There is something viscerally familiar in the experience of knowing that, before long, you will be stepping through the threshold of your old home’s door, and heading off into the wide, wild world. It is apprehensive and hopeful, all at once.
It is also, perhaps, one of the most primordial human experiences. Nearly none of our ancestors would have been free from the necessity of the journey. The ancient residue of their wandering ways lingers in our hearts, and calls us forth from the safety of our four walls, beckoning us to life.
Home… we need it, just as much as we need the winding path.
But, beyond that door of old comforts is where the greatest beauty lies. It is where the sun rises and sets; where the birds and chipmunks sing; where the soul-awakening rain falls; where the life-blooming soil sends fresh scents ever upward, filling us with appreciation and love for the world.
Beyond that old door also bellow the greatest beasts. It is where the curious, hungry wolf prowls; where the hurricane howls; where the mountain path turns into the steep cliff face; where the most brutal of our human brethren roam.
They come together, don’t they — the beauty and the beast. It is in their strange dance that we find the visceral experiential quality and connection to life the soul so deeply desires.
Only in stepping through the threshold of that old, beloved door can we hope to find them, waltzing together in the moonlight, while the looming tidal wave of inevitable doom approaches from the glistening sea, twinkling beyond the tree line.
Only on the journey can such experiences be found — those moments that remind us just how strange and wonderful this life truly is.
Years ago, while staying on a kibbutz in Israel, I wrote this on the wall of an abandoned volunteer quarter: You won’t find life at home. Sometimes, it must be sought out. Be a seeker in this world, ripe for discovery… witness a most beautiful sunset.
I have tried to live by the spirit of those words for as long as I can remember. I have danced with both beauties and beasts… felt great joys and great sorrows… loved and hated… fallen, and risen again.
I can say, after all, that life is a most worthwhile ride… and every human journey, no matter how great or how small, is worthy of song.
But, the yearning is never truly satisfied, is it? If the essence of the soul is infinite and eternal, then how can it be filled? And, if purely earthly and body-bound, well… it seems to have an endless appetite.
Strangely enough, even such a futile search can produce the most beautiful experiences. The journey is never truly over. Even death is an event horizon, beyond which mystery remains.
And so, I will keep seeking. I will keep wandering down the winding road of life… eyes, ears, and heart open to all the strange little beauties and beasts I find as fellow travellers along the way.
I hope to find you out there, friends.
What an incredible place this is.
Wandering Ways 