Crossing the Paths Crossing the Paths 2016 | Page 7

THE IMPERMANENT NATURE OF THE WALK

AMBIGUITY — ABSENCE — TRANSIENT
Ambiguity : the quality of being open to more than one interpretation ; inexactness . Absence : the state of being away from a place or person . Transient : lasting only for a short time , impermanent .
— 7
Valeria De Stena , Sara Paolucci , Elizabeth Pascoe , Zsófi Kormos
The dictionary definitions of the words we were provided with to guide this project all suggest ideas of fluidity , impermanence and experiencing a moment as it happens . When we considered how this could be applied to a walking situation , it lead us to think about the impermanence of the walking experience ; how every detail that each of us noticed was unique and each moment was transient . In Buddhism , one of the Three Marks of Existence is impermanence , or Anicca . This doctrine teaches that all things and experiences are “ transient , evanescent , inconstant ”. When applied to the walk , to moving through a space , it makes sense that the walk is a transient experience , one that is a special and specific moment that can never be exactly recreated . The leaves on the street , the exact clouds , the cars and people that we passed were all unique to that particular walk .