Performance Art: No Shoes

Today I conducted a subtle social experiment: not wearing shoes. I know it sounds trivial but let me try and convince you 'why' this changed my day and the way I thought.
I was thinking about the idea of 'conventions' ...

Is wearing shoes a social convention?

Yes- because we don't really NEED shoes (in the circumstance of going to uni/town). We didn't have shoes when we where cave-men and we still don't need them. It's not crucial for survival. I spent a whole day walking around with no shoes and apart from getting a bit dirty, there weren't any problems at all. In fact, I really enjoyed the feeling of the earth under my feet. I was using senses on my feet that weren't usually engaged in feeling different textures on a regular basis (as I am always wearing shoes). So I enjoyed this new phenomenon and I'm sure my feet enjoyed having a new experience. Also in terms of  the 'internal experience', by not having shoes my mind was focused on the 'the current moment' rather than hypothetical situations(worrying about the future) which personally was great for me as I am very much a worry wort these days. This exercise allowed me to focus on the 'now' because when I was walking I was focused on not stepping on glass or any dangerous obstacles rather than made up crap in my head. But anyway that's just me. This ability we have of perceiving the current situation, hypothetical situations and imaginary situations is quite amazing if you think about it... some people just have a problem with dealing with this exquisite ability humans have.    

In terms of the external environment, I don't think many people noticed. One man came up to me in David Jones and told me I need to have shoes in case of glass, but he was just doing his jobs. I had some admirable looks but that might just be in my head I'm not sure. Perhaps they thought I was a 'hyppy' I'm not sure. I felt very liberated.

Also another interesting point- when I looked at the shape of dirt on my feet I saw that we only use the outside section of the foot to walk...this is so obvious if you look at foot prints but I never thought about it until now. How do we even balance such a huge body on two small spaces like that. The body is pretty amazing.



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