Both the politics and the spirituality
of walking are rooted in biological reality: bipedal
locomotion is the legacy of our co- evolution with the non- human. Through attentive
walking we get to know the world and learn to live in harmony with all beings. Wayfaring
awakens us to the many ways in which we are connected to the universe. Footmarks
may be followed by others and this is the basis of pilgrimages where walking stimulates
the imagination to make connections with past people with the same values.
At the heart of the value system of wayfaring
is a communication system comprising
travel guides, annotated maps, gazetteers, picture albums and personal accounts of
actual journeys. An interaction with any of these types of travel guide is a meditative
journey producing 'attachments to place' that only the reader can take. It may remain a
virtual journey or become reality in an actual landscape.
Footmarks as culture
The World Heritage Committee's definition
of 'cultural landscape' includes:
The organically evolved landscape
- A relict (or fossil) landscape which shows evidence of previous civilizations,
with
still very visible features such as prehistoric sites in the Sahara.
- Continuing landscapes, which retain an active social role in modern society and
are linked to a traditional way of life.
Over half a century, the rice paddies
of north- eastern Madagascar have become a
cultural landscape. Population pressure forced farmers to abandon cloves and grow rice
instead. The long-term care of the land calls for building irrigated terraces which have
permanently changed the landscape.
The associative cultural landscape
- This shows powerful religious, artistic or cultural associations with the natural
element rather than material cultural evidence, which may be insignificant or
even absent.
Sacred groves, protected by religious
taboos, are areas which have been preserved
thanks to cultural practices. These areas, which are genetic reservoirs, help us to better
understand biodiversity. So cultural practices protect the environment as well.
