I found this video below, with the words of Frédéric Gros in his book, ‘A Philosophy of Walking’. It is a recommended read. I thought it worth sharing. His opening line is stunning. What art making and walking are about.
Enjoy 3 minutes of peace and wonder, wonderful words and wonderful sights.
His words are below.
“None of your knowledge, your reading, your connections, will be of any use here.
Two legs suffice, and big eyes to see with.
Walk alone across mountains or through forests.
You are nobody to the hills or the thick boughs heavy with greenery.
You are no longer a role, or a status, not even an individual, but a body.
A body that feels sharp stones on the paths, the caress of long grass and the freshness of the wind.
When you walk, the world has neither present nor future: nothing but the cycle of mornings and evenings.
Always the same thing to do all day: walk.
But the walker who marvels while walking; the blue of the rocks in a July evening light, the silvery green of olive leaves at noon, the violet morning hills, has no past, no plans, no experience.
He has within him the eternal child.
While walking, I am but a simple gaze.”