The Wanderer Above the Mists - Caspar David Friedrich, 1818

On the Stream of Life - Hugo Simberg

The Quest - Cecil Collins, 1938 - The Tate Gallery

Night Sea Journey - Ann Mcoy

Wandering & Pilgrimage

The themes of wandering and of pilgrimage are as old as humanity. No matter whether we set forth in search of adventure, or wisdom, or experience, or gold, our journey always entails discovering new people and things about the world outside. It also entails discovering previously unknown aspects of ourselves. "Traveling out" also means "traveling in." You know, the Microcosm and the Macrocosm. Understanding that, means understanding that travel, like Reality itself, is not something that exists on just one level, but on many.

When you travel, you meet new people, and they can seem 'Other,' relative to yourself. Remember that each 'Other' you are about to confront for the first time isn't really 'other' at all, but simply a hitherto unsuspected facet of yourself. Now, if it is true that "different cultures are … different facets of the human being," any trip really can become more like a pilgrimage than a mere sightseeing excursion. One profound characteristic of pilgrimage is that when you're on a pilgrimage, the rank, title and function you have at home doesn't matter anymore. The only thing that matters is who you are and how you behave and what you do and say. The other significant characteristic of pilgrimage is that by its very nature, it is an incredibly creative state of being. You see, when you're on pilgrimage you are journeying away from one place towards another. You are in between your starting point and your destination, and being in between is inevitably a source of infinite creativity, an endlessly fecund generator of immense possibility.

When you travel somewhere, make an effort to go beyond the strangeness of unaccustomed accents or languages, and connect with the human beings who are making those sounds, with all their hopes and dreams, virtues and faults, sorrows and joys. Make an effort to pull off the mask you normally wear in your back home "dailyness," and show your true face to the new people you meet. After all, you can reassure yourself, it will be all right, there's nothing to lose. You' away from home, perhaps thousands of miles away, and no one you meet can affect your "real" life. The image you feel that you have to maintain back home (for this or that reason) can serve no useful purpose here. Prepare yourself to be open and really be yourself with the new people you meet. If you do this, you'll find you'll be able to communicate in a surprising, third language, not your native tongue, not theirs, but a new "transcultural language." Then, just wait and see what marvelous things will happen.