2021-05-04 Yesterday, I…

Yesterday, I…

challenged myself to remember a particular route that would take me from my house at Data to the opening at El Danda, which leads to Lopez. It was a route that I tried to connect twice—failing at the first attempt and succeding at the second. Yesterday, I wanted to create new neural pathways in my brain, which would allow me to remember the route. I wanted to nail this so I have an alternative walking route to town whenever I want to avoid the people and the noise at Lopez. I still used Google Maps as scaffolding for my memory, which means I will have to walk the same route again a third time without any guide.

To truly say that I have walked this path, I should walk on it at least four times.

This is similar to what I recently heard from Craig Mod, a writer and photographer who walks pilgrimages around Japan’s historical and cultural walking routes. He said that real walking is re-walking. That statement is philosophically problematic, but what he is simply saying is that walking is a practice and the only way to make a practice out of something is to repeat it.

Walking is not very different from philosophizing or doing art. In fact, I have found that doing these three things at once is very fulfilling. Perhaps, I have to agree with Craig on some level: one cannot reap the benefits of philosophy if one does not revisit one’s thoughts and ponder one’s questions. The same can be said about art. One cannot call oneself an artist without the dedication to repeat. And in this case, four times might not be enough.