Travel and Story – Part IV: Travel That Changes Us

A Little Side Path off the Appalachian Trail

The Appalachian Trail is part of the Pangean Central Mountain range that was located on the supercontinent Pangea tens of millions of years ago. I hiked a part of the Pangean, the West Highland Way in Scotland years ago. A few years later, my sister and I hiked parts of the Appalachian Trail, and to me it felt like a connection with something more ancient than I could possibly comprehend. It changed my relationship to the earth. I gained greater respect and deeper love for the planet I call home. Travel can change us.

The love that John Muir, founder of the Sierra Club, had for the natural world was rooted in early childhood memories, of walks with his grandfather when he was only three years old. Throughout his life John Muir was shaped by the mountains he traveled, becoming “John of the Mountains,” “Father of the National Parks,” “the archetype of our oneness with the earth,” a prophet, an activist, and a preservationist. Muir was changed by his travels and the alchemy, that gift of who he was becoming spilled over into the world.

According to legend, The Buddha, born a prince, traveled outside of the palace and gained insight that set him on a quest. His quest, bringing enlightenment transformed him. His journey brought the Four Noble Truths and the Noble Eightfold Pathway to the world.

When Jesus was a local carpenter, his circle was pretty tight. But at a crisis moment in his life, he began to wander. The wide desert and the unending stars were his closest friends. When that brief season of travel, forty days, came to an end, he was a different person, no longer a carpenter, now the Anointed One. And the world was never the same.

Something wonderful happens when we travel. Without the distractions of the mundane, we are able to become more aware of the larger things that tug at our heartstrings. We may not climb to the tops of trees in the middle of a windstorm, fearlessly swaying back and forth in rhythm with the storm, as John Muir did. We may not have a castle to stray from so that we might find an expression of enlightenment that will etch our name into the history books. And we may not be destined to send disciples to the farthest reaches of the earth with good news.

But if we can learn to find the truth about parts of ourselves that we were formerly not connected to, discover some things that we love as much as we love life. And if we can become even slightly more enlightened than when we first began our journey, and if we can begin to channel the transformation we are starting to get a hold of into a gift to share in our own circle of influence, then maybe that circle will grow and maybe our enlightenment will mature and maybe what we love will become a service to the larger community. Maybe travel will become a quest that serves the greater good.

What “treetops” would you like to climb?

Writing Prompt for the Week: Wanderlust