Evan Berry's discussion about walking in the first chapter is fascinating in the context of his broader discussion on spirituality and nature. He displays how Augustine's writings and perceived attitudes about the relationship between God, self, and nature have been reconsidered toward the present with the introduction of Romanticism and gradual social-scientific enlightenment. Berry offers Henry David Thoreau, as a relative contemporary, saying, "For Thoreau the urge to walk signals our most basic nature as aspiring, mobile creatures. Becoming a walker, then, puts people in the position to harness the entire history of humanity for the purpose of self-cultivation" (53). This perspective offers the idea to simply walk for the sake of walking, that walking as a particular human function may offer a perspective unique to the human experience for the participants.
In accordance with walking, scientific modernity, and the human experience, the culture of running in modern, 2017 America is an interesting "religious" phenomena. Berry states, "Could there be anything more secular than the vanity that is the modern American obsession with exercise?" (57). I disagree with elements of this statement when I consider the marathon or running community. This "obsession" can more gently be described as deliberate community building that brings runners together in the name of healthy living. Most runners do not go from event to event expecting to win, but rather to gather with friends, to challenge their own physical limitations, and to generally have something to look forward to in the next run. Aside from the community aspect of running, there is an ascetic one as well. Many people who run regularly train for many long hours or days, in solitude, which offers time for spiritual reflection. This form of mediation is one of many ways to allow one's mind to escape in the wonders of the earth for self-cultivation, just like walking up a mountain or through the forest.
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