“Take three deep breaths before you get angry.” Even better, “Count to 10.” My mother’s advice was always “Take a walk,” which was more effective.
Sorbitur Unbranded It’s a fun Latin expression that means “to solve by walking.” Its origin is attributed to the ancient Cynic philosopher Diogenes. Diogenes did not bother to argue with the earlier Zeno paradox that motion is impossible (because all discrete moments are at rest). He just walked across the room.
Sorbitur Unbranded. Nietzsche talks similarly about creative thinking, except he didn’t take a walk. He took notes. Most of his books started that way.
In fact, going for a walk might be the smartest response to crazy days like ours. It’s also a paradox to not be creative, but to think in the first place. Even when we don’t understand the meaning, we keep thinking. if Sorbitur Unbranded is beyond us, Mane Sana Unbranded Within reach (Latin sounds better) — “Keep your sanity by walking.” Perhaps that’s what Diogenes had in mind when he confronted Zeno.
Furthermore, “walking away” means more than ignoring abstract problems or dealing with them using common sense. It shows a clear way of understanding that can only be obtained if one actively engages with the questions posed.
In today’s world of alternative facts and “fake news,” everyone is willing to share their personal opinions. Nietzsche’s radical statement, “There are no facts, only interpretations,” became a slogan. Even the distance to the moon is your opinion. But the facts persist, and the truth is at least questionable. If my question is about some scientific fact, i.e. the boiling point of water, I can go to a lab and discuss whether water boils at 100 degrees Celsius taking into account climate change.
But how to prove friendship? What can this person say and do? No matter how you explain why you’re friends, you’ll always think, “I’m just saying that to trick you.” Despite everything I could do to confirm that we were friends, I could always doubt their intentions. After all, I can’t believe how they voted.
Friendship cannot be proven in advance. The only way to really know someone is a friend is to spend time together. Sorbitur Unbranded.
The most important theological problems are solved by “walking.” The deepest insights come when we explore with the eyes of faith. This is the meaning of St. Anselm’s famous motto: “Faith seeking understanding.” Anselm did not mean that we move from faith to understanding, as if the goal was to replace blind, naive faith with clear philosophical knowledge. Nor did he mean that “seeking understanding” is the way to support faith, rather than looking around for reasons to believe what we already believe.
Instead, he meant that exploring issues and questions as a person of faith is like looking through night vision binoculars. Faith allows us to see more of what is truly there and what we would otherwise have missed. Loving God and walking in faith with Him draws us into a deeper and deeper understanding of His ways.
People who want to become pianists do not first understand Chopin and then play Chopin. If you really want to play the piano, you have to learn scales and start with songs that have very simple left and right hand parts, like “London Bridge” or, for adults, “Heart and Soul.” No. Music requires practice.
Beauty takes practice. Truth takes practice. Actors know that it takes practice to become natural. Models know that it takes practice to avoid tripping on the runway. You should also practice “walking around” rather than picking up your notebook while hiking, in effect, like Nietzsche, wondering what to say next. Thoreau knew that “just seeing” requires practice. He said, “You don’t need to write a plant report.”
Before we know, we learn how to see. Scientists must learn how to recognize patterns in data before they can understand what those patterns mean. Trained vision precedes knowledge. When it comes to spiritual life, Thomas Merton, who spent many years as a monk and became one of Christianity’s most influential voices, declared, “We are all beginners.”
This reflects St. Anselm’s approach to theology as a “faith seeking understanding,” a quest that begins not in the heart but on the knees. It’s about learning to see with different eyes. Novelist Marilyn Robinson talks about wanting faith more than wanting God. She wrote about the humility that corrects the tendency for faith to become “distorted and hardened.”
Imagine if God had answered Job’s question with, “Okay, just do things your way and I’ll praise you if things go well.” Our righteousness can exceed God’s righteousness. Our own morality blinds us. Before we begin to know something, we learn to see beyond our own limited perspective.
Political thinker Hannah Arendt developed the concept of “expanded spirituality.” This is about thinking from multiple perspectives while maintaining the critical distance necessary to make decisions in a pluralistic world. Einstein said, “The more you learn, the more you realize how much you don’t know.” Philosophers since Socrates have argued that clinging to certainty reflects intellectual stagnation, stifles creativity and growth, and forecloses future possibilities.
“Deep breathing” may be the best we can do right now. Mane Sana Unbranded“Stay Sane by Walking” is just the beginning. But with practice, there may be room for more than what we know, something entirely new and different, or at least intuition.
notes and reading
Friedrich Nietzsche – “These are all really great ideas.” – Twilight of idols (1889/1990), “Maxims and Arrows” #34. “There are no facts, only interpretations” – will to power (Posthumous 1901/1968), Volume 3, #481.
Hiking with Nietzsche: About becoming who you are. – University of Massachusetts/Lowell philosopher John Kaag hikes the Swiss mountains above Nietzsche’s Sils Maria Zarathustra said:.
Sorbitur Unbranded – Clifford Barrett modern american idealism (1964), 34.
saint anselm -11th century- Proslogium, Translated by SN Deane (2014), 178.
marilyn robinson – “Creed” Harvard Divinity Bulletin (Spring 2008).
henry david thoreau – Unusual Learning: The Spirit of Thoreau (1999).
hannah arendt – between past and future (1961/2006), Chapters 6 and 7.
Albert Einstein (Living Philosophy) – Einstein (1985) and the world i saw (2024). The quote is a summary.
> One of the simplest and most profound spiritual practices is to “practice the presence of God,” as the French Carmelite monk Brother Lawrence (1614-1691) described it. “My only prayer is to be careful.” – Matt Rainey, Daily Devotional UCC (January 18, 2025).
Hint #171 – Are black swans everywhere?
Source: 2 + 2 = 5 – williamgreen.substack.com
