Ten photos of a walk out of Truro fuels cogitation #12, 24.04.2016

Cornwall Cogitation #12, Sunday 24 April, 2016–Margaret Forster wrote about walking and writing fueling each other.

In her memoir, My Life in Houses (Vintage, London, 2014), she wrote: “It was remarkable to find that walking must somehow be related to writing, that it somehow fuelled it. I’d always enjoyed walks, and seen them as an essential part of each day, but I hadn’t appreciated this strange connection. The walking loosened the writing.”

Forster, a prolific writer, died of cancer on 8 February 2016, age 77.

Our walk on Tuesday out of Truro fueled this week’s blog. The guidebook called the 2 1/2 mile route, “A short, attractive walk through unspoiled countryside on the doorstep of the City.”

We ended with lunch at the Wig and Pen Pub, did errands around town, and attended Evensong at the Cathedral, then returned by  train  to Carbis Bay.

The walk unveiled the breadth, breath, and beauty of creation. We reveled in the chorus of wild flowers and birds, fresh air, water, spring scents, blue sky, spring shades of green, a well-worn circular path.

So, what can one say about our human propensity to create a divide between the natural and the supernatural worlds? Why are we so prone to sever the sacred and the secular from each other?

God’s creation groans for renewal, calling humans to tend the dynamic relationship between the material and the spiritual. Healing words:

Alister Mackenzie in Where’s God on Monday?  said, “It is only as we learn to work with God, learning to see that what we do is connected with what [God] is doing, that we will close the false gap between secular and spiritual.”

Scientist and theologian Teilhard de Chardin, wrote ” We are not human beings having a spiritual experience but we are spiritual beings having a human experience.”

In sum, “Bridge the gap. Glory!”

I found this ancient (Celtic?) prayer at Lanhydrock. For me it speaks the union of spirit and body: “Give me a good digestion Lord, / And also something to digest. / Give me a healthy body, Lord, / With sense to keep it at its best. / Give me a healthy mind, O Lord, / To keep the good and pure in sight, / Which seeing wrong is not appalled / But finds a way to set it right.

“Give me a mind that is not bored, / That does not whimper,whine or sigh. / Don’t let me worry overmuch / About that fussy thing called ‘I.’ / Give me a sense of humour Lord, / Give me the grace to see a joke, / To get some happiness from life / And pass it on to other folk.”

A walk Friday with the West Cornwall Footpath Preservation Society

An easy walk, even with some rain after lunch.

No boots lost.

Hey guys, no worry, I’m the reclining, laughing cow.

Marty and niece Jan Lauver hold up the crisps, part of our cheese sandwich, dark chocolate, and apple lunch.

Prayer for the week: “Thank you, God, for your grace that lets us get some happiness from life, fretting less, and grace to pass it on; grace to walk and talk and think, time to meditate and pray, and grace to share our thoughts as the Spirit leads; grace to bridge the gaps we legislate between spirit and body, seeking greater unity of Christ’s people, and grace to let loose with common good throughout the world; grace to let Jesus guide our way, keeping us from peril, and grace to fulfill our full being in you.”

–John