Seventh continent
We live in a world obsessed with speed. Speed is a quality: good, cheap and nice and easy: fast food, speed dating, pitching for grants... the quicker the better. We generally regard slowness as a negative quality...
Etymologically, slow can be traced back to the old English longsum, which essentially means gradual or prolonged... Gradual and prolonged have a positive connotation here. (...) stand for sustainability and reliability.
According to the Greek physician Hippocates, walking was the perfect physical activity and one of the best medicines. The slowly changing landscape and city has a meditative effect and gradually disconnects conscious thought. The result is a feeling of relaxation that affords space for optimistic thoughts and creative ideas and solutions.
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Intuitive, fuzzy and creative thinking and acting are what connect the walker and the maker. An uninhibited walker imagines spaces in his thoughts. Slow thinking stimulates the maker and provides space for practice and repetition.
Machiel Spaan, The Wandering Maker
