- The Legend of The Walking Man -

  

It is said in some cultures, still in touch with their primal source, a man does not truly enter manhood until he is 52 years of age. The man who was to become The Walking Man came to this planet – earth, in the middle of the year, in the middle of the 20th century. On 27 July 2002, in the early afternoon the sea at the coast off Virginia Beach, in North America gave life to The Walking Man. This dynamic was assisted with the help of a young teenager who is the niece of The Walking Man. It was she who pulled him from the sea. This transition to manhood actually took three days. It was a painful three days, but The Walking Man endured without the help of drugs to alter his state. Some say “pain is life”, if that is so, The Walking Man was very much alive. The Walking Man did actually crawl before he could walk, bringing another metaphor to the fore. When a nurse discovered him in a chair, instead of his assigned bed, it is said she quipped, “I hope you can get back into your bed.” His response in the high octave voice caused by the neck brace he was to wear for almost a year was, “Don’t you worry about me. I will be fine.”

As the legend goes, The Walking Man then asked about an apparatus in the corner of the room. To which the hospital! nurse then responded, “It’s a walker, and you can use it…If you can get to it.” Later that evening at around 6:15 pm, which happened to be the exact time of his actual earthly birth 52 years earlier minus a month and a day, the Legend of The Walking Man was born as he used the walking apparatus to move around the ward of the hospital. At various times of the day and night, The Walking Man was seen walking the floor, and eventually without the aid of the apparatus, the grounds of the hospital. Within ten days he was released to contemplate a complex operation to correct and stabilize the spinal cord injury he sustained.

He stayed for a while with his sister – the mother of the niece who pulled him from the sea – and her husband. He was there until he was again hospitalized for evaluation of the injury and possible surgery to cut his neck open to put a series of cables and cages and screws and bolts into his neck in an effort to stabilize the vertebrae and, they claimed, to assure a proper recovery. This evaluation took place at the specialized Veteran’s hospital. The hospital with two entire wards dedicated to this type of injury. Yes, The Walking Man did serve his country of origin honorably during war time. At this hospital The Walking Man heard stories of inspiration as well as tragedy. He grew stronger; he progressed. He was told in detail the operation and its ramifications. A decision needed to be made as hospital beds were scarce and about to be fewer as a military action was taking place in a foreign land in the name of God and Freedom, someone said. A compromise was made to release him for six months and then reevaluate his progress at that time. The Walking Man was released to a friend who was living in a very fortunate situation with her young daughter. At their abode he could use a pool, outdoor Jacuzzi, and gym facilities. He could walk to neighborhood stores and best of all he was in a nurturing situation. The six month evaluation did take place, and his decision was not to be cut and fitted with modern experimentations. His logic was simple: Since he came from no movement to 93% mobility and strength, it was possible to go even further. And he did. As fate would have it, he even recovered enough to take a job in his chosen field of communications. He moved close enough to the job to walk to and from work everyday. This move transferred him from one loving and nurturing situation with two people to the loving and nurturing situation of seven others, in a house of purpose and nurturing.

Fate and destiny was to step in again just as the contracted job was coming to completion. A colleague from overseas, after seven years of attempts to bring the skills of The Walking Man to his charges, was successful in procuring the necessary funding for the workshop. Thus, The Walking Man made his way to South Africa in the first leg of a journey scheduled to take him around the world in 18 months; A journey of healing and discovery. He quickly got his affairs in order and began the journey by going through Paris, France. His observations and time in Paris has already been recorded. His work in Cape Town, South Africa has also been recorded and posted on the modern Internet. Even the first part of his Indian journey has been somewhat recorded and, no doubt, will continue to be posted for all eternity to experience. What follows is the beginning account of The Walking Man after he received this name on the main road to Auroville, A Universal City.

This is how it is believed to have happened: The Walking Man, like so many others, came to Auroville quite by accident. In point of fact, he had never heard of Auroville in Tamil Nadu, Southern India, until later in the day of his early morning arrival by airplane to Madras/Chenni. Be that as it may, he was delivered to the New Creation Guest House in the dead of the night. Somehow arrangements were made for his accommodations though he had no booking/reservations for a room. It was the peak of high season for the developing City that was about to celebrate several very important occasions. The first being the 125th Earth-day celebration of the visionary for Auroville: One who passed from this plane in 1973 - Maria Al Faso, known to all as The Mother. This event was to be followed in a week’s time by the occasion of Auroville’s 36th birthday and, a day following, the occasion of the first manifestation of what is know as the Supramental Light-Force in the Earthatmosphere, which had its manifestation on 29 February 1956! Depending on how one counts these things, it would be the 12th occasion and the 13th manifestation. If one were to follow basic tenets of numerology, we could see Auroville is in a 9 personal year (a year of cleansing – clearing out of stuff to make way for the new blessings)… And this for a city with a 9 destiny – complete. Given its key number of 1, this was a very special time for The Walking Man to appear in the city.

Ostensibly, The Walking Man was in the area to amplify his healing, which brought him to a native masseuse. One day while lounging outside the masseuse’s Parlour – sipping from a coconut, two men who were riding by on a motor bike stopped for a word with the masseuse. It was a quick conversation which ended in the men waving to The Walking Man as they continued down the main road to Auroville. The masseuse translated the Tamil language conversation she had just had by saying, “they wanted to know who you were because they said they saw that man walking. They called you The Walking Man.” It is true The Walking Man came to India by airplane, and since being in India has taxied, Timpoed, bussed, yak-carted, bicycled, scootered, motorcycled and been four-wheeled driven. But his main way of getting around is by walking. As such, he moves at a pace through places making observations others are just too speedy to see; He is stopped on the road and talks to folks others do not notice. It is also true The Walking Man is almost forced to walk, given the nature of his injury and the design of his recovery program, a program that seems to unfold daily. After a week, or so, of being in the area, and making commitments to a theatre troupe, an African man on a mission, and to himself… The Walking Man had settled into this routine:

The Walking Man’s Pathways – Daily…Weekly… Night:

• Light incense – remove cape from jar of flax seed mixture and replace with cloth secured rubber band, place on magnet belt.
  
• Sweep room and patio.
  
• Soak feet with Candie’s Crystals after quick wash.
  
• Write either in Journal or Life’s Partner book.
  
• Lay back on bed as feet air dry and let thoughts run a natural cascading pattern through his waking consciousness.
  
• Sleep. He usually wakes up around 1am to go to the toilet. Before going back to sleep he does twenty-five push-ups, and drinks water. If he should wake anytime during the night he drinks water and does the push-ups – slowly. Most of the time, he will also do additional writing in the Journal at these additional wake-up moments.

  Morning:
  

• Wakes up around 5:30am. No alarm clock necessary. Takes medicine(s).
  
• Lay in bed becoming aware of and talking to every part of his body, beginning with the toes, then moving upward.
  
• Drinks mixture of flax seed, which has become gelatinous overnight.
  The exception is Sunday mornings when he immediately rises, dresses, and walks to the Matrimandir – where he meditates in the inner chamber for an hour or two, then walks back.

  Mondays -
  

• Breakfast of Curd with banana or prunes - Apple on Sundays. Hot tea.
  
• Toilet
  
• Stretch and exercise
  
• Sweep room and patio
  
• Wash
  
• Walk through town or village en route to morning business: Post Office, clinic for Blood Pressure check.
  
• Walk to Matrimandir gardens to write, contemplate.
  
• Walk to Visitors Center for rehearsal.
  
• Home and night routine

  Tuesdays –
  

• Morning routine.
  
• Walk to beach via main road.
  
• Spend time in the surf.
  
• Walk from Beach via back road
  
• Wash
  
• Go to African man’s home for work on Auroville International African Zone and dinner.
  
• Home and night routine.

  Wednesdays –
  

• Morning routine includes Yoga with area doctor
  
• Meet African American elder and go to Matrimandir for inner chamber meditation.
  
• Visitor’s Center for rehearsal.
  
• Home and night routine.

  Thursdays –
  

• Morning routine
  
• Walk to Bay of Bengal via back road
  
• Spend time in the surf.
  
• Walk from beach via main road
  
• Home and write
  
• Night routine

  Fridays –
  

• Morning routine
  
• Walk to Visitor’s Center, stopping by library and Post Office on the way.
  
• Rehearsal
  
• Home and night routine

  Saturdays –
  

• Morning routine – no schedule for the day.

  This routine gives The Walking Man points of reference – this is to say, things can change day to day; moment to moment, but the outline these movements suggest seem sound enough in his healing and growth process to keep him interested and moving through this portion of his life journey. It is the movement (or motion); the breathing and stretching; the listening and writing; the swimming and pacing on the wet sand of the shore; the receiving and giving…Indeed, the walking…that teaches him the lessons of this renewed life, he is so very fortunate to live.

  (To Be Continued)

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