I just came across this quote in Yoga Journal yesterday from Don George, the global travel editor of The Lonely Planet Publications. For me, it has given a little meaning as to why Tim and I are here. Hope you enjoy. (And I promise a less sappy entry next time.)
Traveling to unfamiliar lands can be more than a simple vacation. When you don't understand the language, the need to rely on others for help can refine your practice of vulnerability. Becoming vulnerable requires concentration, devotion, and a leap of faith—the ability to abandon yourself to a forbiddingly foreign place and say, in effect, "Here I am; do with me what you will." It's the first step on the pilgrim's path.
The second step is absorbing a lesson that grows from the first: The more you humble yourself, the greater you become. The more you see of the world, the more you realize what a vast and awe-inspiring place it is. Travel teaches us how small we are, and when we truly understand this, the world expands infinitely. In that moment, we become part of the larger whole. Every journey takes us inward as well as outward. As we move through new places, encountering new people and food and artistic creations, new languages and customs and histories, a corresponding journey winds within as we discover new morals, meanings, and imaginings. The real journey is the ongoing and ever-changing interaction of our inner and outer lives.
1 comment:
Keep the sap coming! That quote reminds me of something I heard Ram Das say about having a stroke. When he had is stroke, he became totally dependent on others, and that in itself became his enlightenment. Before that, he lived under the illusion that he was independent. Afterwords, he could not deny his dependence on others. We are all connected and interdependent whether we realize it or not. So - being in Germany is like having a stroke?? I can see that.
If you are missing the U.S., come to the baseball finals this weekend in Regensburg! I've never been to a baseball game over here. It will be like a little bit of home!
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