wotnoshoes@bigfoot.com<\/a><\/b><\/center><\/p>\nI’d just like to
\nshare with you some of my thoughts about the spirit of barefooting. I own
\na book called Barefoot Dreaming by Adele Coombs which is a collection
\nof creative prose and photography inspired by the natural landscape of
\nAustralia. She begins her introduction with Going barefoot is<\/b>
\n
the gentlest way
\nof walking and can symbolise a way of living – being authentic, vulnerable,
\nsensitive to our surroundings. Its the feeling of enjoying warm sand beneath
\nour toes, or carefully making our way over sharp rocks in the darkness.
\nIt’s a way of living that has the lightest impact, removing the barrier
\nbetween us and nature.<\/b><\/p>\n
How
\ntrue this all is for me. Walking unshod is thoroughly enjoyable as a physical
\nsensation in its own right; and yet it also seems to induce equivalent
\npsychological and spiritual states of mind which going barefoot symbolises.<\/b><\/p>\n
I know in the shod
\nstate of mind I often feel paranoid, bitter, resentful and vengeful. The
\nworld seems like a dog eat dog kind of a place. By going barefoot the most
\nprofound change takes place. I find it impossible to hold the aforementioned
\nnegative emotions and instead become friendly, generous, humble, part of
\nthings – at peace with myself and generally glad to be who I am. I start
\nto express myself instead of hiding away. I’ve certainly gained in confidence
\nthrough being barefoot in public which I was pretty shy about.<\/b><\/p>\n
The spirit of barefooting
\nis a state of mind ( a little bit similar to the prose Desiderata.) It
\nproduces a beautiful personal philosphy which we each weave for ourselves.
\nIt includes free spiritedness and yet at the same time not hurting others.
\nIt engenders gentleness, kindness and trust, yet also enables us to speak
\nout confidently and firmly when necessary. <\/p>\n
When barefoot I
\nenjoy meeting strangers. In the past when shod I would do anything rather
\nthan initiate a conversation with a stranger! The spirit of barefooting
\nis certainly barefoot spirituality. Although it cannot have any written
\nscripture or creed it simply manifests into our beings. It is wholeheartedly
\ncompatible with the finest Christian ideals such as of the fellowship of
\nhuman beings living in harmony; and the finest pagan ideals like our kinship
\nwith Mother Earth and Her creatures. In fact it is compatible with the
\nessence of any positive religion.<\/b><\/p>\n
Us barefooters can
\nexperience wonderful things as we meander along; it’s great therapy! Has
\ngoing barefoot altered your state of mind for the better? Have you been
\nbitten by spirit of Barefooting and found yourself living out a new positive,
\npersonal philosophy because of it? It would be great to hear<\/b>
\n
what you think.<\/b><\/p>\n
Lots of peaceful
\nbarefootin’ everyone!<\/b><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/table>\n
<\/center>
\n<\/a><\/font><\/b><\/p>\nPosted by: skip
\nViews: 30772
\nTopic:3\t\t<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
The Spirit of Going Barefoot by Jon The Barefoot Pilgrim. E-mail: wotnoshoes@bigfoot.com I’d just like to share with you some of my thoughts about the spirit of barefooting. I own a book called Barefoot Dreaming by Adele Coombs which is a collection of creative prose and photography inspired by the natural landscape of Australia. She […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[11],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-118","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-hippie-havens"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.hipplanet.com\/hip\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/118","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.hipplanet.com\/hip\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.hipplanet.com\/hip\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.hipplanet.com\/hip\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.hipplanet.com\/hip\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=118"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.hipplanet.com\/hip\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/118\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.hipplanet.com\/hip\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=118"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.hipplanet.com\/hip\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=118"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.hipplanet.com\/hip\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=118"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}