And here...we...go!

"To dare is to lose one's footing momentarily; not to dare is to lose one's self." - Soren Kierkegaard

"Once you have tasted flight you will walk the earth with your eyes turned skywards, for there you have been and there you will long to return." - Leonardo da Vinci

I open with these two quotes as a sort of statement of purpose. The first one is the intention, the second reflection on that which just occurred. Notably absent is the process of doing, the movement itself.

This blog's name comes from the English translation of the French phrase "l'art du deplacement", which refers to the activity of parkour, which centers on moving efficiently across the environment. Tracers, as practitioners of parkour are called, observe their surrounding and then use their abilities to move with purpose through space. Even though the path in front of them may be blocked, they find other alternatives routes in order to advance. The path is usually not the one initially envisioned, but it is nevertheless an exhilarating jaunt rife with unforeseen challenges and opportunities for the development and employment of new techniques, ideas, and abilities.

This is not to say that a tracer is always rushing places post haste, moving without intent; to the contrary, parkour requires an active understanding of the environment and a desire to be free of the constraints of day-to-day movement via sidewalks and stairs. Taking alternative routes is a way of reaching a higher level of appreciation of one's surroundings; one can feel the midday sun's effect on a banister with one's hands, or note a seldom used ledge that provides easy access to a stunning vista. Having employed any or all of the abilities that one has developed over time, one can reach higher heights and farther distances, from which one can view the world in a completely new way.

Having flowed across the landscape in such a manner, one is intoxicated, eager to do so at all times, to be able to achieve that human ideal of relocation at will. For hundreds of thousands of years, humans have sought the means to conquer height and distance at will. The wheel, the bow and arrow, the ship, the ladder, the car, the telephone, the jet plane, the space shuttle. To approach one's environs with this same idea of moving freely is to realize this long-standing human goal.

To be able to move freely, however, one needs the proper abilities, wherewithal, and comportment: just as good public speaking requires good diction, a solid literary background, presence, and the ability to present clearly, and parkour requires physical fitness, mental dexterity, and good spatial sense, a satisfying life requires a balance of attitudes, abilities, and mindsets.

This blog comes directly from this idea: to achieve the ideal of the "Renaissance Man", one who, having developed one's self across a great breadth of things, can move with poise and grace through the many challenges of life. Having done so, one becomes a master of the art of movement.