A walk across Magog Down, to the River Granta and back via Wandlebury — a set of photos and a few words about Knud Ejler Løgstrup (1905-1981)

Knud Ejler Løgstrup
Yesterday I cycled up to Wandlebury and then took a lovely walk across Magog Down towards Stapleford and the River Granta, and then back up to the Roman Road and home. I've become rather fond of it since reading about it here. You can find a map of the walk at this link.

I took with me on this occasion a book called "The Ethical Demand" by the Danish philosopher and theologian Knud Ejler Løgstrup (1905-1981) which I came across couple of years ago and which I have come to admire greatly and which I've been meaning to re-read from a while.

Anyway, there is a lovely picture of Løgstrup lying in a relaxed mode in what looks like a field of spring flowers (see above) and, as I began my walk across Magog Down, itself strewn with spring flowers (see first two photos below), I could almost imagine that I might stumble across him! Anyway, it was a perfect way start to my walk and, after finishing my lunch by the River Granta, I lay down in a field of cow parsley and re-read the first chapter (see last photo below). Here's a well known extract from that chapter (p.18):

Trust is not of our own making; it is given. Our life is so constituted that it cannot be lived except as one person lays him or herself open to another person and puts him or herself into that person’s hands either by showing or claiming trust. 

By our very attitude to another we help to shape that person’s world. By our attitude to the other person we help to determine the scope and hue of his or her world; we make it large or small, bright or drab, rich or dull, threatening or secure. We help to shape his or her world not by theories and views but by our very attitude towards him or her. Herein lies the unarticulated and one might say anonymous demand that we take care of the life which trust has placed in our hands.

I took my Ricoh GR with me and, as usual, took a few photos which I add below. Click on them to enlarge.






















Comments