The end of the ‘Talking Wall’ on the Falkland estate in Fife is marked by a large stone carved with the words SOLVITUR AMBULANDO (‘It is solved by walking’; attributed to St Augustine)). Along the length of the dyke there are Scots words carved into large dyke stones. All the words are connected in some way with walking. Here’s a selection:
- STRAVAIGIN (roaming, aimless wandering)
- PLOWTERIN (walking in mud, splashing about)
- BURLIN (moving rapidly or dancing).
I particularly like the word YIRDIN. Robert MacFarlane, a truly inspiring writer and walker, defines yirdit as ‘earthy’ or ‘muddy’ and yird as both ‘world’ and ‘ground’. He elaborates, describing it metaphorically as the happy, ‘grounded’ state children get into when playing outside.
The final word before SOLVITUR AMBULANDO is BEIN, carved boldly into a stone at ground level. After BLETHERIN, THINKIN, PLOWTERIN, BURLIN, YIRDIN and a host of other actions of body and mind, you reach that grounded point of simply BEIN.
And isn’t this just where our practice of meditation is taking us? Too much coffee beforehand, and I’m burlin. Seductive thoughts and images come to mind and I’m stravaigin. But gradually, as I stick to my prayer word, my mantra, I’m yirdin, more and more grounded. And then simply bein; being fully present, in the present moment where the Divine Presence always is.
SOLVITUR AMBULANDO. In the 19th century spiritual classic, The Way of the Pilgrim, the anonymous pilgrim sets out on a journey after hearing the words of Paul (1 Thessalonians 5:17) to pray without ceasing. He visits churches and monasteries to try and understand how to pray without ceasing. His travels lead him to a starets (a spiritual father) who teaches him the Jesus Prayer – Lord Jesus Christ have mercy on me – and gives him practical advice on how to recite the prayer uninterruptedly. He walks and keeps on walking through southern and central Ukraine, Russia and Siberia, endlessly reciting his mantra, the Jesus prayer. Not everyone’s cup of tea… and tragically, not currently possible because of the war in Ukraine. But in his writing, he also uses the word ‘walk’ figuratively, calling on the true pilgrim to constantly walk in the presence of God.
Without frequent prayer it is not possible to find one’s way to God, to understand truth… Only fidelity to prayer will lead a person to enlightenment and union with Christ… No matter how you drive yourself, how much effort you exert, and what kind of physical feats you accomplish, if you do not constantly walk in the presence of God, with ceaseless prayer in your heart, then you will never have peace from disturbing thoughts and you will always have an inclination toward sin, even in small matters.
‘Pray without ceasing’, ‘ceaseless prayer in your heart’… These calls can seem way beyond reach… especially when we finish our period of meditation and reflect that it’s all been nothin but burlin and plowterin and stravaigin… in fact one big stumblin!
But as we deepen our practice, our prayer word, our mantra, moves from the head to the heart. We begin to listen to it sounding within us, rather than merely repeating it in our heads. It’s there all the time if we are attentive enough, a constant companion. Prayer is becoming not just something we do for a couple of half hour periods each day, but something we are. It might seem that we’re forever stumblin but as soon as we become aware that simply bein is within reach and something we really can experience for longer and longer periods of time, then ceaseless prayer in your heart is also coming within reach.
SOLVITUR AMBULANDO… SOLVED BY WALKING? Over to you! And if this all still seems way out of reach, here’s some encouragement from our anonymous pilgrim:
‘You can trust God not to allow you to be tried beyond your strength and with any trial he will give you a way out of it and the strength to bear it’ (1 Cor. 10:13). Soon your joy will far surpass your present suffering.
Alex Holmes
(co-leader of this year’s The School’s Silent Retreat