Walking as a Spiritual Practice
springboards for reflection
on the benefits of walking
![]() Photo by Sébastien Goldberg on Unsplash
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![]() Photo by Alvin Mahmudov on Unsplash
![]() Photo by Dave Goudreau on Unsplash
![]() Photo by Mad Rabbit Tattoo on Unsplash
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"I can't pray sometimes, but I can take a daily walk,
and my walk is my prayer."
An important part of process theology is its emphasis on experience in the mode of causal efficacy. Our lived experience of our own bodies is a primary example of such experience. Whitehead speaks of this experience as the withness of the body and notes that we know the world around us through, not apart from, this withness. Our bodies are the means by which which we gain a sense of direction: where the world is depends, for us, on where our bodies are. Indeed, even our experience of divine lures and energy is bodily in its way: we feel God’s feelings and callings through hybrid physical prehensions of God’s mental pole: that is, gut-level, pre-verbal feelings of God's presence and callings. It follows that bodily practices - standing, sitting, lying down, and walking - can be very important to the well-lived, spiritually awakened life. This page makes a case for walking. I do not mean to suggest that it is for everyone. Some people are unable to walk. If we are among them, we have our ways of knowing the world, ourselves, and God apart from a movement of our legs. But for those of us who are comfortable with walking, it is, or can be, a primary spiritual practice. Even if we can't pray, and even if we're not sure what we believe about God, we can walk and in this walking lies our nourishment. If done mindfully, and with intention, it is our way of being with, in a loving way, all that is more than us.
- Jay McDaniel, August 25, 2021
- Jay McDaniel, August 25, 2021