“When I stop [walking], I cease to think; my mind only works with my legs.” —Rousseau
— Out of Eden (@outofedenwalk) June 3, 2014Paul Salopek should know—he's on a "walking tour" of man's migration from Africa to the tip of South America. And that reminds me—I just learned yesterday of 8 Million Steps, 60-year-old Juraj Horniak's to walk the Mediterranean Coast from Algeciras to Istanbul. According to the website, Horniak "believes that the Mediterranean is the emotional and spiritual heart of Europe, and the key objective of his project is to explore the tension between traditional values and the pressures of modern life. Will the ancient civilisation adapt and evolve without losing its identity?" Along the way he's drawing on the support of members of the Slow Food movement, collecting opinions and stories and sharing them in a weekly video. The feature I watched yesterday about a Spanish cheesemaker was stunning.
Also on the site is the story of a Spanish pig farmer whose view of silence seems to challenge many of the thoughts I've been reading and sharing here lately.
His eyes glisten as he talks about the sound of a healthy dehesa – birds chirping away, bees buzzing, pigs snorting, a cacophony of happy sounds! Silence is death, he says.