Traveling Beyond Doubt, Again

Traveling (especially in foreign lands) uproots us from our habitual mind and usual comforts. It takes us out of fixed time and place, out of fixed ideas, and offers a barrage of new experience that stimulates the intellect and opens the heart. If you have ever wondered what people mean by “living in the present,” look to travel as example. During vacation or travel we are imminently aware from one moment to the next without our usual worrying about the future or obsessing on something that happened last week. The relaxation (and joy) we experience is simply a becoming present without the other psychological baggage we usually carry with us. It’s the state of being we might strive for in our everyday lives, a means to greater peace and capacity to love.

In Paris I surrendered to the “marvelous times” of the moment and found myself watching carefully, witnessing myself with a distance that allowed all sorts of new understanding to arise. I had set out across the ocean with hopes of finding clarity about some things in my life. When lightening bolts did not strike my head, dictating that I make this choice or move to that city, I was at first discouraged. Then I began to pay attention to what had my attention each day! The places I found myself seeking in Paris, the intensity with which I studied certain objects in museums, the inspiration I found myself jotting into a notebook, all create a picture I had not noticed before. In hindsight it becomes even more formed and recognizable, though still in some vague state. It requires faith, and discipline, to keep with the process; to believe that the answers I seek are here within my “reach,” even if my fingers cannot touch them.

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Coming up in February…old Paris monasteries, hidden goddess worship, medieval artifacts from both France and the Middle East; as well as a renewed statement of purpose for Vigorous Faith.