Given a choice, I’d always choose walks that include being by water. For somewhere to rest and be in the moment, where better to be than by water, whether sea, river, lake or fountain? Water is essential to physical life. Religious observances also make it central to a spiritual life: the water of rivers and magical springs and its use in rituals are central to Buddhist, Christian, Islamic, Judaic and Hindu beliefs and practice. Neil MacGregor, in Living With the Gods, says, ‘water ‘prepare[s] the body for the activity of the spirit’. A big responsibility to put on a simple molecule.
Photo: Russell Square, London, March 2012
Nice one, Brian.
Wise words.
Thanks, Dave – water, both essential and a simple pleasure.