Doing nothing as being and learning

Walking, drifting and lingering represent a fundamentally different mode of learning and being. The chapter contributes to research on the small and unnoticed cracks of everyday. In Western performance society, we live in a fast-paced world where constant updates and changes have become the norm, and where everyone is expected to always perform. According to Hartmut Rosa (2010) we must cultivate the presence and purposelessness. But how to do it? In pedagogy and education, various efforts have been made to underline the desire and need for a radical turn away from education ABOUT nature toward an approach that highlights human beings as part of nature – an education FOR and WITH nature. In this chapter, the focus is directed at 'nothing', activities or ‘doings’ that doesn't really count, for example, observe a snail, lie on the mountain and feel the primeval mountain up through your back, or drifting aimlessly around on an island. It’s about getting insight into and about the landscapes and the avifauna, but above all, about learning from the landscape itself, the mountains, the sounds and the smells. The chapter also addresses the pedagogy of place and sustainability, as well as the methodological aspects of working with sensory experiences.<br/><br/>Keywords: Doing nothing, the presence and purposelessness, pedagogy of place and sustainability, sensory methods