I AM WALKING

"I Wrote This Entire Article While Walking"

Dear readers of Varoluş Magazine, as the speed of inspiration overtook the speed of my walking, I stopped and leaned against the cars on the street :)

At a very young age, my father encouraged me to run. He would almost never skip a day and ran almost every day. I couldn’t run much with him because when I started running at his pace, I began attending a boarding school in high school. I would slow him down, but he never made me feel that way. Whenever he’d get 200 or 300 meters ahead, he would turn around and come back to me, then turn around again.

When I was 15, I reached my father’s pace, but this time I started attending a boarding school in Istanbul.

During the weekdays, our outings were limited. Therefore, we would walk back and forth for 500 or 600 meters in a corridor between two walls. Running had no popularity. I tried it a few times on my own but didn’t continue. While walking, we would talk about whether something funny had happened in other classes that day, the latest gossip between so-and-so, or what was happening in nearby schools.

Of course, sometimes we would be alone with our thoughts. The most common thought was, “My God, what will I become? What school, what department...”

Apart from that, I was already used to solving problems while walking. Sometimes solutions would come naturally when I was silent, and if multiple solutions came to mind, I’d walk a few more laps :) Walking was like meditation for me.

As Einstein said, someone who never makes mistakes has never tried anything new. For me, the urge to try new things always came while walking.

After high school, I started university. I decided to try different sports there, one of which was rock climbing. I tried it a few times but didn’t continue. When you’re on the rock, you can’t think of anything other than your hands, feet, and the next step.

Eckhart Tolle, who has written many books about being present in the moment, says that you can be just as present while sitting by the radiator at home as you are on a rock. He says, “There’s no need to put your life at unnecessary risk.” I completely agree with him :) This is probably why rock climbers are often described as “very interesting people.” It’s a bit like hitting pause and play in relation to what life brings. Famous free solo climber Marc Andre once agreed with a film crew and said, “I’m going to solo (climb alone) a mountain that no one has climbed.” The next day, Marc was missing. After some time, Marc called the film crew and said, “I’ve climbed it.” The crew asked, “We were so worried, shouldn’t you have called before climbing? Shouldn’t we have gone together?” He responded, “Well, then it wouldn’t be a solo climb.” What Marc wanted to say was that there’s something that feels good to him when he is alone on that climb.

Later, I joined a mountaineering club and participated in mountain hikes for a long time. Even though you carry a huge backpack, and the hike is long and difficult, it is equally relaxing and even healing. There is nothing modern. Since the altitude changes, your body constantly updates itself. During mountain hikes, I never thought about my problems in the city. There’s something spiritual about those places. I don’t know, maybe that’s why some temples are built there.

Now, let’s come to the present. I still walk for about an hour a day. Sometimes I just listen, sometimes something funny comes to mind and I laugh, sometimes I walk to ease my troubles, and most of the time I walk simply because it’s a habit, without a specific purpose, just to find myself.

‘In a caravanserai with two doors I go

Day and night, day and night’

Aşık Veysel

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