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Category: thinking

Leap of Faith

Leap of Faith

This morning I heard a minute of The Writer’s Almanac as I turned into the parking garage at Vienna Metro. It’s the birthday of Soren Kierkegaard, said Garrison Keillor in his mellifluous voice. Kierkegaard, the philosopher who gave us the leap of faith — “that faith is not possible without doubt. That one must doubt the existence of God to have faith in the existence of God.”

Thinking of the basement study room in my freshman dorm where I wrestled with Kierkegaard and (I think it’s safe to say) Kierkegaard won. Realizing then that philosophy was not just admiring big ideas, it was grappling with them, plumbing them, going deeper and deeper into their caverns until I wasn’t sure I could claw my way out.

But those same ideas are how we live our lives. The leap of faith, for instance. How difficult to summon it — yet how utterly imperative.

Rowing Thoughts

Rowing Thoughts

When weather makes walking impossible, I use the rowing machine in the basement. It’s a noble form of exercise, full-bodied and bracing. The first few minutes are agony.

But like most activities that require intense exertion, rowing eventually settles the mind. Arms pull forward, legs push back. The rhythm takes over.

And it’s only then, ten minutes in, that the mind can begin to roam. Rowing thoughts are bulleted and basic. They are not walking thoughts. But they are better than not-exercising-at-all thoughts. And yesterday, they were all I had.

Armchair Travel

Armchair Travel

Time for a mental vacation, which for me means remembering a physical one. A drive through the European countryside. That’s canola, I think, a bit blurred on the bottom, shot from a moving vehicle.

A few miles down the road, the fields gave way to a village.

And then, a city.

Like any foreign travel, it was a revelation. I strolled on ancient streets, laid my eyes on sights I’d always longed to see. There was time to write and to blog and even to get lost.

When I came home I was not quite the same person I was when I left. Travel is like that. Even armchair travel.