Meditative Traveling

Whether it's being exposed to new places, people or events, travel opens up the mind to the realization that it knows very little. People are very routine oriented creatures. Most of us love the comfort of knowing how the day is going to go, more or less; even those who complain about the monotony of life would usually prefer for it to stay that way than to live a life of constant surprise.

Travel, by definition, is movement. It is a series of steps along a path, towards a destination. If the route is challenging - say, through a mountain path - then the mind is constantly engaged, constantly working towards getting to the destination. It discovers new pathways not only through the physical geography it goes through, but also through the mental geography that allows such discovery to take place.

If the route is peaceful, say a simple car or bike ride through the countryside, the mind once again becomes engaged but onto a different object this time. Whereas a challenging route makes the mind grasp for vines, using its strength, a relaxing stroll lets the mind flutter through its current concerns. Faces flash by; words from loved ones, past dialogue, sights remembered as new sights are absorbed, compared to one another, amalgamating, compounding with one another, new mixes resulting from the old.

Breathe, breathe - life comes in from new and often entirely different angles, enriching the mind, fluffing the mental soil, swirling thoughts around and creating new combinations, different compositions. Some thoughts push each other violently while some intertwine and brush against one another.

It is in this interplay of old thoughts with the new images provided by travel that makes it such an eye opening activity. It enriches the mental 'gene pool' so that nothing stagnates. Old assumptions are destroyed, a destruction made necessary to make space for new conclusions. It ensures that those beliefs once held as sacred, indestructible and inarguable are held up to the close eye of the actual and the real, and that everything else is only what is real, what is observable and what actually occurs in nature.

Travel is one of the best educational activities known to man; If it is not more thought-provoking than direct study, then it is by far more entertaining, and probably preferable by a greater number of people.