Traveling

[open_space]

I told JMG on Magic Monday how I felt confused about The Path and how it'd fit in my life from now on and got a beautiful quote in reply from Robert Browning's poem Childe Roland to the Dark Tower Came

"For mark! no sooner was I fairly found
Pledged to the plain, after a pace or two,
Than, pausing to throw backward a last view
O'er the safe road, 'twas gone; gray plain all round:
Nothing but plain to the horizon's bound.
I might go on; naught else remained to do."

I have a thing for popular gurus and Osho is one I love, I also like his Tarot deck and thinking about the quote today I was reminded of this card...



...to which Osho says:

The tiny figure moving on the path through this beautiful landscape is not concerned about the goal. He or she knows that the journey is the goal, the pilgrimage itself is the sacred place. Each step on the path is important in itself. When this card appears in a reading, it indicates a time of movement and change. It may be a physical movement from one place to the next, or an inner movement from one way of being to another. But whatever the case, this card promises that the going will be easy and will bring a sense of adventure and growth; there is no need to struggle or plan too much. The Traveling card also reminds us to accept and embrace the new, just as when we travel to another country with a different culture and environment than the one we are accustomed to. This attitude of openness and acceptance invites new friends and experiences into our lives.

Life is a continuity always and always. There is no final destination it is going towards. Just the pilgrimage, just the journey in itself is life, not reaching to some point, no goal--just dancing and being in pilgrimage, moving joyously, without bothering about any destination. What will you do by getting to a destination? Nobody has asked this, because everybody is trying to have some destination in life. But the implications... If you really reach the destination of life, then what? Then you will look very embarrassed. Nowhere to go...you have reached to the final destination--and in the journey you have lost everything. You had to lose everything. So standing naked at the final destination, you will look all around like an idiot: what was the point? You were hurrying so hard, and you were worrying so hard, and this is the outcome.

I think he's got a really powerful point about travelling and understanding its purpose. I think this also relates to The Path, after all, enlightenment is not a goal; its a realization, a homecoming, because there was never anywhere to go. It is always here. So going and looking for it without in a journey is like travelling to get somewhere instead of for the sake of it. You are never going to find anything until you turn inwards and lose everything.

Comments

[jprussell]

I know what you mean about both getting so focused on some kind of transcendental meaning or purpose that you miss the meaningful stuff right in front of you and about getting overly serious about such big questions. That is one thing that I think Buddhism and other eastern traditions get right - the focus on being present in the moment and recognizing the interest and value of the here and now - all of life is made up of such moments, after all!

And yes, The Decline of the West is indeed massive. Two roughly 600-page books, and the style is not what you would call "approachable". Still, it's fascinating, and it's reinforcing what I keep trying to remind myself about classic, influential books - reading it for yourself offers a lot more than just reading summaries. I somehow keep being surprised by this.

As for how do I have time, I'd say that I never have as much time as I'd like, there's always stuff I wish I could be working on! That being said, I have a few things that help. For one, we're lucky enough to be able to afford daycare for my daughter. For two, my job is quite flexible and conducive to reading (I have a teaching-only position at a university).

Otherwise, I'd say it helps that I have spent some time thinking about how I want to use my time and how to do so effectively. I got very into self-help and productivity stuff for awhile when I was a consultant (these days "self-help" just seems like the shallowest parts of occultism without the deeper stuff that makes it worthwhile). So, I try to make sure to do the stuff that's most important to me first, and then fit the other stuff around it. Sometimes that means less-important stuff slips a bit, which is not great, but mostly it seems to work pretty well for me.

[open_space]

That is a good approach to things! Thank you.

Regarding Buddhism, yeah, I agree with that too and with their saying, which I've also found in western sources, that all of eternity is right here so that by being outside of it you are truly missing everything. It makes sense, even though I don't think I've even been truly present. It seems like there is always a gap in between two moments of awareness that takes quite the mental discipline to dissect but I believe trying to practice is daily can help with at least the everyday stuff like washing dishes with full awareness. That is one of my favorite activities.