This talahardin tracks my footprints both in my mental wilderness and the geographical wilderness. I use the word "footprints" as Herbert Fingarette used it when he said:
"These studies are outcomes rather than realised objectives. In making the journey, I have no aims. These studies are intellectual footprints, not blueprints."
While I acknowledge that blueprints are attractive I try to resist them and maintain an openness to possibilities and alternative perspectives of which there are many. This commitment necessitates that I give myself the permission to change my mind as the long walk unravels.
As common among digital gardeners, I use botanical language in organizing the produce of my mind. Talahardin or "garden of notes" is what I refer to this collection of writings. I try to walk and tend on this talahardin every day.
The talahardin is made up of different "species" of thought:
These species will grow in number as I continue to work within the talahardin.
Species are further classified depending on their level of development: seeds, seedlings, and evergreens.
Seeds are random ephemeral thoughts that come to me during walks or throughout the day. Seeds are kept as is based on the suggestion of Henry David Thoreau and Henry Bugbee that raw insights have to be cherished and their rawness preserved.
Seedlings are planted seeds that will be revisited and changed in a constant basis, that is, edited intermittently until they reach a more mature form.
Evergreens are matured seedlings. They are writings that won't change that much. They've gained a certain finality and, therefore, are shareable and, in case of thought notes, useful as building blocks for essays and larger projects.
A walk in the talahardin refers to my daily visits to this collection. My walks involve planting, replanting, pruning, or nurturing of existing species in the garden. Therefore, different species form interconnections that I could access through links between different notes.
My main motivation for walking in the world and in my talahardin is to transform seeds of thoughts and experiences into decisive actions leading to intentional living. Thus, I recognize that my work is religious in nature.
I've illustrated and talked about the relationship of walking, the talahardin, and my religiosity in my poetry collection and its accompanying essay Mapa ng Los Baños Patungo Sa'yo: Ang Borador Bilang Panitikan ng Paglalakad published in Katipunan.
You can start exploring my talahardin by clicking on any of the following points of entry. These are my current interests and some themes I would like to pursue indefinitely: