A new b0ok by Joseph Babinsky
To be released in early 2014
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She was walking quite easily and to my observation with a great deal more energy and spryness than my slow and awkward steps. I took note of this comparison because I was in the process of physical rehabilitation – recovery from an auto accident that resulted in severe injuries to my body.
Today I felt encouraged as I finished a short walk on a trail that if followed leads to higher foothills and mountains located near Tucson, Arizona. She approached the place where I stood and with abrupt boldness I spoke, “May I ask you a question?” She stopped and said yes. “How far you will be hiking today?” She had a friendly smile and answered, “Until I give out, and then I’ll turn around and come back.” With curiosity I reached out for additional information and spoke again, “May I ask you another question?” She did not brush me off. “Sure, go ahead,” she replied. “You walk with such energy that I am curious about your age. Do you mind sharing this?” She actually laughed, “I don’t mind one bit. I recently retired as a school teacher and I am 62.” She grinned and walked off, continuing her journey on the path in the desert.
At the time of this incident I was 48, and in the days and weeks that followed I often remembered my conversation with this nice woman. I never saw her again, but she became my inspiration to continue the grueling process of regaining my physical strength and ability to walk the foothills of our mountains. After many months I did regain my health and went on to become an avid hiker in our mountains. I hiked so frequently that one person went so far as to call me “mountain man”. It was not always easy, but eventually I had the ability to hike very long distances, often beginning at sunrise and returning by sunset.
The front cover of this book is a photograph that shows me when I was around 52 pausing to rest on a trail that if followed leads to higher ground, the mountaintop of the Catalina Mountains. That would have been 26 years ago, in 1987. A great deal of change comes to a person in 26 years. This book touches on a few of the changes that I experienced during those years; but the greatest change I will mention happened in my life when I was 70, which as I write these words is now over 8 years ago.
Walking and hiking on mountain trails will teach a person a great deal about themselves and the subject of change. And this sort of outdoor physical exercise often creates wonderful experiences that parallel and reflect our spiritual life. For example, one of the most important lesson I learned while hiking was perseverance and the attitude of never giving up. This was true for me at the beginning when I worked extremely hard to achieve some measure of strength and endurance. And this particular lesson continued as I grew stronger and more able to climb steeper trails. It would have been very easy for me to stop and rely on past accomplishments. During my walks I often discovered new trails and in order to explore them I had to be willing to leave familiar trails. Sometimes the new trail led nowhere in particular, but rambled about and returned to a main trail already hiked. But sometimes the trail led to new places that offered great views and vistas. Other trails led to very long detours; some even led to dead ends. The joy of hiking was to allow space and time for new discoveries, which often came with new tests of strength and endurance. Is this not what the spiritual life is like? Is this not what life is like? I have found that change has been the constant in my life, and I have always been willing to experience change. I never liked dead end hiking trails; this always meant retracing my steps. And I do not like dead end trails in the spiritual life either. But in order to discover the real and the true a seeker of spiritual truth must be willing to investigate, even if this means a dead end. I have had many dead end experiences in my spiritual life; yet I would rather have it this way than not ever venturing in unexplored directions.
When I was 70 I came upon information I’d never seen before. What happened can be compared to the experience of hiking on a familiar trail and coming upon a new trail that I had never seen before. Did I simply miss this unexplored trail when I passed this way many times before? If so, why did I miss it? Was I so intent on staying on a familiar trail that I closed my awareness to anything new? Yet the new trail was not really new; it was only new to me. And so it was with the information that called for my attention when I was 70.
~ Joseph
(December 13, 2013