The Pilgrimage

A lovely passage from The Pilgrimage, by Paulo Coelho....

" When you travel, you experience, in a very practical way, the act of rebirth. You confront completely new situations, the day passes more slowly, and on most journeys you don't even understand the language the people speak. So you are like a child just out of the womb. You begin to attach much importance to the things around you because your survival depends on them. You begin to be more accessible to others because they may be able to help you in difficult situations. And you accept any small favor from the gods with great delight, as if it were an episode you would remember for the rest of your life.

At the same time, since all things are new, you see only the beauty in them, and you feel happy to be alive. That's why a religious pilgrimage has always been one of the most objective ways of achieving insight. The word peccadillo, which means "a small sin", comes from pecus, which means "defective foot," a foot that is incapable of walking a road. The way to correct the peccadillo is always to walk forward, adapting oneself to new situations and receiving in turn all of the thousands of blessing that life generously offers to those who seek them."

This is why I love to travel, or at least why I love the unknown: seeing beauty in everything, making myself accessible, adapting myself, seeking life's generous and mysterious blessings, feeling like a child just out of the womb....maintaining a continued sense of awe and openness... It is harder to do these things in a familiar place. I guess that's the goal, then--to remain mesmerized by life, like a traveler, even through the most mundane and routine of times and places. I'm not yet able to do that, though, and until I am, I'll just have to continue to seek out new places, revel in my constructive wanderlust, pay the "cat price" for curiosity and a nomadic life....