As I was out for a walk the other day, I passed countless people on the path coming in the opposite direction. This got me to thinking: until the very recent past, most of us propelled ourselves by our two feet. Other methods did exist: the palanquin, the sleight, the chariot, the buggy and the horse to name but a few. But for the most part, we walked. There is something about just slowing down and walking, isn’t there? Firstly, that “age-old gift” that few of us have time to subscribe to anymore is brought forward: thought. When we walk, we have time to think — think about the dilemmas that plague our daily lives: taxes, children, careers, our place in the cosmos—the list is understandably endless. It is, after all, my process of thought and not yours. You can’t help but surmise that, if every world leader was forced to walk for some distance before making a monumentous decision, the world would be a more peaceful place. “Many people nowadays live in a series of interiors…disconnected from each other. On foot everything stays connected, for while walking one occupies the spaces between those interiors in the same way one occupies those interiors. One lives in the whole world rather than in interiors built up against it.” (1)
Secondly, walking makes you healthier – it just does. Body weight and good health are often concomitant. “If you’re carrying many extra pounds, you face a higher-than-average risk of … 50 different health problems. These health conditions include the … leading causes of death — heart disease, stroke, diabetes, and certain cancers — as well as less common ailments such as gout and gallstones. Perhaps even more compelling is the strong link between excess weight and depression, because this common mood disorder can have a profound, negative impact on your daily life.” (2) The crisis that exists on the Korean peninsula at the moment would certainly be reduced if its two protagonists, those aforementioned world leaders, took a lengthy walk and, over time, lost some of their girth. They might even become nicer people – God forbid.
The concept of “Don’t be a wage slave!” (WBAWageslave.com) does not necessarily mean that we must risk all our time and money by starting our own enterprise. Owning your own business is not for the “faint-hearted” and is fraught with its own series of problems and maladies. Recently, I have been proffered examples of individuals who have taken a different path to achieve their “employment peace,” if I can put it this way. During the summer, I was in Siliguri (3) with a friend of mine who was buying tea. There were people everywhere, literally. We went into a post office to mail some rather large parcels of tea back to Taiwan. To me, all appeared to be in a state of total chaos. We stood in a line and had to fend off the interlopers who were attempting to ask a question of the clerk. She was an exceedingly beautiful and well-attired woman of, say, around 40. When we finally got to be in front of her counter after “a major battle and several skirmishes” (4) lasting almost an hour, I was stunned by her pleasant and kind demeanor. How was this possible after this never-ending human onslaught, which is India, for the most part? So I asked her, “Do you like your job?” Her reply: “I love my job: At night, when I go home, I feel full of energy. It gives me the time and the financial stability to develop my online business: selling custom jewelry.” “Knock me over with a feather,” is the appropriate idiom, I believe. My second example is also quite telling. I went into a Family Mart to buy a coffee. Once again, humanity had visited at the same time: a huge lineup of people preceded me. When I finally got in front of the clerk, I expected a frazzled and angry young man. Instead, he was pleasant and engaging. “Do you like your job?” was again my question. “It is very busy.” I expected a deluge of negativity after these pleasantries. But no — what do I hear? “I hope it stays this busy when I buy my own next year.” “Buy your own what? “ I asked, rather nonplused. “My own Family Mart, of course: I will have saved enough to buy my own Family Mart franchise by then.” As we are often told, attributed to Lord Krishna, “Many rivers flow to the sea.” The great writer and philosopher, Herman Hesse (1877-1962), leaves us with a thought: Have you also learned that secret from the river; that there is no such thing as time? That the river is everywhere at the same time, at the source and at the mouth, at the waterfall, at the ferry, at the current, in the ocean and in the mountains, everywhere and that the present only exists for it, not the shadow of the past nor the shadow of the future.
A closing thought: I am always humbled at how little I know. Every experience seems to open a door into a hallway with a new multitude of doorways. I am profoundly lucky to be surrounded by so many teachers – so much humanity. It is thus incomprehensible why there is continuing conflict in the world when there is so much to learn and a plethora of issues to resolve or ameliorate. This can only be related to intellectual sloth. If you believe that life is nothing but the acquisition of more things and of wasteful, inane activities (think the cell phone), then “your world” will always exist in a Minotaur’s Cave (5) filled with bad choices. What was the first thing you knew this morning? You knew that you were alive: you, the beautiful you. How did you know that it was you? This is because of your memories of yesterday. There can be no regrets, only wonderful images of an enduring past.
To sum up: This week we spoke about walking and health. They certainly go together. We also spoke about the fact that your career does not necessarily have to mean self-employment. You can “love your job” and not be a wage slave in many different ways: think school teacher.
A philosophical question: The other day I was in a store that sold motorcycle helmets. They were on sale. I passed five accidents on my way to teach yesterday morning. I posed the question: Just before my head hits the pavement, would I rather be wearing a discounted helmet or one of a better quality that I bought at full price?
Just for fun – some traditional music
This week, please reflect on your ideal career.
Every day look for something magical and beautiful.
Quote: We must all find our own “Peace on Earth”: through prayer, through contemplation or through honest communion with Gaia.
Footnotes:
1) Rebecca Solnit, Wanderlust: A History of Walking (ISBN 9-781-8598-438-19)