Photo: Eddi 07

Part III: Return

To see our lives in the poetic light of a heroic quest is empowering. It frames our experience in a creative context.

Imagining ourselves as heroes in the cause of our own lives is to embody timeless attributes. Far from childish fantasy, it’s a powerful and motivating vision for facing life’s challenges as champions of our own stories.

Yet every journey ends, and there comes the need for home. Outlasting the journey is a kind of impotence in fighting the return – a running away from connection. But re-entry is a challenging process, and perhaps a greater test of heroism than undertaking the journey itself. The unconscious bonds with home must be reaffirmed or recreated, and the experience of the journey translated into ordinary terms. If this isn’t completed, there is no Return.

Joseph Campbell’s Hero Monomyth details the themes of the mythic journey, reflecting the issues of mortal travelers who experience profound transformation in their own travels. Rediscovering home – wherever it may be – is the final leg of the journey, often taking longer to come to terms with than the time spent in travel.

The Six Stages of Return

1) Refusal of the Return: Reaching the end of journey and winning the spiritual prize, the hero may be tempted not to resume their life in the home they left.

Photo: h.koppdelaney

Campbell noted, “…the responsibility has been frequently refused. Even the Buddha, after his triumph, doubted whether the message of realization could be communicated, and saints are reported to have passed away while in the supernal ecstasy. Numerous indeed are the heroes fabled to have taken up residence in the blessed isle of the unaging Goddess of Immortal Being.”

The hero faces a kind of fatigue, a skepticism of meaningful placement within their original context. There’s a tale of a mighty warrior who refused home, asking to be granted eternal sleep. When his rest was disturbed, he had the choice of rejoining the world of men.

Again, he declined, and “retreated to the highest mountains”, and there dedicated himself to the ascetic practices that should finally release him from his last attachment to the forms of being. Said Campbell, “…in other words, instead of returning, (he) decided to retreat still further from the world. And who shall say that his decision was altogether without reason?”

2) The Magic Flight: Leaving “Dream World” for “Common World” is easier said than done; it’s difficult to convert the radical experience of initiation into a mundane plot. A hero may become trapped by the psychological impact of the transformation – and the abyss that has been stared into will stare back.

But all hope is not lost. According to Campbell, if the hero locates and grasps a sense of purpose in the prize of their journey, “the final stage of (the) adventure is supported by all the powers of his supernatural patron.” Yet, he continued:

On the other hand, if the trophy has been attained against the opposition of its guardian, or if the hero’s wish to return to the world has been resented by the gods or demons, then the last stage of the mythological round becomes a lively, often comical, pursuit. The flight may be complicated by marvels of magical obstruction and evasion.

3) Rescue from Without: “The hero may have to be brought back from his supernatural adventure from without. That is to say, the world may have to come and get him.” Heroes sometimes require some kind of prompt to escape the egoless Dream World.

The true climax of the Hero’s Journey is not in the winning of the boon, but in re-participation. Returning home is about regaining the ties that bind; the emphasis here is that the connection has always been within reach, though perhaps disguised. It is “paradoxical, supremely difficult” – but all Dorothy needs to do is click her rubied heels together.

4) The Crossing of the Return Threshold: The hero returns home intact with their knowledge of the other side – an awareness that spans barriers which must be kept ever separate.

Photo: Eddi 07

The hero has passed through something which cannot be defined in Common World, but which must yet find a voice. For example, when someone speaks of a powerful vision of love, they speak of timelessness, inner conviction and need that swallow other needs.

How can love be made into an easily-related symbol? Its unexplainable nature shows “the reality of the deep is not belied by that of common day.” Even more unnerving: the artifacts from the journey are seemingly more potent than those of the Common World, operating from a primordial energy with its own inscrutable logic.

More than the bravery of confronting the inner fears and entering the incongruous Dream World, “The returning hero, to complete his adventure, must survive the impact of the world.”

5) Master of Two Worlds: The hero now embodies both worlds, no longer fully of one or the other. Harmonizing one domain with the other is the cosmopolitan challenge of mastery – deciphering a mystic experience without defeating it.

The difficulty is that the discoveries cannot be represented simply – and this is the problem with understanding myth in general. As Campbell explained, “The problem… is to keep [the] symbol translucent so that it may not block out the very light it is supposed to convey.” The hero must find a context for interpretation, relate their unrelatable experiences as a form of mastery.

Keeping this doorway open is “freedom to pass back and forth across the world division… not contaminating the principles of one with those of the other.”

6) Freedom to Live: After witnessing the relationship of oneness that all things are part of, the hero shifts beyond the narrow confines of ego into a selfless existence.

Photo: h.koppdelaney

The meeting with the unknown dispels “the need for such life ignorance by effecting a reconciliation of the individual consciousness with the universal will.”

It’s to abandon mere preference for a greater connection, a surrender of staunch certainty to admit the absurd – to accept the indefinable as a natural condition. Casting off these demands frees the perception of life to include many more possibilities to meet the unknown flexibly.

Entering adventure and returning home is to share with others the greater kingdom beyond that of the little king. Campbell understood why myth continues to resonate in the modern heart: because it is a cord tethered to the past, a link to the basic elements of the human equation and our common nature. More than that, they can be used as stepping stones to our own potential – a path we can follow in the steps of the hero.

Have you had a hard time reintegrating at home after your own Hero’s Journey? Share your thoughts below.

Read the series:

• Part I, Heroic Travel: Joseph Campbell and the Power of Mythic Journey
• Part II, Heroic Travel: Navigating the Mythic Journey.

Photo: yosoyjulito

Part II: Initiation

Travel is a fundamentally human activity, practiced around the world for thousands of years. It’s about discovery – the passion of following where an unknown road will lead us – and it can reshape how we see the world and ourselves within it.

The same can be said about myth. The reasons for travel are identical to why we study myth: to explore new ways of life, to learn more about the world, and to better understand the nature of human imagination.

What no mythologist before Joseph Campbell recognized was the relevance of myth to issues of contemporary living. He was keenly aware that myth can speak to the modern world. The key is to view myth as a metaphor of spiritual instruction, rather than historical fact. Campbell believed fixating on literal readings leaves us blind to underlying messages. Myths provide existential signposts to navigate by, and they should be read symbolically, not factually.

For example, imagine a man getting ready to go to work in the morning. He kisses his wife and says, “I’m off to slay the dragons.” Certainly we understand his meaning – he’s going to face the day’s challenges, not to chase down oversized lizards. He casts himself in the metaphoric role of a hero.

However, if he walks out the door with a sword in hand, he has taken the metaphor literally. The problem isn’t only that this is inappropriate for the office, even on casual day. By recreating the image literally, he misses the point of the heroic image – the deeper meaning of the figurative message.

Where the Mythic Road Leads

Campbell’s hero endures mythic themes in their journey, and some of the most profound are encountered in the world outside home, or “Dream World”. Echoing the spiritual experiences of many travelers, Initiation to the mystery involves six stages:

Photo: h.koppdelaney

1) The Road of Trials: The Dream World represents the proving grounds of the hero’s aptitude. Marked by a fair amount of stumbling, the hero faces surface challenges of every kind: mental, physical, emotional, ethical, devotional, and so on.

The trials of the volatile dream realm are preparation, a chance to learn the rules. Heroes may suffer the return of doubt, but facing these obstacles proves the hero’s worth. Only those who “talk the talk and walk the walk” can progress to future stages.

2) The Meeting with the Goddess: “Woman,” wrote Campbell, “in the picture language of mythology, represents the totality of what can be known.” A common feature of the Hero’s Journey is to encounter divine feminine insight, interpreted as “true seeing”.

Though traditionally depicted as male, literal translation of the hero’s gender is not the message. Spoken in today’s dialect, the theme of this stage is to harmonize masculine action with feminine mystique, uniting both aspects of the hero’s identity without one facet overwhelming the other.

For a hero too soft or gruff to the union, the journey becomes anti-heroic. Execution and essence must be balanced to bring the hero’s identity into accord, without losing grace or potency. Vigor becomes brutishness, charm becomes conceit, if one side overshadows the other.

Only by display of the “gentle heart” do heroes and heroines court their “missing half” – a step which affirms the full range of the engendered psyche.

3) Woman as Temptation: Arguably not part of every journey, this stage refers to the ever-present libido. Campbell regards the issue of sexuality as critical: heroes mustn’t be lured either from the journey or their own identity. Embracing the goddess of knowledge, a hero is also made conscious of the “impurity” or “carnality” of contact across borders – movement is sexual.

Often a prelude to union (some might say reunion) with the goddess, the hero must deal with enticement from the path. Like a flame with the power to help or harm, respect for the union must be paid. Walling off the dark side creates stress, while contact with the radiant source of life burns and corrupts the hero’s higher self. The conflict is to stay in control – resisting the siren’s lure is freedom to choose, versus servitude to personal demons.

4) Atonement with the Father: This stage begins the climax of Initiation: to amass the final powers needed to assume the mantle of the role model. In simpler terms, it’s to say, “I can do it myself” – to change potential into confidence.

By incorporating the symbolic position of father (or mother, if female), the hero also integrates a model of the “law” – the law of how to live on one’s own terms. Campbell described this stage as developing the vital wisdom for the final prize to complete the Initiation. He saw it as a form of atonement (“at-one-ment”) with one’s potential, to see the parental figure as a mortal keeper of wisdom, not an unapproachable warden.

Photo: h.koppdelaney

“The hero transcends life with its peculiar blind spot and for a moment rises to glimpse the source. He beholds the face of the father, understands – and the two are atoned.”

5) Apotheosis: Apotheosis means “to become godlike”. The responsibility earned in the previous stage opens the hero to a new way to relate to life, the final step needed to face the “shadow-self” – the greatest threat to the hero’s character.

This is an encounter with a kind of death: a death of innocence, of “what-was”, similar to the passing on from home into the Dream World itself. The “way things were” is shattered and reintegrated; the ego dissolves and recrystallizes in a new awareness – a rebirth. The hero encompasses their naïve past, the present of their new role, and direction of the future with the fresh power they now control.

6) The Ultimate Boon: In the rebirth, the hero wins a spiritual prize. Often depicted mythically as a magic elixir, cup or device that grants immortality, endless food and water, or healing, it may also appear as treasure or a powerful new awareness. Yet these are still symbols of the boon’s real meaning: an end to suffering, to mend a rift or heal a wound. The prize supports the sense of harmonious life, and the true essence of the reward is to move beyond symbols to revelation.

A gift to be shared, the boon confirms myth as a means to link individuals to the causes of their communities. But the revelation presents a new barrier: how to connect the new self to the life left behind. The journey becomes a mirror of itself: having translated Dream World, the hero must relate their insight to the departed Ordinary World. The journey is not yet complete – the decision of where to establish home is considered in the next phase, Return.

Have you experienced travel similar to Campbell’s mythic journey? Share your thoughts below.

Read the series:

• Part I, Heroic Travel: Joseph Campbell and the Power of Mythic Journey
• Part III, Heroic Travel: The Mythic Art of Homecoming.

Photo: h.koppdelaney

Part I: Separation

Joseph Campbell returned home from his studies in Europe soon after his twenty-fifth birthday. Inspired by the brilliant tapestry of thought he encountered there, he planned to combine modern art, medieval literature and Sanskrit into a single doctoral thesis.

Predictably, his advisors didn’t support the idea.

This prompted Campbell to abandon doctoral work completely, leaving him without a clear direction in his studies or his life. Two weeks after his decision, the Wall Street Crash of October 29th, 1929 left millions of Americans suddenly destitute.

Yet Campbell was about to embark on a quest – one which would endure throughout the Great Depression to generate a remarkable new vision.

Committing himself to an arduous program of private study, he buried himself in books for twelve hours a day, supporting himself in the evening by playing sax in a jazz combo. After five years of rigorous self-education, he emerged a formidable authority in comparative mythology and religion, fusing philosophy, psychology and anthropology with – sure enough – art, literature and Eastern studies.

The Role of Myth in Everyday Life

Photo: !anaughty!

One of Campbell’s great talents was to connect seemingly unrelated ideas into harmonious design. His most influential work came from linking archetypes, or fundamental human themes, to myths from around the world.

Campbell believed myths were more than just fanciful stories – they were guides to dealing with the mysteries of existence.

What is the best way to live? How do we explain the natural forces all around us? Where do we fit in the grand scheme of life? Myths provide grounding beliefs for these questions.

Though many of the ancient tales seem absurd to modern sensibilities, we still invent our own myths to function in a world of unknowns. And, because these problems are inherently human, we confront them in ways which follow similar patterns.

The Hero’s Path

Campbell discovered that no matter where they originate, hero myths follow a consistent outline he called the Hero Monomyth – a template that applies not only to mythic tales but to our own lives.

In essence, this means any journey or life-altering event can be seen as a heroic quest. The Hero Monomyth offers points of reference to help orient the traveler with a meaningful experience of life. Depending on the level of involvement, journeys can be deeply transformative.

According to Campbell, a hero’s journey follows three stages:

• Separation (or Departure) – the hero leaves home to follow a defining mission.
• Initiation – the hero enters the Dream World, a place where normal rules are suspended.
• Return – the hero claims a transcendent prize and returns home to share it.

Leaving The Common World

Separation has five substages, each of which addresses an element of crisis in leaving home for the “undiscovered country”. It should be noted that not every theme will appear. Every journey is unique, as well as the lessons they teach.

The Call to Adventure

The hero receives a “call” to action, a prompt to leave the comfort of home for something more. Whether literal or figurative, the call may come in as many forms. The hero may be lured by curiosity to a strange new place, awaken to a new situation, have no other choice but to adventure, take a “wrong turn”, or suffer a significant loss.

The call carries with it a sense of destiny. Sometimes it is announced by a symbolic herald, or perhaps the “invitation” is misunderstood at first. Regardless, transformation begins at the hero’s discovery of need – something which may cause great distress or confusion.



Photo: h.koppdelaney

Refusal of the Call

In many cases, heroes are reluctant to face impending destiny – instead of answering the call, the hero hits the snooze bar.

The longer a hero denies fate, the more they or their loved ones suffer. This “converts the adventure into its negative,” and the hero becomes a victim to be rescued. Often, heroes are unaware of qualities that mark them for the quest. To join the adventure, heroes must escape the paralysis of doubt, or act in spite of it.

Supernatural Aid

After accepting the overture of destiny, a hero may encounter a helper with unique insight. Their purpose is to aid the journey with protective knowledge and tools. The patron appears mythically as a little man of the woods, a good fairy, a kindly crone, a blessed virgin, a respected wizard, or an innocent bystander. With luck, the hero will recognize an aide’s form when it arrives.

The Crossing of the First Threshold

The hero crosses the barrier separating the ordinary from the fantastic, a symbolic commitment to face the unknown. The crossing is seen as a subtle but meaning-laden “coincidence of opposites”, an intersection of normal and exotic, comfortable and alien. Defending the boundary may be a “threshold guardian” that chases off casual or unprepared travelers. Part of the test ahead is to respect the nature of the guardian – secretly, an embodiment of the hero’s fear.

The Belly of the Whale

Once past the barrier of extremes, the hero enters the Outlands: a dreamlike, hyperreal place where rules no longer apply and nothing can be assumed. This stage of “passing beyond” is key to a discovery of purpose; from outside, it resembles a kind of annihilation or death.

The new world reveals a fullness and dimensionality of life to the hero.

But the “betweenness” isn’t entered into lightly; the foolhardy or overconfident are soon undone. A hero’s task is to integrate the personal and cultural ghosts projected in this realm: some cannot, defensively blocking out the full experience.

Without honoring their commitment, there’s little to save the hero from defeat. But for others, their potential awaits.

What do you think of Joseph Campbell’s Hero Monomyth as it pertains to travel? Share your thoughts below.

Read the Series

• Part II, Heroic Travel: Navigating the Mythic Journey.
• Part III, Heroic Travel: The Mythic Art of Homecoming.

Jump in feet first / Photo: JoshuaDavisPhotography.COM

Many of my articles revolve around the same idea: activity isn’t the same as experience. Travel is more about how, not where you go – it’s the technique and the attitude you cultivate which makes all the difference.

Improvisational theater (improv for short) relies on the same approach. Though on the surface they seem unrelated, improv and inner travel are fundamentally the same.

Most of us can accept that going to a party is no promise of having a good time. Yet, not so obvious to many, is that simply going somewhere exotic is no guarantee of enjoyment. Likewise, most people don’t realize improv isn’t about going out on stage without a script and “being funny.”

In each case, it’s not just a matter of showing up. How you go about the activity is key to the experience. Improv, in particular, offers a remarkable insight into developing your how.

Something Wonderful, Right Away

A word of preparation: literalists will hate this.

Stepping into the world of improv philosophy will make you feel like Alice taking a tumble into Wonderland. Much of it seems counter-intuitive, even nonsensical. But paradoxically, there’s no faster way to arrive at Experience than by abandoning Destination.

Photo: HamburgerJung

Improv is generally associated with comedy, though it doesn’t have to be – which often leads to comedy. In fact, one of the guiding principles is “don’t go for the joke.” Instead, you let the humor – the discovery – rise from the situation of being human, allowing ideas to play off one another.

Going for the joke dehumanizes your fellow actors, turning them into objects. Real wit is about taking the moment as a gift, to find the “pop” of a wall breaking down.

Similarly, travel is also about breaking down barriers, internally as well as externally. By learning how to work with the moment to make greater discoveries, travel takes on a greater depth than simply being somewhere far from home.

Improv isn’t just an art – it’s the art of making art. There are no “rules” to it; if a label is needed, “strategies” is perhaps a better fit. The following strategies, or ideas, are adapted from Jonathan Pitts’ list, Improv Wisdom:

No saying no. Don’t deny. Saying “Yes, and…” is always better than saying “No” or “Yes, but…”

Improv is about building a mutual reality together. Imagine someone tosses out an idea: “Look! A stampede of cattle!” Replying “no, it’s not” collapses the moment into conflict, letting the gift thrown to you sail over your shoulder. Saying “yes, but I’d rather watch TV” is like catching the ball and dropping it.

But responding with “Yes, and they’re coming this way!” accepts the other’s reality and allows you to expand on it, rather than blocking it.

Show, don’t tell.

Participate – don’t be a “talking head.” Act, and don’t focus the dialogue on your actions. Take an active choice rather than a passive one.

Photo: HamburgerJung

The past is gone and the future can’t be demanded: the present moment is what we have, all we ever will have. Use it. Step out of meek compliance – make the moment bigger and brighter. Get off your ass and DO.

The other actor is the most important person on stage.

Imagine the world if everyone else thought this way. We wouldn’t dwell on the absent, but on the person we were with. We’d listen to them more closely. Give-and-take would be easier, dropping our insistence on “what we have to say” as if it were just another seashell on a beach full of them.

Give information to your partner, then listen to them, then respond to them.

A space can be anything you want it to be.

Make it yours – but once it’s there, it’s there. Take responsibility for your actions, and own the space (share it, of course).

If you make a mistake, make it work for you. Adapt and improve it. Provide more detail, and avoid pre-conceived ideas. Be comfortable that you can create something good and spontaneous without approval from your inner judge.

It’s disposable.

If it doesn’t work, so what? Start something else. If you want serious, focus on characters, relationships, and feelings. If you want comedy, focus on objects and actions, or take something to the Nth degree.

Surprise yourself by making unexpected choices. A scene is a comment and a response. Find the game in the scene and play it, or start a new scene.

The Finger Pointing to the Moon

If any of this sounds familiar to you, from the times when you went outside your zone of comfort and learned about new possibilities, then you’ve experienced inner travel. Everybody has, and yet we also avoid it, because we fear what’s unknown.

Photo: House Of Sims

The art of improv may sound mystical, if not completely flaky – and it should. Creativity is not about following rules, it’s about challenging them, playing with them, to find something undiscovered.

Is this not the same as the art of travel? If we’re always led by the hand to the next stage, how do we ever grow? If we don’t question the truth of our lives, how do we ever understand them?

The strategies described above are only a few of hundreds that compose the art of improv, whether in music, theater or other realms. When applied to the art of travel – and personal relationship – they take on a greater meaning. They become a method for adaptation and exploration, for meeting what’s outside what we know. They become part of a logic that cannot be taught or explained fully, but only lived.

How have you experienced the art of improv, inner or outer, travel? Share your thoughts below.

Loki, the Norse trickster. / Photo: Wikipedia

For years I’ve been on the trail of discovery. Actually, that’s not quite accurate: I’m on the trail of what it really means to discover something, popularly referred to as “inner travel.”

It’s a slow-going process – like any investigation, intuition is a faster guide than fact, but you need the facts if you’re going to extend intuition further.

You start to wonder if there really is a decent way to define it. My intuition says there is, but there aren’t always facts to back it up. Sometimes, though, I spy a parallel that helps shed more light on it – this time, in travel as an “in-between” state.

Inner travel is extremely difficult to describe, I suspect, because it has so much to do with inner meaning.

Meaning isn’t physically real. You can’t hold it in your hand or buy it from a catalog. But we do recognize meaning in physical things – concepts like beauty, truth and love find expression in art, reason and spouse.

Meaning is liminal, existing in an “in-between” place, like the threshold of a doorway. Everyone knows what love is, they can’t define it; most people can describe what they enjoy in a lover, but it’s almost impossible to explain why.

As Lou Reed might say, it’s somewhere “between thought and expression.” And so it is with meaningful travel.

How do we talk about these ideas clearly, if what’s meaningful for you isn’t necessarily for me? Answer that one, and you’re on your way to becoming an “inner travel agent.” But perhaps if we study other liminal ideas, we can get clues to the journey.

Meet The Trickster

Photo: Yvonne

In mythology, there’s one character that typifies the liminality of inner travel: the trickster. While other deities mainly act for the scheme that best benefits them, tricksters are more selfless, appearing to serve a design of wider scope.

The trickster is an archetype, or fundamental human theme. Appearing throughout world religion and mythology, the trickster causes strife or commotion, seeming to live for chaos.

What they really inspire, however, is change; they represent the fickleness of nature and “shaking things up.” While not necessarily evil, they represent a break from the shared narrative of culture. Tricksters include the gods Loki and Hermes, coyote from North American belief, the sly fox from European fables, and many others.

There are four significant traits of the trickster:

1. They are “go-betweens.” Tricksters are able to move with relative ease among contrasting regions or levels of being. They have the power to escape order, crossing the threshold into another version of it. Hermes was the only god able to enter the underworld regularly and without difficulty.
2. They embody inconsistency. Rather than enforcing one view of reality, tricksters support the paradox of multiple views. They follow the guiding principle of improvisational theater: you never deny another person’s reality, you only build upon it. Sun Wukong, the Chinese monkey god, could change each hair on his body into a double of himself.
3. They have “smart luck.” Tricksters are always prepared for the unprepared because they hold their ideas lightly. There really are no accidents in the liminal perspective, only opportunities for discovery and insight: you simply play through. When Loki bet his head in a wager – and lost – he agreed to let the winners take his head as long as they don’t harm his neck.
4. They have no home. The trickster is closely associated with the road or constant motion. Hermes is the god of roads and escort of travelers. The Nigerian trickster god Edshu walked down the road in a hat colored blue on one side, red on the other. Half the farmers would say, “Did you see that god with the blue hat?” while the others argued it was red. Edshu would further complicate matters by walking the other way with his hat on backwards!

The Trickster Is Alive and Well

Tricksters are much like travelers: they stir up controversy and discussion as unsung heroes for cultural change. They’re often unpopular or misunderstood, but they speak with an uncompromised voice and have their eyes on a more distant horizon.

The Joker / Photo: LA Times

In his fascinating book, Trickster Makes This World: Mischief, Myth, and Art, Lewis Hyde suggests that the trickster continues to shape reality.

He points to mortal examples such as Pablo Picasso, Marcel Duchamp, John Cage, Allen Ginsberg, Maxine Hong Kingston, Frederick Douglass as liminal creators. Throughout literature, it’s characters like the Artful Dodger and the Great Gatsby, Hunter S. Thompson and Huck Finn, Robin Hood and Don Juan, who embody the trickster.

Everyone knows a rogue or rebel with an undeniable charisma, one who can cause a fair amount of pandemonium.

Yet as much as they turn things upside-down, you’re more grateful for them than words permit. The trickster is everywhere among us, and the color they fill our lives with makes them so much more extraordinary.

It’s this spirit of travel I’m trying to capture, one that’s close enough to touch but always slips from grasp. Just as it seems I’ve got the idea surrounded, it disappears and I’m left with only a short string of footprints.

But though sometimes maddening, the chase is wonderful – as liminal as the trickster gods (and goddesses) of meaning themselves. I learned a long time ago that the most alive you’ll ever be is in pursuit of that which is just outside of your reach.

The most beautiful things always are.

Dedicated to my wife Nathalie – happy fifth anniversary, moya krasivaya zhena!

What are some examples the “trickster” has played in your life? Share your ideas below!

Travel on a shrinking globe / Photo gadl

Thanks to technology, our presence is unparalleled: we can hear whispers around the world, and be anywhere on the globe in less than a day.

Transportation and communication have developed at an incredible pace in the past 100 years, and have had staggering impact on who we are.

Now that the doors to the global village flung wide open, how do we meet this reality?

Joel Falconer frames the new dimensions with familiar terms: perpetual traveler or world citizen. His definitions are summarized here:

A perpetual traveler is:

“…a person who designs their life so that they’re not the legal resident of any of the countries in which they actually spend most of their time…. Whatever the reason (for becoming a perpetual traveler), it means disowning your allegiance to your home country without giving it up to another. It means becoming a citizen of your own empire.”

While a world citizen is:

“…someone who decides to stop seeing the world as something segmented by nation, and look at it as the home of humanity where we’re all entitled to enjoy, and mandated to be responsible for, the territory of each nation. The world citizen doesn’t see any sense in national citizenship and decides to stop seeing things through the lens of patriotism or from the perspective of the country they grew up in.”

Which Do You Consider Yourself?

Both roles reject borders, but the difference between them is subtle.

A perpetual traveler discards the sense of home – often to avoid paying taxes, or for a more profound sense of privacy or non-affiliation. The world citizen sees the entire planet as home, and one’s citizenship as only a historic formality.

As Falconer says, “The concept of the perpetual traveler is about reducing your dependency and responsibilities and the world citizen is about increasing (them).”

If the question really is about dependency and responsibility, let’s look at each facet separately:

• Dependency – What cause or group do you belong to? If borders are truly irrelevant, how do you define yourself? Is your identity determined by affiliations, or something else?
• Responsibility – What are you accountable for, and to whom? Who do you feel deserves your loyalty? What works do you put your energy into? Who or what do you protect or care for?

The choice is about the significance of two groups of people: those in your life, and those in your community.

Defining Your World

Perpetual travelers minimize their influence confining it to their immediate location. Because of this, a perpetual traveler is always based in the present experience – the past is irrelevant and the future is unscripted.

Perpetual traveler focuses on their undiluted contact with life, and is less concerned with being the fixture of a culture.

World citizens broaden their scope to an unlimited degree – a degree that will most likely never be realized. Being so conscious about cause and effect places them within a wider consideration of time. They draw from the rich palette of borderless relation, basing their experience by the potential to connect through social schemes.

Because the judgment is shaded by personal bias, it’s shortsighted to judge one way as entirely right or wrong. Together, they reveal a variety of meaning that’s invisible under normal conditions.

To see the consequences of these roles – or disregard them entirely – is an attitude that may suggest which emphasis you lean toward.

Do you see yourself as a world citizen or a perpetual traveler? What importance does one role have versus the other? Let us know what you think.

Summer’s the peak season for taking a trip. Every year, when the days start to heat up, it’s a perfect time to go somewhere new – whether to a sun-drenched beach on a distant shore, or a uniquely creative vision in a darkened theater.

This past summer, editor Ian MacKenzie wrote one of the most popular articles in BNT history: “The Red Pill: 10 Films Guaranteed to Blow Your Mind.” The response was phenomenal – everyone had an opinion, if not their own films for the list.

“My original intention was to compile a list of films that applied stylistic themes and narratives to hint at greater truths about our society, culture and world,” Ian said in an e-mail interview.

“I picked these movies because they were either cult favorites or generally popular. If they had been too obscure, many people wouldn’t have been able to relate and contribute to the discussion.”

And contribute they did! It’s even been suggested the list be expanded, and the comments keep coming.

Stirring Up Discussion

Tom Cruise in Eyes Wide Shut

“I hoped the list would do well, but I had no idea it would reach as many people and garner as many comments as it did. Of course, I’m happy it worked out and that it stirred up some healthy discussion,” said Ian.

While most comments were supportive, others were less enthusiastic or flat-out rude. Some people seemed to take it personally that their movies hadn’t been suggested, or that the films weren’t the greatest examples of world cinema.

“I think some people took the list as ‘the only mind blowing films out there’ instead of a list that was compiled through my subjective opinion,” Ian said. “I certainly have other films I could have added to the list (Holy Mountain, Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind, Ghost in the Shell) but wanted to keep the list to 10.

“I appreciated many of the suggestions from readers who ‘got it.’ Others just posted movies they personally found enjoyable, but not necessarily ‘mind-blowing.’”

The Lists

As of October 12, 2008, here are the movies readers chose as “mind-blowing.”

Some titles may surprise you (perhaps suggested jokingly), while others easily qualify beyond the original 10 films.

But keep this in mind: it’s a subjective list. People have different tastes, sometimes finding value in unusual places – after all, who doesn’t have a “guilty pleasure” or two? While reading these lists, it’s wise to see where people were coming from, not criticize them for having an opinion you don’t share.

What makes these films “mind-blowing,” anyway?

Most likely, there was at least one moment where you began to think differently. Whether you went there alone or with a theater of people, no one can take that trip away from you.

American Films

1. 12 Angry Men
2. 12 Monkeys
3. 13th Floor, The
4. 1408
5. 2001: A Space Odyssey
6. Adaptation
7. After Hours
8. AI
9. Altered States
10. American Beauty
11. American History X
12. American Psycho
13. Andromeda Strain
14. Angel Heart
15. Apocalypse Now
16. Arlington Road
17. Army of Darkness
18. Assassination of Jessie James by the Coward Robert Ford, The
19. Ballad of Jack and Rose, The
20. Baraka
21. Bedazzled (1967, 2000)
22. Before Sunrise
23. Before Sunset
24. Being John Malkovich
25. Being There
26. Bermuda Depths, The
27. Bicentennial Man
28. Birth
29. Blade Runner
30. Blood Simple
31. Blue Velvet
32. Boy and His Dog, A
33. Bride to Terabithia
34. Buffalo 66
35. Butterfly Effect, The
36. Castaway
37. Cement Garden
38. Center of the World
39. Children of Men
40. Chopper
41. Citizen Kane
42. Clockwork Orange, A
43. Closer
44. Code 46
45. Colossus: The Forbin Project
46. Coma
47. Confessions of a Dangerous Mind
48. Constantine
49. Contact
50. Cool Hand Luke
51. Crank
52. Crash
53. Cube Zero
54. Cypher
55. Dancer in the Dark
56. Dawn of the Dead
57. Day of the Dead
58. Day the Earth Stood Still, The
59. Dead Man
60. Deer Hunter, The
61. Defending Your Life
62. Déjà vu
63. Demon Seed
64. Diary of the Dead
65. Diary of the Dead 2
66. Dr. Strangelove
67. Dude, Where’s My Car?
68. Easy Rider
69. Ed Wood
70. Elephant
71. Elephant Man
72. Enron: The Smartest Guys in the Room
73. Equilibrium
74. Eraserhead
75. Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind
76. eXistenZ
77. Exorcist, The
78. Eyes Wide Shut
79. Face in the Crowd, A
80. Fahrenheit 451
81. Fail-safe
82. Falling Down
83. Femme Fatale
84. Fifth Element, The
85. Finding Neverland
86. Five Easy Pieces
87. Forest, The
88. Forrest Gump
89. Fountain, The
90. Four Rooms
91. Frequency
92. Full Metal Jacket
93. Funny Games
94. Game, The
95. Gattaca
96. Girl, Interrupted
97. Good, the Bad and the Ugly, The
98. Graduate, The
99. Green Mile, The
100. Groundhog Day
101. Gummo
102. Happening, The
103. Harold and Kumar Escape Guantanamo Bay
104. Heart of Darkness
105. Hemp for Victory
106. Hostel
107. I, Robot
108. Identity
109. Idiocracy
110. In Dreams
111. Inherit the Wind
112. Inland Empire
113. Invasion of the Body Snatchers
114. IT
115. Jacket, The
116. Jacob’s Ladder
117. Joe Versus the Volcano
118. Kill Bill
119. Kill Bill 2
120. Kiss of the Spiderwoman
121. K-Pax
122. Land of the Dead
123. Life of David Gale, The
124. Liquid Sky
125. Lord of the Rings
126. Lord of War
127. Lost Highway
128. Love, Liza
129. Machinist, The
130. Man From Earth, The
131. Mars Attacks!
132. Memento
133. Men in Black
134. Metropolis
135. Milagro Beanfield War, The
136. Miracle Mile
137. Mothman Prophecies
138. Mulholland Drive
139. My Dinner with Andre
140. Naked Lunch
141. Natural Born Killers
142. Nell
143. Night of the Hunter
144. Night of the Living Dead
145. Nines, The
146. Ninth Configuration, The
147. Nirvana
148. No Country for Old Men
149. Omega Man
150. One Hour Photo
151. Othello
152. Others, The
153. Pan’s Labyrinth
154. Parallax View
155. Party Monster
156. Peaceful Warrior, The
157. Pi
158. Pink Floyd: The Wall
159. Planet of the Apes
160. Prestige, The
161. Primer
162. Psycho
163. Pulp Fiction
164. Punch Drunk Love
165. Pursuit of Happyness
166. Putney Swope
167. Quiet Earth, The
168. Razor’s Edge, The
169. Repo Man
170. Requiem for a Dream
171. Reservoir Dogs
172. Revolver
173. Rollerball
174. Royal Tenenbaums, The
175. Running Scared
176. Running with Scissors
177. Rushmore
178. Saving Private Ryan
179. Scanner Darkly, A
180. Seconds
181. Seven
182. Seventh Seal, The
183. Shawshank Redemption
184. Shining, The
185. Silence of the Lambs, The
186. Silent Running
187. Sin City
188. Six Ways to Sunday
189. Sixth Sense, The
190. Slaughterhouse Five
191. SLC Punk!
192. Sleuth
193. Sliding Doors
194. Snatch
195. Society
196. Sorry, Haters
197. Southland Tales
198. Straight Story, The
199. Strange Days
200. Stranger than Fiction
201. Talk Radio
202. Tarnation
203. Taxi Driver
204. Team America: World Police
205. Terminator
206. Thank You for Smoking
207. They Live
208. This Is Spinal Tap
209. THX 1138
210. Total Recall
211. Toys
212. Trainspotting
213. Trigger Effect, The
214. Truckers
215. Unbreakable
216. Usual Suspects, The
217. V for Vendetta
218. Vanilla Sky
219. Vanishing Point
220. Videodrome
221. Village, The
222. Wag the Dog
223. Waking the Dead
224. Watership Down
225. What Dreams May Come
226. What the Bleep Do We Know?
227. What’s Eating Gilbert Grape?
228. Where the Buffalo Roam
229. Wicker Man
230. Wild Bunch, The
231. Wisdom of Crocodiles, The
232. Wristcutters: A Love Story
233. Zombie Strippers

Foreign Films

• 23
• 8½
• Amores Perros
• Audition
• Avalon
• Bad Boy Bubby
• Baise-Moi
• Bliss
• Blowup
• Blue Spring
• Breaking the Waves
• Carandiru
• Cashback
• Chungking Express
• Cidade de Deus (City of God)
• Cube
• Cube 2
• Dancer in the Dark
• Death Note: The Movie
• Delicatessen
• Dellamorte Dellamore (Cemetery Man)
• Dot the I
• Dreams
• El Topo
• Europe Trilogy
• Festen
• Following
• Freeway II: Confessions of a Trickbaby
• Funky Forest
• He Loves Me, He Loves Me Not
• Human Traffic
• Idi i Smotri (Come and See)
• Irréversible
• Kontroll
• La Cité des Enfants Perdus (The City of Lost Children)
• La Double Vie de Veronique
• La Trilogie
• Le Decalogue
• Le Fabuleux Destin d’Amélie Poulain
• Life is Beautiful
• Man Bites Dog
• Mathilde
• Mbi (We)
• Microcosmos: Le Peuple de l’Herbe
• Mitt Liv Som Hund (My Life as a Dog)
• Motorcycle Diaries, The
• No Smoking
• Oldboy
• Once Were Warriors
• Open Your Eyes
• Romance
• Run Lola Run
• Sans Soleil
• Santa Sangre
• Seul contre tous (I Stand Alone)
• Shine
• Spoorloos (the original of the Vanishing)
• Stalker
• Sweet Movie
• Sympathy for Mr. Vengeance
• Tae-Guki (Brotherhood)
• Tetsuo: The Iron Man, The
• The Cook, the Thief, His Wife and Her Lover
• Holy Mountain, The
• Quatermass Xperiment, The
• Science of Sleep, The
• Tin Drum, The
• Tricouleur or Blue, White, Red
• Visitor Q
• Walkabout
• Y Tu Mamá También

Anime

• Akira
• Ghost in the Machine
• Neon Genesis Evangelion: The End of Evangelion
• Paprika
• Perfect Blue
• Serial Experiments Lain
• Tekkonkinkreet

Now there can’t possibly be any worthy movies excluded from the list…or are there? Share in the comments!

Portia Remnant

You’ve heard the rhetoric.You’ve seen the ads. You’ve chosen sides, and the other guy has, too. And it’s not your side.

It’s 2008 – election year. And once again, the fate of the world hangs in the balance – as it did four years ago and four years before that.

And here again, the same questions are popping up: Can we afford four years of hopelessness? Can we afford to let it all come crashing down around us, with THAT guy in office?

What drugs are the other guys on, anyway? How much worse can it get?

While they may be the same questions…maybe they’re not the right questions. Maybe we should be asking: why do they believe the way they do? How are we going to work together, if we can’t change each others’ minds? What makes us think so differently, anyway?

And why are these questions the same all over the world?

Contrary to popular belief, politics also happen outside the USA, and for the same reason: there’s a fundamental difference in how liberals and conservatives see the world.

Another Country, Another World

Psychologist John Gray became a celebrity overnight when he wrote “Men Are from Mars, Women Are from Venus.”

But at least men and women are in the same solar system – sometimes, people whose politics you don’t agree with seem like they’re from another galaxy.

What values do conservatives, liberals, libertarians and others have in common? How do they differ? Which ones are “right” and “wrong”?

Psychologists Jesse Graham and Jonathan Haidt of the University of Virginia developed a scale called the “Moral Foundations Questionnaire.” After putting it up at their website, www.yourmorals.org, and getting thousands of respondents, they discovered a fundamental difference in how distinct political groups view moral issues.

Even more amazing: the same trends appear in results from all over the world.

Care to find out where you fall on the morality scale? Click here to register, and look for the “Moral Foundations Questionnaire” at the top of the table of studies. Then come back here and see what it all means.

International Morality

Multiple Reagans / Mike Lict

Haidt and Graham believe that humans are born with a natural “first draft” of programming – that we’re not, as Rousseau called us, “blank slates.”

We’ve developed certain inborn traits over the millennia – we learn language faster than mathematics, for example, or our automatic fear responses to loud noises and sense of falling as babies.

Haidt and Graham found five moral foundations that all humans seem to possess, in their study of cultures throughout history and around the world:

• 1. Harm / care.

  This is the ability to feel the pain or suffering of other living things. It evolved from the maternal caring for one’s offspring to feel for others in the social group. People who score highly in this area are compassionate, sensitive to acts kindness and violence; low scores are quite select in who they care for.

• 2. Fairness / reciprocity (including issues of rights).

  This trait is the sense of “justice,” however it’s perceived in your culture. Fairness is necessary for any social group to work together. High scores here show the need to keep group members working together smoothly, and low scores suggest an attitude of “survival of the fittest.”

• 3. Ingroup / loyalty.

  Related to an almost instinctive tendency to form “tribes,” this measures the strength of bond with an organization. We see it in patriotism, heroism – and even (or especially) in sports fans. People who score highly in this area view dissent as betrayal or unfaithfulness, while low scores are individualistic.

• 4. Authority / respect.

  The tendency to create groups of leaders and followers is yet another ingrained pattern. Parents expect their children to “respect their elders” and obey authority figures – in some cultures, to the point of awe. Low scorers here think a little rebellion is healthy, while high scorers think “questioning authority” is close to treason.

• 5. Purity / sanctity.

  A sense of disgust appears in all cultures – some areas reflecting sexual role and behavior, others about cleanliness or what may be eaten, and so on. High scores may feel revulsion regarding sexual license or non-vegan diets; low scores tend toward “if it feels good, do it.”

Right and Left Wing Fly Together

How do political conservatives score, versus liberal mindset? Across the board, from one country to another, the results are strikingly similar.

Liberals tend to rank the first two traits – harm/care and fairness/reciprocity – higher than the other three traits. Conservatives rated each of the five traits almost equally.

What precisely does this mean?

In essence, the points of moral contention between liberals and conservatives reside in which moral bases are emphasized, and which are not. Neither group is more or less moral than the other by definition, but different areas are more pronounced than others.

So who’s right? Apparently, everyone is!

And that’s precisely the problem. We talk over each other because we can’t find the right perspective to understand each other.

The Nature Of Duality

Neither side can exist without the other. Together, they form a balance of philosophies which must work together to accomplish anything beyond partisan argument.

In a video lecture, Jonathan Haidt suggested we can escape the trap of the “moral matrix,” and move to a position where we can view ideas objectively instead of subjectively.

As Haidt says, everyone thinks they’re right – but if we step out of our need to be right, we can see where the other person is coming from. This opens a vastly wider world of potential – where cooperative dialogue can take place instead of pointless bickering.

What life will be like in the years ahead is being framed by a new set of questions. One thing is clear: we can no longer afford to ignore or condescend to people we don’t understand.

In the end, we ARE from the same planet – and it’s facing some pressing issues. We must shed our “self-righteousness” and work together if we’re going to solve them. And we must do this NOW.

This is the essence of inner travel. Anyone can fly thousands of miles, yet never see a thing. And anyone can talk for hours, yet never relate to their audience.

We need to shift our perspective, not just our location. How we approach today’s questions is a question only you can answer.

Real travel occurs when the walls come down.

Photo Premasagar

Everyone knows what travel is. There’s not a lot to explain: you buy a ticket, go somewhere, have fun. End of story.

In fact, most things can be explained in this straightforward manner. For instance, everyone knows how cars work: you put gas in, drive around, have fun.

Every year, millions of people go abroad in search of adventure.

Some have such a miserable time they’ll never travel again, yet others claim travel is their favorite pastime. Some say they’ve had so fantastic an experience, it’s changed their lives – even after losing half their luggage and surviving an illness unknown to Western medicine.

What went right? Clearly, travel really isn’t as simple a process as it seems.

Just as going to a party is no guarantee for having a good time, spending a week in some distant setting won’t automatically deliver everything the travel brochure promised.

If simply “going someplace” is all it takes to enjoy ourselves, we should be in the throes of ecstasy every morning we get up and hit the road for work. But it doesn’t work like that – something else is going on here.

In fact, it’s safe to say that:

Motion
+ Distance
≠ Pleasure

What’s missing in the formula?

The Missing Element

I’ve never been very good at math – and I’m grateful, because it’s precisely that reason which helped me gain insight into the equation of happiness.

In the moment / Photo Shutterhack

One day at age 16, I came home with algebra homework that had me completely lost. My grandfather sat me down and started working through the formulas with me, but still I failed to grasp it. He stopped for a moment, then looked at me and said:

“You know, I enjoyed algebra when I was a boy, because I saw myself as a detective, and the problems as mysteries. Now, you have to use the right tools in the right order – you can’t take fingerprints without dusting, for instance. If you go through each step, you eliminate suspects until you finally get the culprit and solve the crime.”

I wasn’t a huge fan of mysteries either, but it didn’t matter. I had a new way of thinking about the material, one which showed it in a completely different light.

From then on, I treated my homework not as “work,” but mysteries. My grades shot up like rockets, and I found myself actually enjoying math!

The scenario hadn’t changed, but had been redefined in a manner I could relate to. My early difficulty and later success were based on the inner perspectives that framed them.

Based on this experience, I learned that our inner attitudes dictate our relationships to things – and that these relationships can be changed to our advantage.

The Traveler/Tourist Illusion

Travelers see themselves as active seekers of fresh experiences, flexible in adopting new outlooks. Many of them thumb their noses at tourists, who seem outwardly unwilling to change their perspectives, preferring that the experience cater to their preconceived notions.

But it’s impossible to recognize attitude by outer appearance, and so the “traveler/tourist distinction” becomes an exercise in snobbery.

This isn’t to say some people aren’t ignorant – only that it can’t be pinned to any group of people or their activities.

The man in the Hawaiian shirt may strike up a conversation with a native – and, from that empathy, find his entire worldview completely rearranged. This man has traveled, while a backpacker “keeping it real” on a sparse budget may only be touring his own preferences.

The role is illusory – the difference is in attitude.

For those seemingly anchored to familiar islands of perspective, they remind me of my struggles with math. They lack a means of insight to a more enriching experience.

But no one – certainly not I – can claim their perspectives are in all ways superior, nor can we abandon our ingrained ways with equal ease. The key to insight is dialogue: remaining open to new ideas, tolerating difference, and helping one another see more.

Most importantly, it’s clear that difference in insight isn’t limited strictly to travel as we define it.

Travel Redefined

Uncover your potential / Photo Fred Armitage

What we consider travel is both inner and outer experience – not at all the traditional idea of getting away from it all, it’s really about getting to something new, within ourselves. The external venture is essentially a vehicle for an internal discovery.

Potentially, there is just as much potential for inner travel at home – volunteering for a community program, talking to someone from a distant place, even taking “the road less traveled” to work.

It’s all in what you look for: uncovering your potential in a physical or mental pursuit is more of a journey than going to Paris and seeing nothing.

There may be more travel in a sudden moment of realization than in a hundred thousand frequent flyer miles.

The art of travel is about making contact with the Moment: a timeless instance of profound awareness.

It may be frightening, demanding – it may have nothing at all to do with what you consider pleasurable. But what makes travel possible is your eagerness to become something more than the sum of your habits.

It’s the desire to step beyond your everyday bubble of comfort to see what’s outside.

However you reach it, whatever you discover: the essence of travel is self-discovery, exploring the limits of your world to finally arrive at your sense of meaning.

Phil Cousineau, in The Art Of The Pilgramage, says:

“If we truly want to know the secret of soulful travel, we need to believe that there is something sacred waiting to be discovered in virtually every journey.”

This equation adds up.

What do you think about this definition of inner travel? Share your thoughts in the comments!

Good quotes are markers on the path / Photo abkfenris

If you walk long enough in the countryside of the British Isles, from time to time you’ll spot piles of stones along the common way.

A tradition dating back centuries, they’re called cairns.

Cairns serve as markers for various reasons, practical or commemorative. Some are brilliantly constructed, some very simple – and some are just a pile of stones.

For travelers, they’re invaluable as landmarks.

In many ways, quotations serve the same purpose. They can inspire and enlighten, help point out hazards or meaningful history. Depending on what you’re looking for, they can keep you on your path or suggest a new one. They’re landmarks for paths of thought.

Quotes are best considered as guides rather than rules. Sometimes quotes contradict one another, which suggests a greater truth – a range of choice, existing between the markers.

It’s wise to keep in mind Nicholas Chamfort’s observation that those who study quotes “are like those who eat cherries… first picking the best ones and winding up by eating everything.”

The (Next) 50 Most Inspiring Travel Quotes Of All Time

Follow your heart / Photo robstephaustralia

50. Kilometers are shorter than miles. Save gas, take your next trip in kilometers.” – George Carlin

49. “Every perfect traveler always creates the country where he travels.” – Nikos Kazantzakis

48. “Our Nature lies in movement; complete calm is death.” – Blaise Pascal

47. “It is a strange thing to come home. While yet on the journey, you cannot at all realize how strange it will be.” – Selma Lagerlöf

46. “Remember that happiness is a way of travel – not a destination.” – Roy M. Goodman

45. “Clay lies still, but blood’s a rover / Breath’s aware that will not keep. / Up, lad: when the journey’s over there’ll be time enough to sleep.” – A. E. Housman

44. “As the traveler who has once been from home is wiser than he who has never left his own doorstep, so a knowledge of one other culture should sharpen our ability to scrutinize more steadily, to appreciate more lovingly, our own.” – Margaret Mead

43. “Too often. . .I would hear men boast of the miles covered that day, rarely of what they had seen.” – Louis L’Amour

42. “Stop worrying about the potholes in the road and celebrate the journey.” – Fitzhugh Mullan

41. “One main factor in the upward trend of animal life has been the power of wandering.” – Alfred North Whitehead

40. “The open road is a beckoning, a strangeness, a place where a man can lose himself.” – William Least Heat Moon

39. “Travel only with thy equals or thy betters; if there are none, travel alone.” – The Dhammapada

38. “Our deeds still travel with us from afar, and what we have been makes us what we are.” – George Eliot

37. “Worth seeing, yes; but not worth going to see.” – Samuel Johnson, on the Giant’s Causeway

36. “An involuntary return to the point of departure is, without doubt, the most disturbing of all journeys.” – Iain Sinclair

35. “Traveling is like flirting with life. It’s like saying, ‘I would stay and love you, but I have to go; this is my station.’” – Lisa St. Aubin de Teran

34. “Once in a while it really hits people that they don’t have to experience the world in the way they have been told to.” – Alan Keightley

33. “Half the fun of the travel is the aesthetic of lostness.” – Ray Bradbury

32. “Bizarre travel plans are dancing lessons from God.” – Kurt Vonnegut

31. “We wander for distraction, but we travel for fulfillment.” – Hilaire Belloc

30. “I haven’t been everywhere, but it’s on my list.” – Susan Sontag

29. “I should like to spend the whole of my life in traveling abroad, if I could anywhere borrow another life to spend afterwards at home.” – William Hazlitt

27. “A child on a farm sees a plane fly overhead and dreams of a faraway place. A traveler on the plane sees the farmhouse… and thinks of home.” – Carl Burns.

28. “I love to travel, but hate to arrive.” – Albert Einstein

26. “Don’t tell me how educated you are, tell me how much you traveled.” – Mohammed

25. “One always begins to forgive a place as soon as it’s left behind.” – Charles Dickens

24. “When one realizes that his life is worthless he either commits suicide or travels.” – Edward Dahlberg

23. “Without new experiences, something inside of us sleeps. The sleeper must awaken.” – Frank Herbert

22. “Arriving at each new city, the traveler finds again a past of his that he did now know he had: the foreignness of what you no longer are or no longer possess lies in wait for you in foreign, unpossessed places.” – Italo Calvino

21. “He who has seen one cathedral ten times has seen something; he who has seen ten cathedrals once has seen but little; and he who has spent half an hour in each of a hundred cathedrals has seen nothing at all.” – Sinclair Lewis, on sightseeing.

20. “A journey of a thousand miles begins with a cash advance.” – Bumper sticker

19. “Travel at its truest is thus an ironic experience, and the best travelers… seem to be those able to hold two or three inconsistent ideas in their minds at the same time, or able to regard themselves as at once serious persons and clowns.” – Paul Fussell

18. “Most of my treasured memories of travel are recollections of sitting.” – Robert Thomas Allen

17. “I am not the same having seen the moon shine on the other side of the world.” – Mary Anne Radmacher Hershey

16. “Only by going alone in silence, without baggage, can one truly get into the heart of the wilderness. All other travel is mere dust and hotels and baggage and chatter.” – John Muir

15. “When you’re traveling, ask the traveler for advice / not someone whose lameness keeps him in one place.” – Rumi

14. “There are only two emotions in a plane: boredom and terror.” – Orson Welles

13. “To be on a quest is nothing more or less than to become an asker of questions.” – Sam Keen

12. “The traveler sees what he sees, the tourist sees what he has come to see.” – G. K. Chesterton

11. “When you are everywhere, you are nowhere / When you are somewhere, you are everywhere.” – Rumi

10. “When preparing to travel, lay out all your clothes and all your money. Then take half the clothes and twice the money.” – Susan Heller

9. “The autumn leaves are falling like rain / Although my neighbors are all barbarians / And you, you are a thousand miles away / There are always two cups at my table.” – T’ang dynasty poem

8. “It is not down in any map; true places never are.” – Herman Melville

7. “People don’t take trips – trips take people.” – John Steinbeck

6. “We are all travelers in the wilderness of this world, and the best we can find in our travels is an honest friend.” – Robert Louis Stevenson

5. “It’s a battered old suitcase and a hotel someplace and a wound that will never heal.” – Tom Waits

4. “The map is not the territory.” – Alfred Korzybski

3. “It is solved by walking.” – Algerian proverb

2. “He who would travel happily must travel light.” – Antoine de Saint Exupéry

1. “What am I doing here?” – Arthur Rimbaud, writing home from Ethiopia

Any quotes we missed this second time around? Share your picks in the comments!

Music not for the timid / Photo egorsechin

Summer’s here. Time to escape the winter den and go someplace balmy. The bags are packed, tickets in hand…

…but wait. Which tunes are you taking?

You’ve got your standard playlists, your custom-mix CDs at the top of your backpack where you can grab ‘em without looking.

Somehow, it seems a little… known. Ben Harper’s catalog is practically tattooed on your eardrums, and the Jack Johnson disk you fell in love to will wear completely through if you play it…one…more…time.

Do your playlists have that “Stairway to Heaven” feel? Concerned that half your favorites are on the classic rock station? Time to dive into your rarities vault and bring up something… distinctive.

Hidden Gems

When someone asks about your music – sure, you can play it safe and rattle off some universal favorites. But it’s a prelude to intimacy to share your hidden treasures, a statement that says “it may not be popular, but it means something to me.”

The question “what music would you bring to a desert island?” is like a test – it’s hard to be completely honest. But asking, “which of your favorite music do you wish everyone knew about?” will get a totally different response.

Everyone’s music library has its singular, offbeat gems the rest of the world should know about yet somehow doesn’t. Does it flabbergast you that some incredible music is widely unknown?

Open a window in the music department and shout it out! It may be quirky, obscure or nowhere near cutting edge – who cares? And if you want to experiment on your musical journey, explore some audio landscapes from the reader responses.

Here’s a baker’s dozen to spice up your trip, perhaps start a conversation or two….

P.S. Haters who want to trash other people’s tastes needn’t respond. Disagreement is fine, but only if done with class, courtesy and respect. Please be fair.

WARNING: Some links are NSFW (Not Safe For Work)!

Lords of Acid

1. Lords of Acid

2. Praga Khan

Effin’ decadence. The Lords of Acid are the musical equivalent of having your clothes torn off by a band of sex-crazed coeds – a bit shocking at first, but soon you think there’s a pretty good idea here. Quoth a fan: “Pum Pum.”

The name says it all: sex and drugs. Techno and metal weld together amazingly well, but the human element gives it its pulse: a live (non-machine) drummer, a guitarist in a leather gimp mask, and lead singer Deb Ostrega… ah, Europe.

Let’s just say she leaves nothing to the imagination. The result is flat out, adrenalized fun.

Best albums: Voodoo-U, Lust, Farstucker

Composer Praga Khan has numerous solo albums. His work launched a thousand synths back in the day; few will ever catch up.

Best albums: Pragamatic, Twenty-First Century Skin

3. The Specials

The Specials are a blast. Prog rock stations never play near enough of these ska legends. Leave Bob Marley at home this time: if someone begs to hear something other than “Legend,” pop this on. If someone hasn’t asked “who’s this?” within 10 seconds, it’s not loud enough. Great party music, and the lyrics are hysterical. And they’ve recently reunited!

Best album: The Specials

4. Cocteau Twins

Elizabeth Frazier has one of the most incredible voices you’ll never understand. Her lyrics are a combination of obscure dictionary words and echolalia. What comes through is a light, brilliant sound that accomplishes one of the lost arts of rock: melody. These compositions are saturated pop, turned sideways – you’ll regret not knowing what she’s saying because it’s so fascinatingly, achingly pretty. Watch a video

Best albums: Blue Bell Knoll, Heaven or Las Vegas, The Pink Opaque, Four-Calendar Café, Peppermint Pig

Ministry

5. Ministry

Korn, dude! KORRRNN! only wishes they were Ministry. After years of pushing dozens of envelopes – and injecting their contents – Al Jourgensen is lucky he’s still alive. Where he’s been is presented in industrial form: a political beast that broods before it turns loose. Ministry’s farewell tour is this summer. Tune in your “trembling earballs” to hear why that’s our loss.

Best albums: Greatest Fits, The Land of Rape and Honey, The Mind Is a Terrible Thing to Taste

6. Emmylou Harris

Waitaminute, is that country? Well, depends who you’re asking with the album Wrecking Ball. When Daniel Lanois, famous for his work with Peter Gabriel, teamed with country icon Emmylou Harris, the mixture was otherworldly – an ethereal quasi-country. Can you imagine her cover of Jimi Hendrix? Timed just right, it’ll knock you off your feet.

Best album: Wrecking Ball

7. Medicine

The best way to describe Medicine is “beautiful noise.” Maybe you caught that one song from The Crow soundtrack: make it a point to track down some more. It’s like Einstürzende Neubauten made friendly, but really there’s nothing like this.

Best albums: Shot Forth Self Living, Her Highness, The Buried Life

Air

8. Air

Sure, you heard them in that café in Europe. But did you listen to them while on a train trip? You can have a conversation with Air in the background, and come away with this relaxed vibe. And this duo’s music is constantly evolving. Stay tuned.

Best albums: Moon Safari, Premiers Symptomes, Talkie Walkie

9. Sister Soleil

Unfortunately, one of Chicago’s best-kept secrets. Stella Soleil’s band folded when she left for L.A. Her recent work flirts with the commercial, but her older stuff is stunning – a girl’s voice in a woman’s body. Captivating.

Best albums: Soularium, Drown Me in You

10. The Velvet Underground

11.Big Star

12. The Feelies

From the 60s, 70s and 80s respectively, these blasts from the past made untold thousands want to start their own bands, each in their own decade. There’s more going on here than meets the ear. This is some of rock’s smartest stuff.

13. Moodswings

It’s rare to find electronica that not only sounds good, but feels this good. Put this on your headphones, and the phrase “music bath” goes to a whole new level. Great to wake up to.

Best album: Moodfood

If you had your own radio station, what’s some of the quirky, “off the beaten track” music you’d be playing?

Be wary of flawed logic / Photo Dimitar Marinov

Logic is about staying awake – paying attention to detail to avoid being gulled into false conclusions.

Traveling out of your element raises the risk of erroneous judgment. Though mistakes may take many forms, being aware of proper logic will allow you to learn the concept behind the flaw, and keep alert to when they pop up.

In Part I of the Kung Fu Warrior’s Guide, I discussed foils to a few typical formal fallacies – logical arguments with flawed construction.

Now we turn to informal fallacies.

To illustrate, consider this sketch from Monty Python: a pet store owner tries to distract a customer, who demands refund for the recent purchase of his pet bird. When the owner claims the Norwegian Blue has beautiful plumage, the customer insists the point is irrelevant, as the bird is stone-cold dead and had been nailed to the perch to appear alive.

Informal fallacies are essentially distractions, addressing points having little or nothing to do with the issue at hand.

More varied than formal fallacies, they are perhaps more common – especially in bickering Internet forums, hokey salesmanship and shady politics. Like the uncle who made quarters appear from your ear, informal fallacies misdirect you into thinking something’s true when it isn’t.

Here are 3 types of informal fallacies:

#1: Ad Hominem

Ad hominem (”against the man”) is a biggie. These fallacies are committed by attacking not the statement, but the person making the statement.

“Otto insists travel can be done for practically nothing. That makes him a bum/communist/thief/spoiled rich kid/mooch/all of the above/etc.”

The one has nothing to do with the other. While a conclusion may be inferred by other sources – such as Otto’s fondness for Marxist literature and naming his dog Che – nothing can be deduced from the original statement.

He could just easily be a successful capitalist who’s written a book on budget travel, or a poor kid who’s learned how to get around with less. None of this can be confirmed.

Ad hominem attacks try to render a statement invalid by discrediting the speaker, and are often abusive as well as unsubstantiated.

Here are ten examples:

1. “Obama’s no patriot. He didn’t cover his heart during the National Anthem!” (A tame example, the faulty conclusion stated first.)
2. “What a geezer. McCain’s too old to be president.” (Abusive, not necessarily true).
3. “That guy who cut me off in traffic is a crazy &*%$ who %!$$* his $&!!*© with a rusty %ö$¼&!” (Obnoxious.)
4. “What do you know about explosives? You’re a woman.” (Unwise.)
5. “He supported the invasion of Iraq. I wouldn’t trust him to tell me the sky’s blue.” (Polarizing.)
6. “Man, what a snappy dresser! Surely he’ll give me a good deal on this car!” (An inverse example.)
7. “Hitler was a fan of Nietzsche, so I refuse to read any of his works.” (Guilt by association.)
8. “Travelers are hippy scum!” (Brilliant satire.)
9. “Mom’s an honest, God-fearing woman. When she says Santa’s real…” (Hoo, boy…)
10. “Men!” (Short, tedious and… really doesn’t say a thing, does it?)

Author and antitheist Christopher Hitchens welcomes ad hominem attack as a sign he’s winning, due to lack of reasoned argument. Unfortunately, though, appeal usurps reason in many areas of life, including shooting messengers who correct mistakes.

For example, Al Gore’s correctness about global warming has nothing to do with his politics. While his political leanings may draw his interest to the issue, the argument cannot be undone based solely on his affiliations – only the legitimacy of the scientific data. Period.

EEEEE-yaaa… (Remember, it’s an informal fallacy, so take it easy.)

#2: Ambiguous Statements

A: Here’s a list of the greatest songs of the seventies.
B: Everything on this list sucks. Therefore, these aren’t the greatest songs of the seventies.

Witness a fallacy of ambiguity. What, precisely, is meant by “greatest?” Greatest selling, longest on the charts, most widely recognized, most “mind-blowing“?

In this case, “greatest” isn’t defined, and can only be taken as subjective opinion. Nothing wrong with that – but there’s no ground for argument because taste isn’t something you can prove as true or false. “I like the Beatles” or “Thailand rawwwks!” are preferences, not propositions.

But the issue isn’t in taste – it’s in the uncertain term “greatest.”

A: I rewrote my list. Now, truly, it’s the greatest songs of the seventies.
B: But you forgot The Carpenters. The. Carpenters. You. Dolt.

Still ambiguous (and partially refuted by ad hominem). Note that ambiguity can work to your advantage; some politicians are magicians of double meaning:

“I did not have sexual relations with that woman.” – Bill “Slick Willy” Clinton.

Spot the ambiguity!

Wawwww…

#3: No True Scotsman

Remain vigilant! / Photo Pakhay Oleksandr

John Q. Public sits down to read the morning paper. “Living in Sydney: Expat Tells All.” “Humph,” snorts John Q., “no American would want to leave the greatest country on earth.”

He continues reading about how much the expat enjoys her life abroad as a proud American, and clarifies his statement: “No true American…”

No True Scotsman fallacies are like moving the goalpost. A concept is set up; in this case, all Americans value being in America. Then the boundary is made fuzzy, and “American” is defined by display of patriotism.

It’s easy to see how “being American” or “patriotism” become unreliable criteria when someone refuses to stick to a definition. They both become exclusive ideas with shifting borders, usually for private gain.

In other areas, like the Tourist/Traveler Distinction, being a traveler becomes a tough-guy contest, while people who just want to take it easy for a while are made out to be ignorant and materialistic.

The problem is that the real matter of travel – meaningful experience – gets muddled by cliquish behavior. It’s easy to see how communities, even whole countries, can become polarized by a No True Scotsman fallacy.

Hehhh. Ahem ahem, cough cough cough.

Beware of distraction, grasshopper!

Informal fallacies can be subtle or glaringly obvious. But because there are so many of them, appearing so frequently, they are regularly accepted without much insight.

The key to avoiding logical trap is open-mindedness: acknowledging your preference, but allowing for another point of view. Only this will permit the pupil of logic to become enlightened to the ways of deception and move to a higher plane.

From a clear mind, the pupil becomes serene and wise; faced with human failings and logical pitfalls, the student rises from meditation, studies the peril calmly, and

KICKS SOME MAJOR LOGICAL ASS!
HWAAAAA!!!!!!

What do you think of informal fallacies? Share your thoughts in the comments!

Be wary of logical fallacy.

Travel is about moving beyond what’s familiar and into foreign territory.

Though the experience is more pronounced in jetting across borders, entering terra incognita can happen every day – striking up a conversation with a stranger, taking a different route to work, several days of rain turning your neighborhood into a lake.

All of these involve crossing boundaries of comfort for the “undiscovered country” beyond.

When your landmarks for reckoning are suddenly turned upside down, or everyone around you is heading in a direction you know is off-course, how do you get your bearings? What is your basis for making a reasoned decision?

Seeing the situation clearly is key to navigating the unknown. All travelers need to arm themselves with the intellectual tools to understand and deflect poorly constructed arguments.

Before you go storming the Himalayas in search of enlightenment, consider a slight detour to the kung fu training grounds for a class in Logic 101.

Introduction To Logic

Many think of logic as “that required course I could barely stay awake in.” The good news is that logic is much easier than most suppose, depending on how you look at it. The bad news is that it’s not always easy to practice.

The trick is to stay awake: sort fact from nonsense, watch for deception, look ahead to the next step, don’t get taken. When you get to a point where you can’t confirm a sound premise, use logic to “assert, deny, propose and refute.”

Most classes in logic start at or near the timeworn example of:

1. All men are mortal
2. Socrates was a man
3. Thus, Socrates is mortal

This is already beginning to sound like math somehow. Building a clock from scratch seems a little dry, without having seen one that’s already running.

What you need are some sturdy examples of logic in action. So, here goes: the fallacies.

Formal Fallacies

You’ve got two kinds of fallacy: formal and informal. A formal fallacy means the argument itself is bad because it wasn’t “built” properly. Like this:

1. Many people are beaten and robbed when they go to another country.
2. Therefore, you will inevitably be beaten and robbed if you go to another country.

Attack fallacies at every turn.

This is called an appeal to probability. While likelihood exists for becoming the victim of a crime, it’s not certitude.

In fact, you won’t know the real potential until you start comparing numbers to each other: total number of travelers, region or nationalities in question, motive for the attack, etc.

The flaw is in the structure, not the proposition: “possibly P, therefore P.” But there is enough room in probability that an attack won’t happen, so the argument is not completely valid.

KIAAAI!!!

Wow, that felt good! Let’s try another move:

“If you’re not staying at a four-star hotel with air conditioning, a swimming pool and 500 channels, you’re having a crummy trip.”

Did you spot the flaw? It’s hidden, so let’s try a converse example:

“If you’re not sleeping in a tent, scrounging your meals at the complete mercy of the elements, you’re having a crummy trip.”

This one’s called a false dilemma. A dilemma, no matter what you’ve heard, is a troublesome choice between two and only two options. Creating a false dilemma assumes that no other choice exists, when in fact there may be a whole world of possibilities.

Travelers looooove talking about the so-called Traveler/Tourist Distinction, because there’s no other way to enjoy yourself other than the terms which provided them with their life-changing experience. Clearly, that’s not so.

Don’t feel bad if you’ve been zapped by this one – it’s quite common of late. Consider one of the most well-known examples, from one George W. Bush: “Either you are with us, or you are with the terrorists.”

SAAAIII!!!

One last formal fallacy. The next one is the nirvana fallacy.

“I wouldn’t mind practicing green travel, but what’s the point? It won’t completely eliminate global warming, so screw it.”

Nirvana fallacies are failures of comparison between the realistic and the unrealistic. Very similar to a false dilemma, it reduces a more complex argument into a simplistic one.

The mistake is made in relating a pragmatic approach to an idealized result, rather than a pragmatic approach to an improved result. To say green travel is futile because it doesn’t eliminate all pollution is like saying dinner is a waste of time since you’ll only be hungry tomorrow.

The fallacy is in dismissing a reasonably good attitude because it doesn’t grant unreasonably good outcome.

HWAAAKII-CHAAAAA!!!

You are not yet mighty, grasshopper. There are a few dozen formal fallacies, and slightly more informal fallacies – and it must be stressed, “as you practice, so shall you progress.”

Simply being aware of the fallacies isn’t the same as proficiency. Logic is how it’s combated, and the only way to accrue skill is to look for strong arguments or where they falter.

It’s not about being skeptical, but cautious. “Sort fact from nonsense, watch for deception, look ahead to the next step, don’t get taken.” Have you so quickly forgotten, pupil?

Stay awake!

Have you ever felt like you were pressured to go someplace or do something “illogical?” What are some travel decisions you’ve made that “seemed like a good idea at the time?” Share your thoughts in the comments!

Photo by Matthew Antonino

Blogs grant unparalleled potential for spontaneity and interaction to writers everywhere – a virtual printing press, under your fingertips.

But with this new podium comes one of the less desirable traits of mass media: scrutiny from a faceless mob.

With greater potential to bare your soul comes the greater danger of getting pecked to death by the peanut gallery.

Samuel Butler once said “…it is the duty of schools and colleges to abate (genius) by setting genius-traps in its way.”

If the sheltering structure of the academy is now decentralized, where are those genius traps hidden these days?

Kurt Vonnegut tells the story of a talented English student who wrote an exceptional short story that her professor compared to work by Chekhov and Mark Twain, two masters of the genre.

Is such lofty comparison a compliment – or a curse? Vonnegut has some harsh words for the professor:

“Thank you, you son-of-a-bitch, you’ve put this student in competition with one of the greatest writers who ever lived. And so the young lady will give up as being up against Chekhov, being up against Mark Twain, being up against me.”

Vonnegut’s story demonstrates the risk every artist invites when they create, not to mention the tremendous responsibility of a teacher-as-mentor.

Do we, as member-critics of the Internet, share a similar responsibility to nurture talent without criticizing too harshly or making unfair comparisons?

In Defense of Max

Consider a recent case, notable for how easily a worst-case scenario can come crashing down.

19-year-old Max Gogarty, son of travel writer Paul Gogarty, has just landed an opportunity most writers would sell their parents for: a feature travel column in the UK’s Guardian newspaper.

Whether Max got the gig through nepotism or hustle won’t matter if he can spark some interest. It’s sink-or-swim time – a lot of pressure to succeed.

The result: Max bombed. Hard.

The commentary took on a life of its own – admittedly funny, but relentlessly cruel. British derision is similar to being sealed in a pit of rabid chainsaws. It didn’t take the mob long to tear Max into little bloody pieces.

I didn’t relate to Max’s debut article, but my heart goes out to the poor guy. It’s one thing to be shouted down, quite another to be a young writer mercilessly skewered.

Thanks to the miracle of Internet, this kid has to get up in the morning and wonder where to start again. Most people don’t do that until they’re forty.

Quality Control?

Screenshot of Max’s blog post.

The quality of Max’s article itself is an issue separate from the pounding he got. If he meant to capture the naïve excitement of a kid on his first solo trip into Asia, he surely did that, if nothing else.

Would I read his blog? Maybe. I might enjoy reading as an amateur sheds his assumptive materialistic nonsense and wakes up to the world outside.

Would others read also? Possibly, if they’re looking for a fellow newbie with whom to connect. He’s just a kid. We’re not talking Vonnegut here.

If someone’s at fault, it’s not Max. Nor the British, whose surliness makes me happy to be American.

Blame rightly rests with the editors. Max shouldn’t have been put in that spot without preface as a novice traveler. It’s unfair to kick a beginner around.

Someone’s shortsightedness fed this kid to the lions, basically stacking a beginner next to Joyce. Publicly.

Whither Quality?

How, then, do we promote quality in writing? Credit where credit’s due.

Hemingway was a brilliant writer, well-traveled and multi-faceted. But I part ways with his glorification of war. I appreciate Jackson Pollack’s aesthetic, but admiration for his personal life would be a long time coming.

The list of faults could continue, until all the heroes are burned down and there is no true beauty left to appreciate.

The constant bickering in the blogosphere is no quest for quality – it’s a headhunt for failings. We’re all princes walking with porn stars, and at the end of the day there isn’t much difference between the two.

Despite foibles and illness, sometimes bloggers discover something brilliant to share. We should honor each contribution fairly, without nitpicking.

It’s been said criticism is a lesser form of intelligence; I think any intelligence used wantonly becomes its lesser.

Truth is a Brick

Truth is like a brick: it can be used to build or destroy, and the emphasis in “brutal honesty” tends to be on “brutal.” Tearing down is easier than building up, but thoughtless destruction becomes boring after a while, and leaves the landscape barren.

The artist’s heart is invisible to the medium – an essence we’re often blind to when we should be more aware. Each of us has experiences that are truly our own; learning to polish these ideas until they shine is what art (and life) is all about.

Vonnegut offered this advice:

“What I tell people is there is no trade anymore of writing, of storytelling, but you engage in it anyway…. It’s not a way to make a living. It’s a way to make your soul grow, to see who you are and where you are. I was in the Chemistry department and didn’t know my writing was crap. So I went on writing anyway because I enjoyed it so much.”

It doesn’t matter what he writes next. The gutsiest thing Max could do right now is to pick up his pen again, and box his own weight.

Questions to the Community:

Does anyone feel like they’ve been railed on unfairly for their writing? How did you handle it? What’s your advice for someone who’s taking heat? Do you believe we have the responsibility to moderate ourselves?

Photo courtesy of hippies.

Why don’t all you damn hippies get a life?

Looking around, you don’t see many hippies these days. Sure, you see bellbottoms, tie-dyes and Birkenstocks – why not, they’re comfortable – but the people in them don’t consider themselves hippies.

They don’t live on communes. They’re skeptical about love being “free.” And though some will hug trees, you can’t make them do it for very long.

Weird.

To the literal-minded observer, this is sheer chaos. How do you make sweeping judgments if you can’t go by appearances?

What’s wrong with these people? Did they miss orientation? Are imitation hippies worse than hippie hippies? Who’s counterfeiting hippies?

Shockingly, hippies aren’t not the only ones doing it wrong. It’s common to see baseball caps without baseball players under them. Biker jackets, in Buicks. Cowboy boots nowhere near the Range.

Even me – not only have I never been to Hawaii, I’m pretty sure my shirt hasn’t, either. I’m sure it’s the hippies’ fault we’re all so confused.

Hippies Ruin Pure Travel

The problem of knowing who’s a hippie and who’s just dirty is magnified when abroad. Travel is a grungy business – many of us leave our Armanis and Donna Karans at home.

By dressing comfortably, we lose the trappings of respectability and ethnocentrism, risking hippie contamination. We may even appear… unemployed (hippies love unemployment).

“Budget travel” and “relaxing” are travel trends that lead us to mix with “different” company – some “very” “different” “company” indeed.

The downward spiral begins innocently: You meet someone from another country, perhaps talk to them. You accept a bottle from a friendly young lady. You begin to notice aesthetics and music.

You voice opinions and express your personality. Soon you’ll quit your job at the bank, view foreign policy as important and accept anything natural without question.

You are now a hippie.

Damn the Hippie Swine!

Once, being a hippie was a political statement. The Hippie Movement was a vibrant exploration of repressed human nature – in a nutshell, they believed “all you need is love.”

They promoted avoiding violence and materialism. They wanted closer relations with nature and one another.

But the hippie movement showed us dangerous new dimensions as well: an empowered youth, bold artwork and music, and a bigger choice on the menu than blind obedience. Many hippies today are harmless, nothing more than walking fashion statements. For some though, the hippie ideal remains a lifestyle choice.

Even though many of them wash their hair, there is no question that young people today embrace the most dangerous element of the hippie attitude: the independent spirit to question authority.

The damage is incalculable.

What Makes Hippies Tick?

A hippie digging for marijuana. Photo by Hendrik Dacquin

Recent studies of hippies trapped in the wild confirm our deepest fears.

Hippies thwart global capitalism, scare children and cause pets to mess themselves. Hippies screw up the train schedule, pick on old ladies and fart in church.

They open the door to terrorists, the housing crunch and reality television. They foul the water supply. Hippies make policemen cranky. They promote male-pattern balding.

They disable psell check. Their music is… actually pretty good.

Aside from that, history shows meager reward from the hippie mindset (except that they eventually get older and own everything).

The worst thing about hippies: they’re out there. Somewhere. And you can’t tell by looking at ‘em anymore. Depending on how paranoid you are, they can be anywhere. Plotting. Scheming. Conspiring to undermine your Way of Life ® and gank your cheese. (Is “gank” a hippie word? Forget I said it.)

We Must Prepare

Perhaps it was Frank Zappa who said it best, when asked if he was a woman because he had long hair. He replied, “You have a wooden leg. Does that make you a table?”

Or perhaps this is just a satanic riddle, since Mr. Zappa looked like and was no doubt a hippie. But since the interviewer was almost certainly not a table, there may be some wisdom here.

If we can’t tell hippies from traveling pseudo-hippies, how do we tell hippies from non-hip? How do we separate those contributing to society from fun-loving degenerates? How do you avoid being mistaken for one o’ them damn fashionably attired traveler hippies?

The key to sheltered travel is to avoid introspection at all costs. JUDGE EVERYONE.

Remain vigilant against friendly and open-minded people abroad. Refuse to lighten up or engage in anything unfamiliar – repeat: do not engage.

If temptation strikes, repeat this phrase: “I’m not from around here.” And, if you meet people of a foreign lifestyle, call them hippies and make obscene gestures at them.

Whether they are or not is irrelevant: you’ll feel all warm and powerful. After all, the whole point of travel is to reinforce your previous beliefs and stereotypes through perpetual distance.

Do you call yourself a budget traveler? If so, you’re hippie scum. Share your thoughts in the comments!

“Tourist.”

It hung heavy on the air, swollen with contempt. It wasn’t a bad word, at least as far as I knew. Yet here it was, shoved against the scene just occurred.

My buddy Joshua and I were standing in a slight line at a kiosk. The man in front of us was trying to buy a pack of batteries with a crisp twenty-dollar bill. Normally there’d be nothing to forgive in this. The problem was that we were in Rome.

“I’m sorry, signore,” said the woman behind the counter, “I cannot take this money. Only lire.”

Sir was not used to hearing no for an answer. “What’s wrong with my money?”

“The money is good, but only lire, signore.”

Checkmate. Quivering with fury, he slammed the batteries down on the counter. “Well… you… can take those batteries… and shove them up your ass!” Spinning on his loafered heel, he stormed away to another kiosk, his white shorts blazing in resentment.

The woman said nothing, sighing in disgust; it was Joshua who labeled him a tourist. A Melbourne native studying art in Florence, he spoke enough Italian to capture our regret for the man’s behavior.

She replied that it was common and she was used to it. All three of us wanted to put it behind, but it was most difficult for Joshua and me.

Aren’t We All Tourists?

I wish I knew enough Italian to say something as elegantly as my friend – something to erase the embarrassment of being unconsciously tied to such a lame display. The last thing I wanted was to be associated with such ignorance as we’d just seen.

Joshua and I were travelers – not like him. Not tourists.

Funny, though. I’d always thought of myself as a tourist, but it was only then I began to see differences between tourists. I knew of the Ugly American (being an American), but surely novices from any country run equal risk of looking stupid.

“Stay in Europe long enough,” said Joshua later, “you’ll come back with a Dumb Tourist story. Everyone has one. It’s just a matter of time.”

“What’s yours?” I asked.

“If I had to pick…” he mused for a moment, “it might be the college students who told me my English was very good, ‘even though I’m Australian.’” The last few words he delivered with a heavier bush accent.

I winced. “Wow. Where were they from?”

“Don’t ask.”

I wondered if Joshua commented on my mistakes when I wasn’t around. Granted, some people seem to wallow in their ignorance abroad, but when do you make the jump to the other side of the continuum?

What Is a Tourist?

Writer and inveterate traveler Paul Fussell wrote on the explorer-traveler-tourist distinction in his 1980 book Abroad: British Literary Traveling between the Wars.

Since exploration is a significantly rare and deeper investment than casual travel, the emphasis today is placed on travel and tourism – in other words, the difference between inner and outer-directed experience.

In essence, tourism is an experience that’s catered to, the exotic locale witnessed from a safe distance.

On arrival, the tourist is guided to the most obvious spectacles as the sole object of the journey. Because the stereotyped experience is deemed the primary importance, the “foreign” culture is considered an oddity, a nuisance at worst.

The tourist is seen as making little or no attempt to delve into anything beyond their guide book.

Fussell lamented the disappearance of “true” travel, which he saw as being increasingly absorbed by tourism. To him, travel was in all aspects a matter of direct contact with transformative experience.

In his day, the mystery of distant places was preserved by the simple fact that they were still remote. In the early 1900s, travel was shaped by scarcity of air flight (not to mention landing strips), a lack of formalities between countries, and the absence of information needed to span cultures.

Today, thanks to television, movies, color photos and other sources, everyone has an idea of what a mountain looks like: the awe of Kilimanjaro is bled away, the Grand Canyon demystified by the saturated media.

To Fussell, travel is a pursuit steadily drained by excess comfort and modern amenities.

Travel Today

As the human frontier expands, the outlandish is harder to come by.

Travel in the Age of Communication has evolved into an adventure of interpersonal discovery. Yet because tourists and traveler now bump elbows in the same settings, the distinction between the two turns into a question of how the journey is pursued.

As a result, the depth of the experience is judged less by its own merits but by other criteria.

The irony is that “travelers” begin to define themselves against the habits of “tourists” – by external indicators rather than internal. Travel is judged by “how meager the lodgings” or “how low the budget,” rather than a personal navigation of the transformative experience.

Many backpackers feel travel is only about “keeping it real” – if you’re paying for clean clothes, three meals and a roof, you’re somehow missing the point.

Likewise, some consider travel a luxury of wealth. While the tourist only lacks insight, this class disparages the budget traveler who’s excluded from “the finer things.”

Travel becomes an arrogant show of financial success over the peasant backpacker – and again, the point is lost.

The Fallacy of the Anti-Tourist

Fussell commented on the anti-tourist, one whose angst of being “just another tourist” propels a forced consciousness.

Anti-tourists wear the garb and eat the food, but fall well short of “going native” because they’re so fixated on their appearance as tourists. They’re culture chameleons – adopting the trendier fashions of their hosts and shedding them on leaving.

But can this definition not extend to the anti-travelers, who consciously avoid the dialogue around them to be of the “experiential elite”?

Travel becomes tourism when focus shifts from the experience itself to the vehicle of experience. In this sense, the snob becomes as much a tourist as the novice, because both are shut off from the wider sense of the dialogue.

Neither privation nor unlimited funds guarantee the Moment, any more than simply going abroad versus staying home. Frequent fliers may be more familiar with a place, but thumbing their noses at the newbies speaks more to their own insecurities – and, paradoxically, how poorly-traveled they are.

What grants authentic discovery is opening your awareness.

Travel Tomorrow

The whole point of travel is to pursue the meaning behind the milieu: to discover oneself in the mirror of the Other.

Travel isn’t dictated by fad or tradition, but by curiosity. It is internally directed. Fixation on the role or material affairs only distracts from issues of real importance.

We are all tourists. We learn by doing. Our knowledge comes by the fine art of making our screw-ups something beautiful. And unless you’re willing to go down roads unfamiliar to the cowards and cynics, the art never arrives.

It is upon these roads where we are made travelers.

As the Global Village becomes more neighborly, the future will belong to the fluent – the ones able to accept the unknown and welcome it.

The test of that fluency will rest in our patience: not how well we speak, but how well we listen.

Outside the limits of preference and convention await new possibilities, the “undiscovered country” of our potential. Only by asking questions do we encounter anything new; only by challenging our assumptions of the world will reveal our place within it – as one voice in a chorus.

And only by honoring differences of those around us will shed light upon the ignorance that keeps us as tourists in our own lives.

F. Daniel Harbecke (just call him Daniel, the F’s a family thing) is currently working on “A Philosophy of Travel,” which envisions travel as a metaphor for the meaningful experience of life. Daniel has lived in Europe, South America and Asia and is trying to fund his tony lifestyle in Sweet Home Chicago.

Are you part of the “Gen Y” generation and feel like giving your opinion on adventure tourism? Check out this survey here.

The year is still young, and a good recap of 2007 isn’t out of style yet. MSN has seen The Strangest Travel Stories of 2007.

Ben Groundwater’s Why We Travel might be the place to start your New Year’s resolutions. Also, check out the link to Alain de Botton’s recent work on The Art of Travel.

Rolf Potts posts a provocative rant on the rhetoric of “ethical travel.”

The Telegraph reveals what’s not so green about sea cruises. Also, read up on the final voyage of the QE2, and then head over to see why the future’s in the clouds.

The Travelrag and Tamara Sheward take you to legendary Transnistria – or do they?

Finally, The Traveler’s Notebook reveals how you can ditch the 9 to 5 and make travel writing your full time gig.

Enjoy the weekend!

F. Daniel Harbecke (just call him Daniel, the F’s a family thing) is currently working on “A Philosophy of Travel,” which envisions travel as a metaphor for the meaningful experience of life. Daniel has lived in Europe, South America and Asia and is trying to fund his tony lifestyle in Sweet Home Chicago.

Spread throughout the world, spanning every region and boundary, is a vast, borderless nation.

Every year, millions migrate to this nation, with language and customs from the farthest reaches of the planet. Its population flows with the seasons, natural and political; though remarkably diverse, all cultures meet here within a single tradition.

And no matter how it may grow or shrink, it can never disappear entirely. And there is always room for one more.

This place contains the best and worst of humanity – it is perhaps no better or worse than anyplace else. But it carries with it a unique potential for sharing and dialogue that exists nowhere else.

It’s the very idea of this place that brings with it the hope of something better.

At any given moment, millions of people belong to this Nation of Travelers. Despite their country of origin, they are between homes: the one departed, and the one to which they will return.

This liminal nation serves no one land but rather all of them, in an exchange of information and inspiration – the pride of one people becomes a wonder to another. Here the stranger is welcomed as honored guest, a bond between neighbors which helps us learn more clearly what it is to be human.

The belief that humanity is encompassed within a single community is called cosmopolitanism. A philosophy with ancient roots, its lineage begins with Diogenes: when asked where he came from, he answered, “I am a citizen of the world.”

A Citizen of the World

Cosmopolitan has come to mean “worldly” or “sophisticated” (a word itself derived from the love of wisdom), but in the original sense meant a universal love for all people that rejects borders.

Since his declaration, cosmopolitanism has become a banner for the globally conscious – a dedication to preserving dialogue and variety among all ways of life. It has found many adherents throughout the ages, notably in the work of Immanuel Kant, who long ago predicted a union of nations to end war (the forerunner of today’s United Nations).

Cosmopolitanism today inspires many thinkers who continue to explore its possibilities.

Yet cosmopolitanism has also had its opponents. Many philosophers believe such a coalition is illusory at best, while others contend that aggression and conflict are the natural order of things.

Unfortunately, there is ample evidence to support their claims. The gaps between language and beliefs are intimidating, and the recurring horror of war is a crushing argument against an idyllic world.

Hegel believed that war is mandatory for a country’s fitness, a fete of strength for clearing out the dead wood. If change is inevitable, then disparity is the default condition – war is not the reaction to peace, but vice versa.

A stronger and improved community is unachievable through the abiding stagnation of peace, for which there is no call without some defining conflict. Peace, thought Hegel, isn’t merely the absence of war, but its offspring. Peace is only the future tense of war.

If Hegel was correct, the protests of the 60s were a cause lost before they began. How can you dismantle a fundamental aspect of human nature? What does “global peace” entail anyway? How do you create a world without difference, and still maintain individuality?

The solution is not to eliminate conflict or diversity, but to apply them toward productive ends.

The Value of Conflict

Strange as it may sound, conflict is vital to our existence. The friction of our feet on the ground moves us forward; the friction of air against our vocal chords produces sound – without friction, we would be mute and paralyzed.

It’s been said that “two smooth stones do not grind” – so it is with finding a positive result from alternate views. Though conflict has a bad reputation, it’s largely due to the failure to benefit from an inevitability of physics.

And, despite the seeming inconvenience, diversity demands that we consider a broader approach. Only by more conscious reflection can we see things in a new light.

If, as Hegel claimed, peace springs from war, it could be argued that we are stronger not for ability to wage war, but for the ability to find a healthier accord. The escape from dissonance to find harmony demonstrates the creative potential of the chorus – not in defeating variation, but in channeling it.

Modern philosopher Kwame Anthony Appiah, in his book Cosmopolitanism: Ethics in a World of Strangers, writes that

“because there are so many human possibilities worth exploring, we neither expect nor desire that every person or society should converge on a single mode of life. Whatever our obligations are to others (or theirs to us) they often have the right to go their own way.”

Much of the art of travel lies in the ability to negotiate these differences and find new ground to proceed from.

Indeed, as Appiah writes, “there will be times when these two ideals – universal concern and respect for legitimate difference – clash. There’s a sense in which cosmopolitanism is the name not of the solution but of the challenge.” (Emphasis added.)

The City of Humanity

Consider that the noise and bluster of the world is actually the sound of motion: the hum of vehicles on the road, the tenor of voices on the air, all striving to reach similar goals, not contrary ones.

There are endless opportunities for the discovery of new and mutual cultures on the roads that bind us together – for every stone in the walls of fear and apathy, there’s a traveler to break it down.

Cosmopolitanism is a fluid, tenuous idea, threatened often by patriotic fervor and the blindness of dogma.

But it is also a bold and optimistic statement – one that declares citizenship to a state which defies supremacy, transcending any one nation to close the spaces between us.

The traveler nation is the global echo of Diogenes, the actual moment of cosmopolitanism. It is the thrill of finding oneself among fellow seekers all, on the fringes that compose the City of Humanity.

F. Daniel Harbecke (just call him Daniel, the F’s a family thing) is currently working on “A Philosophy of Travel,” which envisions travel as a metaphor for the meaningful experience of life. Daniel has lived in Europe, South America and Asia and is trying to fund his tony lifestyle in Sweet Home Chicago.

“Every joke,” according to my wife, “has an element of joke in it.” The first time I heard it, I figured she’d confused the idea. Her take on English can be quite original sometimes. “You mean, an element of truth,” I said, correcting her gently.

“No, an element of joke,” she replied, enduring me patiently.

I’ve long since come over to her side. At the base of every joke is a spring-loaded truth, a hidden reality that gives them their punch. When a truth suddenly bursts up, we laugh at the unexpected BOING it makes. After the glow of humor fades, the unmasked truth grows familiar, and the joy is now in the telling – in offering the surprise to others.

There’s an old one-liner whose element of joke burnt out long ago:

Q: Why did the mountaineer climb the mountain?
A: Because it’s there.

At first glance, there doesn’t seem much truth to look for here, and the joke is mainly on the listener in their hopes for a reasonable answer. But this is what secretly baits the hook (and coils the spring): it’s a maddening question. Why would anyone climb a mountain? Has anyone ever come up with a reason even remotely satisfying?

Taking The Risk

The man who came up with this remark didn’t find it very satisfying, either. George Mallory was a member of three expeditions attempting to scale Mount Everest; despite great danger and the loss of several companions, he and others persisted. It is unknown if he ever reached the peak; his body was found in 1999, 75 years after disappearing on the northeast ridge.

When repeatedly asked by reporters why the near-impossible assent was necessary to him, Mallory didn’t even remember giving his now famous reply, a dismissal of a question he considered foolish:

“Because it’s there.”

Most of us engage in some beloved brand of risk – but the reasons why are inexplicable. If climbing Everest seems rash mainly due to excessive risk without apparent return, then adventure itself is suspect.

You may as well ask, “Why did the traveler go to Rome during peak season?” Or even, “Why leave the house at all?” Or, “Why live, if you can be hurt?” Why bother? Why risk?

Risk isn’t comfortable. It’s difficult, exhausting, unpleasant and, in some cases, downright messy. As a financial investment, adventure ranks at the bottom of the list. Its reward has no trade value; its promise is unreliable.

For someone who doesn’t understand the need, there is no sufficient answer. Adventure can’t always be rationalized, because adventure is irrational without visible profit.

Focus On The Journey

The spirit of adventure is an exercise in curiosity beyond material gain – the real prize isn’t simply to reach the goal, but to participate in the experience.

For an adventurer, the reason for the pursuit is self-evident: there is no other way. Because it is there.

Adventure presents a gate to an experience beyond our own, something that cannot be quoted or relayed by another. It must be done to be known.

The real intent of risk is to grow – to put an adventurer in contact with their limitations to exceed them. How may I cross through the gate? What experience is there waiting? Who am I on the other side?

What conceals a joke is in taking something for granted too quickly. In this case, it’s assuming that happiness is the same as repose. When happiness is defined as “freedom from difficulty,” any effort is seen as an enemy; however small, need must be stifled or distracted to maintain this version of “happiness.”

As a result, many people spend their lives in this “pursuit of happiness” which more often resembles an “escape of comfort.”

When the product takes the place of the process, we exist merely to have instead of to live. It’s a shift from “I want something to eat” to “I want perpetual contentment – never to feel hunger again.” Seen thus, any desire is backward and unnecessary. The confusion caused by this attitude has not only led to a society of detached existence, but threatens to exhaust global resources in unrestrained consumption.

It may be that this outlook is a bigger joke than the first, but even less funny.

To Live Or To Exist

When destination takes more emphasis than the journey, it must be recognized that the destination doesn’t wholly exist.

It’s only a vista to look back upon the real source of meaning – the experience of the journey. In the same regard, happiness is a process that doesn’t reject, but rather embraces need. Though it may be at a great distance, or even a sheer vertical ascent, happiness can’t be sought for directly.

It comes as a secondary result of finding meaning in the endeavor itself. The art of adventure – of life itself – seems to rest in the mediating acts of personal expression that compose it. It’s less the arrival, more the movement within – choosing risks that best apply to who we are.

It’s a sentiment Mallory demonstrated in his own life; in an article regarding a recent Alpine climb, he asked the question, “Have we vanquished an enemy?” His answer: “None but ourselves.” This is the truth behind the joke.

I’m constantly amazed by what my wife can teach me: sometimes by way of a joke, or by what shines through prisms of culture and her own nature. I’m learning it’s much easier to simply agree with her on most things – it’s not so arduous a climb that way.

I’m finally starting to get it.

F. Daniel Harbecke (just call him Daniel, the F’s a family thing) is currently working on “A Philosophy of Travel,” which envisions travel as a metaphor for the meaningful experience of life. Daniel has lived in Europe, South America and Asia and is trying to fund his tony lifestyle in Sweet Home Chicago.

When I author, I am relevant and topical. My vocabulary is college-approved, my message fit to modern style. My insight and I share a desk in an office – bastion against the screaming ignorance of the pop mob.

If not for me and the degree in my holster, the tone is felt, come the Visigoths.

Making his rounds for the CanWest News Service, Dan attends a lecture in Ottawa given by the Dalai Lama. Though impressed by his “septuagenarian” (good word!) ability to pack ‘em in like Hanna Montana, Gardner is let down by the lack of sophistication in the Dalai Lama’s message.

“He’s a wonderful old guy, but his words are platitudes on the level of Oprah or Deepak Chopra,” he later writes in his article Non-wisdom from the Dalai Lama

For evidence, he cites various Dalai Lama quotes:

…I believe that the purpose of life is to be happy….
…We all come from our mother’s womb. Therefore we all have the same potential for compassion….
My main commitment is the concept of a happy life… much depends on having peace of mind.

What warrants the ticket price? wonders Dan. This man is supposed to be a fount of profundity; surely he can do better than:

“The concept of war is outdated… first inner disarmament, then outer disarmament.”

Dan returns to his writing desk, locked and loaded by the non-event, fueled by the indignation of missing an episode of Heroes for such empty-headed tripe.

The Meaning of Words

It’s unfair of me to write this way. Mr. Gardner has no doubt earned his position and isn’t necessarily a fan of Heroes nor perhaps a literary cynic. He recognizes the meaning of words, though he astonishingly fails to see what meaning may issue from the person (or desk) who speaks (or writes) them.

Gardner can’t be blamed entirely – no more than my classmate in high school, when she asked the instructor what good geometry was if not used in the “real world.” It was a reasonable though regrettable question, asked about a perceived circularity. What good is geometry?

Mr. Gardner’s job is to see through hype – and in the Dalai Lama’s audience, he saw plenty. He suspects the Dalai Lama’s distinction comes from a cult of personality: “fawning audiences that treat every grunt and guffaw as a shiny pearl dropped from the heavens.”

Excessive adulation isn’t pretty, particularly if you don’t understand the value of the celebrity: why Britney, why Brangelina, why Elvis or other such mythical creatures? What good are they?

“Good” can be a relative thing. The Arabs have a saying: “All sun makes a desert” – too much light makes the baby go blind, or perhaps too many clichés, or speaking too glibly.

But imagine a child who never learns to feed himself because his mother never let him go hungry. Imagine if my classmate wasn’t permitted to ask her question. Imagine if Mr. Gardner didn’t write his myopic poesy what I’d be doing with my time.

A Man of Peace

There must be more to the Dalai Lama than being a burr to the Chinese.

For me, he’s a defender of an endangered, spiritual culture whose homeland was taken by despotism. For me, he’s a man of peace who reaches across borders of nation, politic, religion and status. For me, he’s an imperfect man whose ideas are welcome against the constant blare of aggression and suffering. But this is what I bring with me.

If I demand brilliance or the kiss of destiny every time I break open a fortune cookie, I’d soon hate chow mein. How can I explain to someone why I still bother to read them, if they don’t understand how I value them?

Every experience is prefaced by one’s expectations. The difference between a traveler and one who travels: travelers know travel has nothing to do with where you go, but with how you go.

You can go to Paris and see nothing, if you assume Paris is only a matter of going to Paris. I can go to a party, yet have a miserable time; or be surrounded by wealth and accomplishment and resent every bit of it. The art is to find vehicles for your expression – limiting yourself to inflexible demands will prevent you from ever achieving fluency.

Active or Passive

I wonder how many languages Mr. Gardner is able to communicate his ideas in, how verbose he and his thesaurus must be to express basic truths for pursuing contentment. I wonder if I myself overlook more delicate messages because they don’t make for good television in my culture.

Back to Britney. Her music isn’t for me. I base this on what I expect it to be; I’m free to do so. Am I wrong? Are her fans? Are they wrong because they like it, or am I wrong for expecting it to be more than it is? Is there, in truth, no gustibus for disputandum?

The Dalai Lama. I don’t demand that everything he says to be meaningful. I don’t consider his every thought a revelation, for he isn’t talking to me alone. Most importantly, where I differ with Mr. Gardner: I don’t believe his words banal because his role is so extraordinary.

I value his words not for their depth but precisely for their simplicity. I’m not interested in being overwhelmed, but invited.

Mr. Gardner expected the Dalai Lama’s lecture to change him and was disappointed.

His experience was passive: he arrived, but went no further. In our entertainment culture, we expect to be carried. It’s no surprise that Gardner confuses simplicity with simplistic, because he only went halfway. He merely attended.

The Most Important Truths

Beyond trite everyday existence is an underlying beauty of commonality, seen only by shedding trade values and recognizing inner meaning.

The most important truths are stripped of their gloss and prose. They’re not always clever, nor worthless for not being clever; they aren’t always fashionable or weighty or erudite.

Their value rests somewhere else, for words find definition in the dictionary, Mr. Gardner – they find meaning in the people who use them.

Every so often, Virginia again wonders aloud if there’s a Santa Claus. With luck, there’s a geometry teacher nearby with an answer why the “real” world is made so much broader by the power to make more of it “real.”

I once met a man who held a door open for me, and I thanked him. He replied, “In Tibet, we believe a word of thanks is a kind of prayer.”

I thought this a lovely sentiment. Not so deep, but lovely.

F. Daniel Harbecke (just call him Daniel, the F’s a family thing) is currently working on “A Philosophy of Travel,” which envisions travel as a metaphor for the meaningful experience of life. Daniel has lived in Europe, South America and Asia and is trying to fund his tony lifestyle in Sweet Home Chicago.