tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5557361138631284049.post2731774873080915536..comments2023-11-02T06:58:58.482-05:00Comments on curious monk: Editorial: Between the Sea and LandCurious Monkhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03497618213913641042noreply@blogger.comBlogger6125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5557361138631284049.post-47765414917322309302008-07-11T17:15:00.000-05:002008-07-11T17:15:00.000-05:00Ha! One of the very best parts of hiking is the mi...Ha! One of the very best parts of hiking is the misery!<BR/><BR/>Usually, this happens for me when i haven't planned at all, and have wandered off even the animal trails into some disastrous bog/thicket/blowdown area without water or food or adequate daylight.<BR/><BR/>in other words, more or less every single time. i'm always pleased to get myself out of these things, though. and always have. <BR/><BR/>i do make it a point to never take anyone with me. i think they'd go nuts.Curious Monkhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/03497618213913641042noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5557361138631284049.post-1221300090904587442008-07-11T08:17:00.000-05:002008-07-11T08:17:00.000-05:00Hmm. Sounds like the reasons you're a good hiker ...Hmm. Sounds like the reasons you're a good hiker may overlap with the reasons swimming isn't your bag - I can't imagine compact muscle mass is great for buoyancy (though, for me, muscle is pretty much a concept I just have to imagine - which is maybe why I float so great!). <BR/><BR/>As for me, I trip and fall down when I hike. Sometimes aalllllllll the way down (not down the mountain, but flat on my face). Last time we hiked, I didn't fall, and I noticed about 3/4 of the way through that I hadn't had so much as a major stumble. I opened my mouth to mention this fact to Jeff - and then shut it immediately. No need to jinx a good thing. <BR/><BR/>I still like hiking, but about mid-way, my mood can get pretty mean.The Crabby Hikerhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/05999098106027408394noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5557361138631284049.post-55466000342381553582008-07-10T17:12:00.000-05:002008-07-10T17:12:00.000-05:00in the interest of full disclosure, it probably do...in the interest of full disclosure, it probably does bear mentioning that i just cannot swim. and i don't mean "not well" i mean, "not at all".<BR/><BR/>so when i hear surf, a part of myself thinks, "it's coming to get me!" and the destination seems final indeed. <BR/><BR/>so no, i'm not much fun at the beach. but given my low center of gravity, exquisite sense of balance, and compact muscle mass, i am exceptionally sure-footed. <BR/><BR/>i was the kid who saw rocks and said, "let's go that way!"Curious Monkhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/03497618213913641042noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5557361138631284049.post-25087147265973444082008-07-10T15:29:00.000-05:002008-07-10T15:29:00.000-05:00The reasons you both give are the reasons I'd tend...The reasons you both give are the reasons I'd tend to pick ocean over mountain - in my mind's eye, the mountain is the struggle toward God, or God's lesson, or God's gift; the ocean is God. Depthful, with mysterious motion and a life beneath belied both by its calm stills and its plunging waves. Until we're cast into it (the destination, as Ben points out?), we have only an inkling of its infinitude.The Crabby Hikerhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/05999098106027408394noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5557361138631284049.post-7764768477759849452008-07-10T04:43:00.000-05:002008-07-10T04:43:00.000-05:00Very interesting thoughts. Coming to the end of 2 ...Very interesting thoughts. Coming to the end of 2 weeks at the edge of the great Atlantic, and having recently reread Hemingway's "Old Man and the Sea," I think I could make a case for the struggle and exposure that can be part of the oceanic experience. But the symbol and the development is, without doubt, very different from mountain experience. I think I would agree that the mountain better reflects the overall Christian experience than does the ocean, for the journey does seem to have paths and markers in a way that the sea motif does not allow for.brdhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/09999205528107936871noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5557361138631284049.post-77358687712710520442008-07-08T11:02:00.000-05:002008-07-08T11:02:00.000-05:00Very lovely. Falls into sweet harmony with my exh...Very lovely. Falls into sweet harmony with my exhausting hike this past weekend (the exhaustion, of course, was vital to the experience). <BR/><BR/>However, my inner mystic, like my inner vacationer, would most likely argue in favor of the ocean.The Crabby Hikerhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/05999098106027408394noreply@blogger.com