My Uncommon Life as a Flaneur
In the book In Harmony With The Tao: A Guided Journey Into The Tao Te Ching, author Francis Pring-Mill says that “when we live in harmony with the Tao, we empty ourselves of our own desires and the need to satisfy them.”
I don’t know about you. But for me, achieving this desire-less state has always felt like a tall order. It smacks of being a “Yin” slouch, reduced to the role of a passive spectator.
But then Pring-Mill offers this thought
“We do not watch the Tao unfolding, as it were. We are part of the unfolding. Our role is to act with compassion to guide and shape events as we let them come and go—without trying to hold onto them or bend them to our will. The difference is that we are centered in the Tao, not in ourselves.”
Whenever I think about the concept of letting go of my desire-laden thoughts, I am immediately reminded of the French lifestyle concept known as flaneuring, which could be best described as the act of mindful wandering. Over the years, I have found that this simple practice of being a peripatetic stroller allows me to effortlessly let go of my innate human tendency to become enmeshed in things beyond my immediate control.
The timeless concept of a flâneur, symbolic of strollers or passionate wanderers of nineteenth-century French literary culture, has always intrigued me. That being said, it's a lifestyle practice that is oddly looked upon, given today’s prevailing “grind and work till you drop” mentality. Moreover, the art of wandering is likely to elicit a side glance from humanity as it smacks as irresponsible to those enmeshed in today’s “always gotta be doing something productive” world.
Reflecting on a few of my all-time favorite spots to idle, here is the list I came up with:
Fremont Street Experience (Downtown Las Vegas)
Pearl Street (Downtown Boulder)
Michigan Avenue (Downtown Chicago)
Little Italy (San Diego)
City of Evanston (Chicago’s North Shore)
These are among the places I love to wander aimlessly, freeing my mind and inner spirit of humanity’s pull of artificial busyness.
Whenever you are out for a stroll, always keep an eye out for fellow flâneurs for they can be great companions and random conversationalists. They epitomize the importance of taking periods to detach from society for no other purpose than to observe ordinary life in motion.
By the way, my all-time favorite flâneur is the late food critic Anthony Bourdain
Think of flâneur as street connoisseurs —- those highly observant urban wanderer who seek experiences that allow them to flow with the rhythmic nature of life that Taoism advocates.
Now go wander…….
