Time Travel on Foot in 2014

A tradition has grown in our family of periodic journeys to the American southwest. Every few years, the high desert calls to Carolyn and I to fulfill a need that has grown over time. It is an addiction of sorts and one day we will say “We need a desert fix”. There is a blind trust in renewal that carries us there. The places we desire are distant from human presence and domination, but they are not entirely solitary. There is often a rendezvous with our friends, Gary and Krista, who travel there from the opposite coast and also hear the call. We all still know how to play, especially in these places. Something is there and we must go again. It would take many lifetimes to discover all that can be.

Journey, migration, pilgrimage, retreat – our language has multiple words for this and there is a complex multi-cultural history of these experiences in all languages. All religious traditions I know of call them out in some way. Distance and un-familiarity are key elements, as is attentiveness to each footstep on the path. Familiarity can lead to a lessening of attentiveness, especially as a defense in an environment filled with the clutter of media.  Immersed in a place far from familiar and moving quickly enough for nothing to fall from curiosity and attentiveness, new connections can be made. At times, distant connections to familiar experiences may rise into place.