Vienna, through the night. Paris, on a summer afternoon. A Greek village, at sunset. In all three films of Richard Linklater's Before trilogy, Jesse and Céline do the same thing again and again: they walk, and they talk.
The walking isn't just a way to move the story forward. It's what makes their conversations possible. Side by side, eyes on the street rather than on each other, they say things people rarely say across a table.
The philosophers who walked
The idea is very old. In ancient Athens, Aristotle taught at the Lyceum, and his followers came to be known as the Peripatetics. The name is usually linked to the peripatos, the covered walkway where they gathered, and tradition has long pictured Aristotle teaching as he walked. Whether or not he really lectured on the move, the image stuck: thinking and walking, side by side.
Centuries later, Rousseau wrote his Reveries of a Solitary Walker, and Nietzsche claimed that all truly great thoughts are conceived while walking. Modern research has caught up a little: in a 2014 Stanford study, people came up with more creative ideas while walking than while sitting.
Why walking makes conversation easier
- You don't have to hold eye contact. Looking ahead together makes it easier to say difficult or tender things. - Silences feel natural. On a walk, a pause is just part of the rhythm, not an awkward gap. - The world gives you prompts. A shop window, a church bell, a dog: there's always something to start a new thread. - Your body relaxes. Movement loosens the mind along with the legs.
Try a "Before" walk
Next time you want a real conversation, with a friend, a partner, your teenager, don't sit down. Walk. Choose a route without a destination, leave your phone in your pocket, and let the conversation wander the way the streets do. If you're alone, walk with a question in mind and let the city answer it.
A walk, then a letter
If you'd like to keep the feeling of an unhurried conversation, The First Letter is a short sensory meditation on receiving a letter, to read or listen to at the end of your walk. It's free, and comes with a sample of my magazine, "(meditating) On Art". The slowest conversation of all.
Remember to take as much time as you need, and meet me at the next one.
Love, Evi