The Jewish walker (i.e., himself, W.) walks forward, W. says. A trivial point, but one too often lost on the Hindu. The Hindu walks in circles, W. says. The Hindu only ever walks round and round!
The God of salvation revealed himself in the journey out of Egypt. He revealed himself, that is, in a political act – in a determined movement out, away. For the Hindu, by contrast, the walk is only cosmological. – 'You set out to come back again! You go forth only to return!'
It's like the wheel of rebirth, W. says. It's like the turning of the Four Ages. History, for the Jew, has only one direction, even if, in the end, it points beyond history. Only one direction – and so, for the Jewish walker, we are always walking towards Canaan.
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