Traveling.
Nevermind the wind, Nevermind the rain
Nevermind the road leading home again
Never asking why, Never knowing when
Every now and then, There he goes again~ James Taylor, “My Traveling Star”
journey, week 4
Ever read The Odyssey by Homer? It is a profound tale of the epic journey by the warrior Odysseus, after the bloody Trojan War, to return to his wife Penelope and his home on the Greek island of Ithaca. What should have been an easy two-week sail across the Aegean Sea is beset by so many hazards that it is a full ten years before Odysseus returns, a very different man than the one who left.
True, this classic is an engaging tale of fantastical beings and hair-raising escapes, but it is much more. It is a set of archetypal experiences that every one of us must pass through on our own slightly less fantastical journey home. From the chill Lotus Eaters all the way to the fastidious Phaecians, our hero learns from his successes and his failures how to navigate the ardors of the world—his and ours. It is a story of how to gain wisdom, and I’d like as much of that as I can get. How about you? Not only does Homer’s tale dovetail with our series on the Long Journey Home, it just so happens that each of his stops along the way incisively mirrors one of the nine Enneagram energies, which is utterly irresistible. :) So for the next nine weeks, we will join Odysseus on each of those stages and learn a few strategies for our own quest to come Home.
For starters, though, let’s talk about the difference between being a Traveler and a Tourist. Do you relate to one of those terms more than the other? Here’s how Michael Goldberg distinguishes them… Tourists exercise a high level of control over their itinerary in order to maximize time and minimize uncertainty. They seek to carry the comforts of home, “but what a tourist most of all carries with him, to keep himself really comfortable, is a mindset, a certain way of looking at the world and a set of opinions about how to operate.”
The traveler, in contrast, actively participates in the places she lands, allowing the people and places and experiences encountered to affect her. This person is open and vulnerable, eager to learn and adapt as she goes. It’s personal, somewhat unpredictable, and sometimes uncomfortable, but the engagement and interactivity allow for new thoughts, new relationships, and new ways of seeing things. Touring is informative, but traveling is actually formative.
Kellie and I are planning our most ambitious traveling to date: We are plotting a pilgrimage across 500 miles of northern Spain along the Camino de Santiago. This walking path is part of an extensive network of ancient pilgrim routes stretching across Europe and coming together at the tomb of St. James (Santiago in Spanish) in Santiago de Compostela. I have wanted to see Spain since I was 15 years old, and the movie The Way left a particular thirst in me ten years ago that I hope to quench this summer.
The Camino is the quintessential act of traveling. There’s a route, but you never quite know where you’ll stay, what you’ll eat, or what the weather holds. Whether your legs will feel like jelly or pistons. Whether you’ll feel homesick or like the world has become your home. For me, the Camino is the ultimate embodied metaphor of this road we’re all walking called Life. And of course I’ll be bringing you along as virtual co-travelers through the blog. Maybe even some video. :)
growing your soul
What would it look like to approach this current season in your life journey with the mindset of a traveler rather than a tourist?
serving our world
The posture of traveling means that you can be affected… and that you can affect others. How do you feel about that?
takeaway
Hit the road, Jack.