Hitchhiking: Â Â minimalism / "zen" method

[Wardy]

I like this thread. There are days when I have to get into the Zen, usually because the mojo of circumstance aint working and there are others when it just comes natural: the sun shines, times my own, no expectations & no responsibilities. But I haven't tried the minimalist approach since the days when I had nowhere to go. When I read Zen & other Buddhist writings it was all about detachment - which acolytes were meant to 'work' toward achieving, but here's a whole group of us who have become detached by a different route, I suspect from being alienated by our Western world.
What seems to connect all the contributions to this thread is the reality of an invisible force; namely that we can transmit our state of mind across a space, to somebody who is enabled to receive it. And, as Farshnuke points, that there are people who are inevitably going to pick us up.
I am wondering if any of you have found places where the Zen is always there for you? I'm lucky, mine is only 10 miles down the road, or is that luck?

[redford]

"I am wondering if any of you have found places where the Zen is always there for you? I'm lucky, mine is only 10 miles down the road, or is that luck?" - Wardy

Interesting hypothesis... looking into programing Google Earth with Ley lines that connect near highway on-ramps...

I don't know about Zen spots but there sure as hell anti-Zen spots. Cause I've been overheard cussing out some highway planners.

[Wardy]

Hey Redford,
this is now getting decidedly weird. Yesterday I hitched locally to meet a novelist friend and his father so we could plan the setting for his next book. As we left the road David Thompson (the father, who is interested in stone circles) produced a map to show how the stones cast aside around us had once been a circle and was just one of a number that lay on a straight line which runs from the coast of Cumbria all the way down into Lancashire. What's weird, for an open minded sceptic like me, is that I've just read your post, looked it up on a map & that line runs DIRECTLY through my favourite hitching spot. To add to my increasing curiosity, I didn't know any of this before & the reasons for this spot being my favouite are 1) the fantastic views from there, 2) that I have never waited more than a few minutes for a lift from there in over 50 times. What makes it a Zen spot for me is that the views automatically make me aware of the spirituality & eternal effects of mother nature, instantly opening the gateway to my Zen state. Maybe you can look up this place on your Google thingy (I'm a technophobe myself) by checking Ulverston Cumbria, then following the road north out of town until it meets the main coast road. Or you could look up Grizebeck Cumbria or Kirkby Moor & follow the coast road back to the Ulverston turn off, which is where my spot is.
Please keep me posted with your results about lay lines & hitching spots - it's a fascinatinating theory which may become more than just a theory. I know you're probably researching in the US & maybe my geographical situation is of less interest but I'm also curious as to whether ancient natives in the US had the same awareness of lay lines that have been documented here in Europe. Thanks for the post - it's made my day.

[Coast2Coast305]

My Zen is in Ft Pierce FL. Never waited loinger than 10 minutes and have received a couple very long rides, (Ohio,Texas). Its great when you barely have time to throw that thumb out & someone is pulling over already, now thats a high.

[Wardy]

Hey Coast to Coast,

that's one hell of a good Zen point FL to TX, my next question is this: are these points linked to us as individuals or are they generic: ie available to anyone? Do you know of anyone else who's tried hitching from your spot?
Being new to this site and not having explored all of it I've been wondering if there's a map or maps of great hitching spots & if this Zen theory keeps developing the way it's going we may be on the way to developing a Zen spot to Zen spot 'super highway'. Given just how many people on this site are hitching in the US a huge amount of information must already have been accumulated - but has it all been collated? I'm also becoming conscious of the two different states we travel in: 1) where we are really out there to explore the possibilites for a place within ourselves or looking for a meeting that will make us whole, or 2) where we are specifically trying to reach a particular destination. It seems that when we are doing 1) we need no signs or advice but when it comes to 2) these Zen places could provide a wonderful new map. Thanks for the post - happy trails.

[Farshnuke]

That's an interesting theory Wardy, and as I'm sure Coast2Coast305 will tell you I don't know jack about hitching seeing as I've only done it once, but never the less that one time I hitched a lift, was because I had gotten into the Zen of hitchhiking. So if Zen can work that first ever and currently only time, then perhaps getting into the Zen of hitchhiking is a valuable tool for any hitcher.

[Wardy]

Hey Farshnuke,

Zen has definitely got something to offer every traveller - the ability to stay calm and not let the stress or adverse circumstances take over and ruin our day. I would think it's even rarer in the big cities & if it is apparent from the look on your face that you're serenly detached then it's likely to be much more noticeable there. You're incredibly fortunate to have discovered this already.
Incidentally, I'm going to be in Woking over Xmas - New Year if you'd care to meet - preferably in a pub or cafe. Happy trails.

[redford]

Wow, I was just joking about the Ley lines but there might be something to it after all.
I usually try to carry my Zen with me (small bag) when I approach a spot I'm trying to FEEL it out. I sit on the pack and take my 3 deep calming breaths and extend my presence. Because we don't just offer out a thumb but our whole presence when a car gos by. Many times a car has turned around because of my VIBE or the fact that even though they drove by I still offer a little hand wave.

[Succat]

 

Greetings, Wardy, and welcome to digihitch . . .

[quote:5be6bd4fe3="you"]
"...I haven't tried the minimalist approach since the days when I had [b:5be6bd4fe3]nowhere to go[/b:5be6bd4fe3]..." ([i:5be6bd4fe3]emphasis added[/i:5be6bd4fe3])

[/quote:5be6bd4fe3]

I travel many thousands of miles/kilometres each year {[b:5be6bd4fe3][i:5be6bd4fe3]here are my recent hitchhiking logs[/i:5be6bd4fe3][/b:5be6bd4fe3]} and, yes -- while there are many unexpected and delightful sojourns enroute -- the [i:5be6bd4fe3]minimalist technique[/i:5be6bd4fe3] always delivers me at any intended destination quickly and without fuss


Using "[b:5be6bd4fe3]Zen[/b:5be6bd4fe3]" in my subject line was a mistake. Sorry. Its meaning is too obscure. I should have used an English word instead, such as, for example, "experience" or "experiential"

With a [i:5be6bd4fe3]minimalist technique[/i:5be6bd4fe3] it is not necessary to be in any specific place or geographical location, such as a "zen-spot" or a "zen-highway" or close proximity to "lay-lines" (which I found a most intriguing observation, Wardy, thank you!)

The "Zen" -- or "experience" -- in using a [i:5be6bd4fe3]minimalist technique[/i:5be6bd4fe3] relates to the sublime

Go well, my friends



Succat

[redford]

Oh, now ya did it... pulling out the big words...
Sublime?

Main Entry: 1sub·lime
Pronunciation: \sə-ˈblīm\
Function: verb
Inflected Form(s): sub·limed; sub·lim·ing
Etymology: Middle English, from Middle French sublimer, from Medieval Latin sublimare to refine, sublime, from Latin, to elevate, from sublimis
Date: 14th century
transitive verb
1: to cause to pass directly from the solid to the vapor state and condense back to solid form
2 [French sublimer, from Latin sublimare] a (1): to elevate or exalt especially in dignity or honor (2): to render finer (as in purity or excellence) b: to convert (something inferior) into something of higher worth
intransitive verb
: to pass directly from the solid to the vapor state

I myself have tried to elevate my honor and render my dignity with on and off success .... It's that passing from solid to vapor and then back again that I am haveing trouble with, see pretty sure I got there twice but other people say it was the drugs.

I think ZEN wasn't a bad choice of words either. I'll take a leap and say that most of us, at one time or another, have been on the side of the road and seen a bird just hovering in the air in one spot? That's my visualization of a Zen moment and when the breeze blows you into some strange town it's because the universe has created it so.

Been there on the side of the road and asked yourself the Big Question

"Where am I going?"

Answer: "Don't know!!" (and feel great about it?)