Wanderlust

“Walking, I am listening to a deeper way. Suddenly all my ancestors are behind me. Be still, they say. Watch and listen. You are the result of the love of thousands.”

— Chickasaw poet Linda Hogan


Wandering can get us to physical spaces like a park or train station, just as much as it can transport us to imaginary places without lifting a finger or toe, or awaken a particular state of being or mind. Like so many of our other basic bodily functions – from breathing, to sleeping, to a heart beating – wandering is a practice inherent in us that we must never cease to cherish. 


When done physically, wandering creates a rhythm in our bodies that can lead us to think, reminisce, be inspired and get lost in thought. With body and mind working together, we can also become more finely attuned to the sights, sounds and smells around us. And when done in stillness, our wanderlust can do this and more, taking us to the edges of our memories, beliefs and hopes - and way past them. 


A body in action is as powerful as a mind in action, and there are ample examples of where the two have met in the practice of great thinkers, writers and artists, as the following examples illustrate

  • Songlines

    - Indigenous communities in Australia and North America have been using navigational tracks called songlines as far back as 60,000 years. Songlines are like narratives about the landscape that would teach those walking about stories of their ancestors, from laws, art, the land, the stars, to warning about potential dangers along the road. One would have to memorise the songline in order to walk a particular path.

  • A conscious act

    - In Europe, Jean-Jacques Rousseau made walking a “conscious cultural act” and said his mind only worked when his legs worked too. Many other writers and artists developed their art form, or found inspiration, through the act of walking or wandering, from Charles Baudelaire to Walter Benjamin with the flâneur, to Virginia Woolf and James Joyce’s stream of consciousness.

  • The wandering poet

    - Seventeenth century poet Matsuo Basho, who gave the world haiku, was known as the “wandering poet” because he would take month-long journeys throughout Japan in order to create his poetry.

  • Peripatetic philosophers

    - peripatetic refers to someone who travels and teaches and who follows Aristotle’s philosophy. Its origins can be found in Aristotle’s academy where he and his students would walk and hold discussions and lectures. It was not a private club, in fact; many of the lectures were open to the general public and given free of charge.