Why Travel?
*Interview with Self
Q: Why do I travel?
-To get to know myself better, to have a more intense experience of life and to live fully more moments of my life. I am not looking for the meaning of life as such; it is not about the destination, but I am after a heightened experience of life itself.
Q: What does it mean to live life to the fullest?
-Before stepping onto the path of spiritual growth, I used to think that it implies indulging into as many different experiences as possible, no wasting time sitting around but being active, moving, exploring the physical world and its people. I have always been curious about things and eager to learn.
Q: Now, what has changed in my perception of life and Self since I started a spiritual quest?
-“Every journey is essentially an interior one”(A.Subramaniam) Bringing my physical body and rational mind to new places simply gives me another chance to observe myself and get to know myself better.
Q: If it is all about the inside journey, why go anywhere at all?
-Well, I am not at the stage where I can simply sit still with my eyes closed, meditate and learn the deeper, subtler realities of the Universe. Bringing myself to face the unknown in new places keeps me more alert and awakened, i.e. more present in the here and now. Human’s mind is always hungry for “food”; when I am involved into some routine, my mind gets dull because there is no real work for it, and thus it starts creating work, i.e. making up problems only to keep itself busy looking for solutions. Then I become emotionally involved into these problems , and the whole mind-provoked drama seems so real that I start seeing it as life.
Q: Then what is life I ask myself?
-It is embracing the present moment fully, i.e. I am content to be where I am, I am not thinking about past or future, I don’t want to be in a different place at this moment. I am fully present, aware, alert and awakened here and now. My understanding is the more moments like these facilitate a more intense experience of life.
Otherwise, what are we, in this physical body with this mind, here for? The destination is pre-determined and is the most certain to happen – death. Surely, there is gotta be more to this life than whatever I know at this moment.