is
walking an existentialism?
Schiller, What
should I do with my authoritarian insensitivity when I walk?
Schopenhauer,
Should I give up the pessimistic reaction, when I walk?
Seneca, The
power to walk is a great fortune can not be transformed into a great slavery?
Could we resemble walking to the practice of good and to the passion for
virtues?
Shakespeare,
Walking or not walking, what is the matter?
Siddharta, To
meditate, is it good to walk?
Socrates, Can I
come to know and eliminate my ignorance, walking? Can you walk without knowing
anything?
Sor Juana, How
can I break my in-serenity when I walk?
Spengler, Can
walking attenuate the unavoidable decadence?
Tolstoy, When I
walk I must read and write or only contemplate nature?
Unamuno, Will
the walking liberate me from the tragic feeling of life?
Upanishads, Is
it normal for me to feel an absolute emptiness when I walk?
Vargas Llosa, Is
it possible for me to abstract from politics when I walk?
Vico, How can I
free myself from this social incomprehension, if all I want is to walk?
Voltaire, Can
walking walk away from this subjection and make me rebellious?
Anonymous, Can I
be free when I walk?
There were too many questions, and many of them, of the philosophical type -if you can say that-; however, in a subsequent post, which have passed a couple of months to give me the opportunity to investigate, I will be able to present quotes from some of these thinkers and creators about walking, that they have done in their time.
Could you reflect or speculate what answer these people would have regarding the previous questions? We await your comments.
Walking could be
said to be the only way to carry it on foot. However, there are modalities in
walking through some characteristics that have been added, so that their
designations are several; those characteristics are due to the form, the place,
the team, and other additions in their development. Thus, at present, walking
is publicly practiced in several ways, such as those mentioned below, but not
all of them can be developed within the WALK-RWD system.
Traducido al Español
We said that not
all of these varieties of walking can be developed with the integral system of
reading, writing and drawing. The reasons are obvious, some need to rely on
equipment that prevents doing so, others the physical environment where it is practiced
also makes it difficult, however, it is convenient to know all these varieties
so that at a given moment they can be done independently, which will allow the
individual continue with the exercise (practice) of walking and can return to
the activities inherent to it, reading, writing and drawing, to fully develop
the system.
On the contrary,
some forms and types that are mentioned in the following list, are inherent in
the system of walking: reading, writing and drawing; in fact, we have already
indicated, commented and described in previous posts; and we have repeated them
within this list to have a complete indication, concrete case is Indoor
Walking. Finally, I would like to point out that for some individuals, certain
variants of the walk that are indicated, could be used to read or write or draw,
but this only corresponds to each person to find out with personal practice.
Body Walking
Climb Walking
Dance Walking
Hiking
Hill Walking
Indoor Walking
Jogging
Mountaineering
Nordic Walking
Olympic March
Pace Walking
Power Walking
Roaming
Sprint Walking
Strolling
Trekking
Walking on Water
Walk-Talk
Wandern
Weight Walking
Long Distance Walking
Treadmill Walking
Maybe there are doubts in some of them, for that reason I briefly define them:
HIKING: Hiking, walking to programmed places. STROLLING: Wandering around. JOGGING: Walking and Trotting. HILL WALKING: Walk up and down light slopes. WANDERN: Hiking on foot, to learn the history and culture of the places you visit. TREKKING: Hiking, long walks. SPRINT WALKING: Walk exchanging long steps and short steps, and with speed changes. OLYMPIC MARCH: Walk without your feet ever losing contact with the floor. PACE WALKING: Walk slowly doing exercises with other limbs and body parts. ROAMING: To wander, without fixed course, average distances. POWER WALKING: Walk at higher speeds. CLIMB WALKING: walking climbing. DANCE WALKING: walk doing some dance steps. NORDIC WALKING: walk outdoors with equipment. BODY WALKING: Walking observing body messages. WALKING ON WATER: Walk inside low water braces. WALK-TALK: Walk talking. WEIGHT WALKING: Walking to lose weight. INDOOR WALKING: Walk inside enclosed spaces, such as houses, shopping centers, shopping malls, etc.
All of them allow us to develop a favorable exercise for our health, of the aerobic type. That is to say, when performing and applying aerobic dynamism we generate the oxygenation of the whole body, including the brain, we improve blood circulation and collateral circulation, as well as the function of memory and decisively benefiting cardiac activity. The important thing is to walk, always walk, and perform some of the activities inherent to the WALK-RWD system, be it reading, writing or drawing.
I think that talking about the concept of freedom is very complex. I once said: Freedom: Existential longing, mental mirage or metaphysical reality? However, here I do not intend to define what it consists of, I only try to make it feel in some of its most elementary forms, by just walking.
Freedom gains strength in terms of its absence; the more we feel that we do not have it, the more we long for it.
Walking makes us feel and live sensorially that full strength of our interiority, regardless of what are the types of our emotional chains. It allows us to get away from that massive fervor of purchases, that envelope of mass advertising, because they constantly tell us that freedom is “a plus” that is obtained by acquiring things. When we walk along a path in the countryside, we say: We breathe pure air; and that is nothing more than a metaphor of feeling free, free of the things that imprison us, our commitments, obligations, physical things; we feel tied to all of this.
Just to get a little closer to its definition, we can mention a classification of this concept in 2 aspects, which are not the only ones: psychological, spiritual, mental and metaphysical freedom; and external freedom: physical, civil, political, economic, with all its rights, of worship, association, expression and others.
Now, the system of reading, writing and drawing, while we walk, is a possibility that we have at hand to get away from those chains a little. Those 3 fundamental activities that make up the system are linked to freedom, while we walk, it is a way of feeling free from our bonds.
In my book Evanescent stories (*) I present a dialogue between the conscience and the unconscious entitled “THE TREE OF EXISTENCE; AND FREEDOM?”. (All the stories consist of that dialogue between these two mental entities), which describes the struggle we engage with ourselves for not understanding what happens to us and for not being able to feel free. I quote textually:
“Freedom is random space where none of the mental functions find accommodation. Disharmonies that must turn back, seeking the intuition of that reasoned instant that imprisoned generates our own reaction to exist.
Paradoxical is blaming each other. Healing is the very longing for freedom, that self-presence in the balance of the source of feeling and reason, of suffocation and subjection; with the sole purpose of knowing and feeling that we are alone; condemned to hide in the memory of our own being, consuming that strangulation of deep loneliness, product of despair, of being authentically us, and only us. That is not being. The vital horizon is observed when freedom is oneself. And what comes next? My unconscious conditions are confused. The nothing. Absolutely nothing. Only hell. Blood flows at 103 degrees when freedom is taken away. Let’s not resist all movement is creator of itself; even if we are in those limits, we should not aspire to recreate only if the other dies”.
So far that section of the dialogue between those two entities seeking harmony. The title of this series of dialogues between the conscience and the unconscious summarizes our perennial struggle to be free: FREEDOM 103 (The result was the book: Freedom 103 **). When our being is cut off in its possibilities of acting freely or is observed blocked, in that point of intransigence and despair, our blood begins to overheat and comes to a boil if we can not emancipate ourselves from our chains, whatever they may be, personal or external.
356 “Lady Liberty”
The walk is not the total solution to eliminate those chains, but it does help us to mitigate those emotional ailments. Let’s do it by choosing a place outside of urban areas and accompanying ourselves with a book and a notebook. Let’s read that book that transmits liberation and we rescue that suffering part of our being. Let’s observe the open space and vent our hardships by writing them so that they also fly with freedom outside of our being.
Grant us the permission to walk and make it a privilege that has no economic cost. Let’s perform these activities as a fundamental act of freedom.
The painting “Lady Liberty” is inspired by the poem “Liberéstula”, which I present below.
Poem “Liberéstula”
They broke the silence
lined up as they were
seemed to nestle
the semblance of a walk.
&
Defeated by time
emancipated by pain itself
accompanied by the shaft,
you are the objectified expression
with narrowed eyes
-looking without seeing-
&
Nymph in elevation
you are the Greek ode
the smiling proclamation
you inebriate in solitude;
the architrave gives you continuity
epistile of sustenance that draws
those versifications of the sunset,
even with your diluted silhouette
there is no confusion in you.
&
The spirit of the plinth
where you rest in an irony
occupying the backwater
you unsettle the pedestal,
and the effort transmitted
with similar somber anguish
looking ever skyward.
&
Stulos,
of inert stone
with archetypal mask
you ignite all my words
that do not reach you
&
Movement in the static
refulgence you express in your crown
the living torrent of your command
the contact
reinforced
you are chained
the Roman enlarges your landscape
the tonal
your stylized silhouette
you carry with you the whole work
you are the praise of the heights.
&
Substantial of the figurative
in the modification you are anchored
you survive in death
and faint in experience
ex – expertise centered on the ledge
the environment suffocates you,
you still want to grow
and you resurge in the future work.
&
Upright
there, on the base,
thrown in the path of incomprehension
always illuminated
are you definitive?
transcendence in your being
you make an appointment with the empyrean.
&
In darkness you shine
you initiate in the ortho of life
you are the refulgent expression
and you nestle
in revived history
everything is afterlife
you always reach the divine
and only you
because your opposite, the rest, is slavery.
&
You probe the floor with pleasure
are your footprints
there the boarding
serious character
that flashes your silhouette
penumbras there is not in you
transient exaltation
always overcoming your own height.
&
The shadows lengthen
you spread
the impartial frieze
transmission of your emptiness
always hoisting your lineage
in the veins transmitting your efforts
wandering through the desert anguish
your reign is an example
the mystery of impartiality.
&
You exacerbate the cravings of hell
series that ignites and raises the spire
you are spirit in search
unloaded and sad
as a delicate figure
surrendered in obeisance
before the infinity
&
Eternal truth is simplicity?
will not change your temperament
tormented fruit in chained death
you are the envy of others;
the kingdom is yours, but not the peace
life-long of the cares
the environment now caresses you,
you move without walking.
&
Complexity of the ardent look
chimera of intellectuality
you dream to see yourself exalted
you emerge permanent in the deforming altar
you are mutism sunk in your elevation
and you smile together with firmness
enveloping the glances
deeply
without existing in a single face
inaccessible to visual withdrawal
you conform fatally and inexorably
without undermining your essentiality.
&
Decadence tries not to flatter
the precedence that dwelt
you are the edification of the symbol
you are the faithful deviation the ideal unreality.
(*) Loya Lopategui, Carlos & Pinera, Edel C. , Evanescent Stories, EMULISA, Mexico, 2021. Distributed by Amazon, available in Kindle Edition: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0B86GMS8W.
The motivation
that is achieved with this system is so great that it has prompted me to share
it so that it is examined and verified carefully.
I will try to
answer some of the questions they ask me about what are the mechanisms we must
use to achieve that spark of having the desire to take the first step all those
days that we can take a walk.
Traducido al Español
Perhaps
everything is reduced to generating that desire to take that initial step,
since after the system itself will encourage one to continue with the process.
Of course, the
motivation is not a simple action of our spirit, but is related to a number of
other physical, intellectual and mental states of our being, such as:
resolution, decision, impetus, confidence, enthusiasm, euphoria, optimism ,
pessimism, physical energy, mental energy, will, positive thoughts, negative
thoughts, intention, discouragement, tranquility, indifference, anguish,
sadness, joy, depression, animosity. It seems incredible, but yes, all this
participates, to a lesser or greater degree, in our motivation. Therefore, sometimes
it is not easy to take the first step every time we decide to go for a walk to
read or write. But once we do it, we will continue to be enthusiastic about the
process. A very important element to have the spirit is to know that the system
immediately generates us that state of confidence that after initiation we
manage to keep walking, with pleasure of reading or writing; but for this we
must discover for ourselves the degree of effectiveness of the method.
We must keep in
mind that to perform a certain activity in a specific place and time, the
motivation, in each one of us, is different. It could indicate different levels
of enthusiasm, because the motivation varies in ourselves from one moment to
another and according to the activity performed.
There are
several elements that we must put into practice to achieve daily motivation and
break that physical apathy and mental laziness. The most relevant are:
a) the patience
we must have with ourselves and empathy with others;
b) the love we
feel for our body and our mind, that is, to love ourselves;
c) the time we
have;
d) the
attraction we feel for the activities we are obliged to develop;
e) the
inclination we have towards walking, reading, writing and drawing;
f) improving
emotionally;
g) the degree of
enjoyment towards our daily activities;
