Feeding the Mind with a Saunter
You and I evolved to saunter – to walk contemplatively, that is. Walking erect is what we humans do. It’s our trademark in the animal kingdom. Until about ten thousand years ago, walking was pretty much what we did most days all day, with interspersed periods of resting in the shade, or sprinting in brief spurts toward prey and away from predators. As we walked, we observed, connected, felt, intuited, and even dreamed. Man walking was man thinking. We evolved to do our best thinking while walking. “All truly great thoughts are conceived while walking,” Nietzsche pondered, no doubt while on one of his many hikes among the Swiss Alps. The Spirit led Jesus to walk “straightway” from town to town to carry out his salvific work of renewing our minds.
In recent years, researchers, philosophers and cultural observers have taken renewed interest in the relationship between walking and thinking. Ferris Jabr summarized the science behind walking and great thoughts:
When we go for a walk, the heart pumps faster, circulating more blood and oxygen not just to the muscles but to all the organs—including the brain. Many experiments have shown that after or during exercise, even very mild exertion, people perform better on tests of memory and attention. Walking on a regular basis also promotes new connections between brain cells, staves off the usual withering of brain tissue that comes with age… (“Why Walking Helps Us Think,” New Yorker, 9/3/2014).
French philosopher Frederic Gros in his book A Philosophy of Walking, highlights thoughtful walking, what we at The Sauntering Society call a saunter, as an effective way to free the mind to think clearly and creatively:
While walking, one is not obliged to think, to think this or that. During that continuous but automatic effort of the body, the mind is placed at one’s disposal. It is then that thoughts can arise, surface or take shape (“A Philosophy of Walking,” Gros, 2015).
That process has played out in some of the most creatives minds throughout the history of western culture, so much so that we can say walking (particularly in nature) promotes higher thinking, which promotes a more vibrant and ascending culture. The proof is in the peds. Jesus, St. Francis, St. Patrick, Beethoven, Wordsworth, Thoreau, Emerson, Dickens and the aforementioned Nietzsche were all avid walkers.
Thoreau concluded, “Me thinks that the moment my legs begin to move, my thoughts begin to flow.” I encourage you to find a nearby park, a country road or a quiet neighborhood and try a saunter today. The thoughts will begin to flow. Our intuitive capacity widens, and our instinctive alertness intensifies as we walk. We become more receptive to transcendent inpourings into the soul. When an inspiring, encouraging or even troubling thought occurs to you that moves you or stimulates you, make a mental note, as you walk. When you end your saunter, write down your thought and begin to ask questions of it. Challenge it. Learn from it. Build upon it. You would be surprised at how a sauntering-inspired thought can feed your soul for the day.