Best Ideas

 

“All truly great thoughts are conceived while walking.” 

― Friedrich Nietzsche

I often joke with my wife that I get some of my best ideas while in the bathroom, but it's not true. (It is true however, that I enjoy reading the newspaper while sitting on the porcelain throne.) But new ideas, answers to problems, and moments of clarity often do occur when I am hiking. There is something about being outdoors, in motion, and free from distraction that awakens my mind. I was day hiking a few weeks ago on a Friday and was thinking about one of my favorite theological themes: atonement, and there was a moment of clarity when I got it! It was like I could see it clearly in my mind. I understood how it "worked" and the relationship to other themes like law, sin, grace and forgiveness. I tried to focus and make the most of my aha moment, but then I met another hiker on the trail and we spent a few minutes chatting about the weather, lack of rain, and the trail conditions. When I decided to push on, it was gone. I couldn't even remember what it was that I had discovered. Oh well, I will have plenty of time on the PCT to think deeply about the atonement and many other topics. Keep calm and hike on.