Walking as Self Liberation

From A Philosophy of Walking by Frederic Gros. Thanks to friend Matt for showing us this.

[T]here is the suspensive freedom that comes by walking, even a simple short stroll: throwing off the burden of cares, forgetting business for a time. You choose to leave the office behind, go out, stroll around, think about other things. With a longer excursion of several days, the process of self-liberation is accentuated: you escape the constraints of work, throw off the yoke of routine. But how could walking make you feel this freedom more than a long journey? … only walking manages to free us from our illusions about the essential.

Entirely elsewhere, I enjoyed Will Self’s pleasingly glib closing remarks in a debate about the suggestion that “we’ve never had it so good”:

I love to walk, often across the city. I once went to Los Angeles and walked for eight days without ever stepping in a wheeled vehicle. […] It’s free to walk. Just breath. Walk. Think. Meditate. I really, really urge you to get out and have a decent walk, preferably to a random destination, one that is not economically compelled. That’s all I really have to say to you.

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