“I have never been so much my own self as when I have set out on foot and alone. There is something about walking that animates and activates my ideas. I can hardly think at all when I am still; my body must move if my mind is to do the same. The sight of the countryside, the succession of pleasant views, the open air, a good appetite, the sound health that walking brings, the relaxed atmosphere of an inn, the absence of everything that makes me conscious of my dependent situation, of everything that reminds me of my circumstances – all these serve to free my soul, to lend a greater boldness to my thoughts, to project me, in some sense, into the vastness of things, so that I can combine, select, and appropriate them as I please, without constraint or fear. I dispose of all nature as its sovereign.”
Excerpted from “Confessions” (Oxford University Press, 2000, translated by Angela Scholar). Rousseau was an influential Genevan philosopher and author of “Discourse on Inequality” (1755) and “The Social Contract” (1762). He argued against property and the divine right of kings, making a strong case for individual sovereignty. Less rebelliously, he believed that solitary walking liberated his mind, allowing him to think freely and engage with the world in a profound, unencumbered way.
