1. Outside is generally regarded as a _____ between insides.
2. When are outside/inside inverted?
3. What was Mateo's walking lesson?
4. What's the illusion of speed?
5. How did Rimbaud describe himself, in his "poetry of well-being"?
6. Rimbaud said "I'm a _____, nothing more."
7. What's the source of "deep joy" Gros attributes to Rimbaud's way of walking?
8. Why did Nietzsche, Thoreau, and Rousseau (among others) prefer to walk alone?
9. How do you "become two" after walking a long time?
DQ
- Does it bother you to be indoors for an extended time, even on un-sunny days? Do you ever just go out and circle the block or the building? Do interior spaces ever feel confining or artificial to you?
- Do you often find yourself going from house to car to school/office and back again, without noticing your environs?
- Do you feel more at home surrounded by walls and familiar furnishings, or in the open air? Or both, depending on the occasion and your mood?
- Do children still "go out just for the sake of it"? Or will we soon see the "last child in the woods"?
- Do you have favored outdoor spaces at home? Hammocks? An occluded back porch? Favorite neighborhood walks?
- Have you hiked the AT, PCT, or some other long trail over a period of days? Is that on your bucket list? Or would you be too unsettled, deprived of creature comforts, exposed to elements and animals... ?
- Have you read Bill Bryson's A Walk in the Woods or seen the film? What'd you think?
- Do you become impatient behind slow walkers?
- Have you ever experienced an Emersonian moment of unexpected "perfect exhilaration" while walking?
- Does it in any way diminish the quality of your happiness, if it comes to you as the product of a chemically-induced state of mind owing to physical exercise?
- COMMENT: "To walk, to make progress, anger is needed... Anger is needed to leave, to walk." Agree?
- Do you prefer to walk alone, with a friend, a dog, a group, or... ?
- Does it bother you to be indoors for an extended time, even on un-sunny days? Do you ever just go out and circle the block or the building? Do interior spaces ever feel confining or artificial to you?
ReplyDeleteEspecially on sunny days! If I have spare time and it's sunny and/or nice outside, I'm almost certainly going to find a way to spend it outside. If I'm limited on time, I may just stick to my backyard, but I enjoy bike rides and extended hikes in nearby woods and parks. Interior spaces do feel artificial and confining to me, because in a sense they are. They're shaped by us to serve a specific purpose for us, to confine us in shelter away from the elements of the outdoors that may or may not be wanted.
- Do you often find yourself going from house to car to school/office and back again, without noticing your environs?
Sometimes. I try to take in the moment, but especially in smaller transitions and when I have immediate pressures and other things on my mind, it'll slip by me. No one's perfect at it, y'know?
- Do you feel more at home surrounded by walls and familiar furnishings, or in the open air? Or both, depending on the occasion and your mood?
Let me phrase it this way. I've done some extensive solo traveling in my day, and when I was going around to multiple cities across a country in the span of a few days or weeks, I felt like I was being my purest self wherever I went. I think that this is because didn't have any one environment around me that long, and it didn't have time to properly influence me and my actions. So in that sense, I felt more "at home" with myself when I wasn't at home at all and was indeed constantly on the move.
- Do you have favored outdoor spaces at home? Hammocks? An occluded back porch? Favorite neighborhood walks?
Currently, I have a nice back yard and patio that doesn't do a bad job. It's sadly right near a main road though, so we do get a lot of traffic noise. We also have a tree that's partially climbable, but it's not the best tree for such actions.
- Have you hiked the AT, PCT, or some other long trail over a period of days? Is that on your bucket list? Or would you be too unsettled, deprived of creature comforts, exposed to elements and animals... ?
I've hiked in the Annapurna region of the Himalayan Mountains for 10 days straight while I was staying in Nepal. I was actually doing it around this time last year. That still had a bit more creature-comforts than I would imagine something like that PCT having though - we had plenty of small towns along the trail that had restaurants and hotels and the like in Nepal. I would like to do the PCT someday though, that's for sure. I think I need to build up to that kind of thing though, and I'm not quite ready for it in this stage of life. One day, I hope.
- Do you become impatient behind slow walkers?
I can at times, mostly because I have my own pace and I want to keep that and not slow down or speed up with it. That's all there is to it really - I just like my own pace and don't want to amend it to others.
- COMMENT: "To walk, to make progress, anger is needed... Anger is needed to leave, to walk." Agree?
Some form is *discontent* I'd say is needed. Anger is a harsh word in this sense I feel. Whether the discontentment lies in the immediate situation and environment, within the nature of your own goals and how you want to pursue them, or some other matter, there needs to be a motivating factor for you to get up and leave the spot where you are now to go elsewhere for some other time.
- Do you prefer to walk alone, with a friend, a dog, a group, or... ?
Alone, almost always. I certainly get some enjoyment from having others around me, but I've really grown accustom to my own company. Also, when it's something where one's pace is taken into account, I have my own and don't want to have to adjust to others, as it throws me, my body, and my mind off its tracks.
Extra questions for chapter 4-7:
ReplyDelete1) On page 31, what does it say about walking outdoors and what does it cause?
2) On page 35, where did he climb a steep path?
3) Who was Mateo to him and what was their relationship?
4) What was his description of Mateo?
5) What did Mateo said to him when a bunch of people passed him during their walk?
6) What was the description of bad walker?
7) What was the reason that all those people were hurrying during their walk?
8) On page 37, what did it say about Slowness?
9) What does it mean when we are talking about hurrying? (page37)
10) What happens to hills and mountains when they talk about walking? (page38)