The Solitary Walker: Words And Silence

Sunday, 4 March 2012

Words And Silence

The geographical pilgrimage is the symbolic acting out of an inner journey. The inner journey is the interpolation of the meanings and signs of the outer pilgrimage. One can have one without the other. It is best to have both. THOMAS MERTON

I'm experimenting with a new blog which will run in conjunction with this one. You might call it a 'soul journey' blog: a tentative, personal odyssey towards 'ecstatic truth' (or the illumination of something that is beyond sheer facts, as Werner Herzog described the aim of his films). It's called words and silence, and you can find it here or linked from my sidebar. (There's a 'Followers' widget if you wish to subscribe.) I won't be posting as frequently as I do for this blog, but the posts will be longer and more 'in depth'. My intention is to map the interior rather than the exterior journey, using literature, poetry, myth, religion and philosophy as signposts along the way. At least, that's my rather grand intention! We'll see how things develop ...

Words are all we have. SAMUEL BECKETT

Whereof one cannot speak, thereof one must be silent. LUDWIG WITTGENSTEIN

10 comments:

George said...: This will be great, Robert. I look forward to following this part of your journey. Headed over the new sight as soon as I post this.; 4 March 2012 at 16:42
Ruth said...: Oh goody.; 4 March 2012 at 16:51
Rubye Jack said...: Sounds rather intriguing.; 5 March 2012 at 03:14
Susan Scheid said...: I will echo Ruth on this. I look forward to following your new journey.; 5 March 2012 at 03:32
Goat said...: Great. As though it wasn't already tough enough getting through all my morning blog reading over a bowl of cornflakes. Guess I'll just have to get a bigger bowl.; 5 March 2012 at 10:47
The Weaver of Grass said...: Shall pop over now and have a look Robert.; 5 March 2012 at 15:01
am said...: words and silence is added now to my list of blogs to visit. As my list appears in reverse alphabetical order, your new blog appears first!; 5 March 2012 at 20:24
The Solitary Walker said...: Thanks so much for following my new blog, everyone! It's very much 'a work in progress', and experimental . . . but I think it's more exciting that way.; 6 March 2012 at 17:10
Friko said...: Good luck.
Once you start this kind of blog you'll find you'll get into very personal spaces.

I am looking forward to getting to know the secret Robert.; 9 March 2012 at 11:56
The Solitary Walker said...: Thanks, Friko. Personal spaces = real spaces. Don't think I've been that secretive so far, though?; 13 March 2012 at 19:32

QUOTES

I walk, therefore I am. PIERRE GASSENDI

Only that day dawns to which we are awake. HENRY DAVID THOREAU

We are here on the planet only once, and might as well get a feel for the place. ANNIE DILLARD

I can only meditate when I am walking. When I stop, I cease to think; my mind works only with my legs. JEAN-JACQUES ROUSSEAU

Perhaps the truth depends on a walk around the lake. WALLACE STEVENS

The longest journey begins with a single step. LAO TZU

Good walking leaves no track behind it. LAO TZU

A good traveller has no fixed plan and is not intent on arriving. LAO TZU

One step at a time is good walking. CHINESE PROVERB

I like long walks, especially when they are taken by people who annoy me. FRED ALLEN

If you are seeking creative ideas, go out walking ... Angels whisper to a man when he goes for a walk. RAYMOND INMON

Wandering re-establishes the original harmony which once existed between man and the universe. ANATOLE FRANCE

The longest journey a man must take is the eighteen inches from his head to his heart. ANON

Not all those who wander are lost. JRR TOLKIEN

It is solved by walking. ST AUGUSTINE

Walking, ideally, is a state in which the mind, the body, and the world are aligned, as though they were three characters finally in conversation together, three notes suddenly making a chord. REBECCA SOLNIT

The longest journey is the journey inward. DAG HAMMARSKJOLD

We carry within us the wonders we seek without us. SIR THOMAS BROWNE

I only went out for a walk, and finally concluded to stay out till sundown, for going out, I found, was really going in. JOHN MUIR

In the midst of winter, I finally learned that there was in me an invincible summer. ALBERT CAMUS

The only thing I knew how to do / Was to keep on keepin' on like a bird that flew. BOB DYLAN

Ain't talkin', just walkin'. BOB DYLAN

Every day I walk myself into a state of well-being and walk away from every illness. I have walked myself into my best thoughts, and I know of no thought so burdensome that one cannot walk away from it. SØREN KIERKEGAARD

Every day is a journey, and the journey itself is home. MATSUO BASHŌ

The real voyage of discovery consists not in seeing new landscapes, but in having new eyes. MARCEL PROUST

If the doors of perception were cleansed, every thing would appear to man as it is: Infinite. WILLIAM BLAKE