Before traveling, I always enter into a slightly altered state of consciousness that I have always enjoyed. In this article I try to understand what is really happening to my consciousness in the weeks just before a journey. What is it that makes me feel more alive and present, when I know that I am going to travel soon ?
A Different State of Consciousness
I started writing this article while waiting to board an airplane; I was headed to Asia to pursue my Yoga studies and I was going to be abroad for some months. As usual, the last couple of weeks had been colored by the impending journey; the fact that I was going to leave soon had subtly but deeply changed everything in my daily life. Once again, I was experimenting the transforming effect of traveling, and feeling its influence even though I hadn’t yet moved by a single inch. I couldn’t help asking myself – why does traveling have such a profound effect on me ?
It is not the pleasure of traveling that I am talking about here. We all know that the mere fact of being abroad, in a different environment, changes our perceptions and mood Some people like this state of mind so much, that they can hardly stop traveling their whole life. But what I find even more interesting, is the way in which my state of consciousness changes when I am still back home, but I know that I am leaving in a few days or weeks. In that situation, all of a sudden the familiar places and people around me acquire a new significance, as if I was seeing them for the first time. Simple things that I relate to every day, such as the sunrise on my balcony, the smell of a friend, the taste of the most ordinary dish, become special. I feel that I am suddenly more present, more alive, as if I was waking up from a state of torpor. What is it exactly that produces these wonderful feelings and elevates my state of consciousness ?
Living as if There is No Tomorrow
As it turns out, the answer is quite simple: in those situations I enter into the certainty that whatever surrounds me, is going to disappear soon. The places, people, sounds that are so near now – they’re not going to be there anymore in a few days, so I stop taking them for granted. Every goodbye with a beloved friend acquires a special relevance, because we are not going to see each other in a long time; gradually, that same intensity infects even the most superficial encounters and moments. Since I am going to leave soon, the future, with its reassuring certainty that “there is always time to meet again” abruptly disappears – and then only the present is left.
Truly, those moments of intense presence sometimes come to an end even before the airplane takes off – the mind, fast and restless as always, is already flying by herself to the destination of my journey. Nevertheless, I always feel grateful for those days of heightened awareness, and I ask myself: couldn’t I always live like that ? Couldn’t I really live each day of my life as if I would die tomorrow, enjoy every friend’s company as if I were never to see her again, absorb the taste and richness of each food as if it was to be my last meal ?
Traveling as a Metaphor of Existence
If we lift our gaze just a tiny bit, we can easily realize that we are always on the brink of traveling. Despite all our efforts, we do not know when we are going to die – nor when our loved ones are going to leave this physical world. Our condition is so temporary, that we can’t even predict whether we are seeing any given place for the last times in our lives – even the bar next door. So why aren’t we living our daily lives with that level of awareness and presence ? Why do we take for granted every single aspect of our existence, until illness or death shows us that we had better not ?
Unfortunately, the realization that whenever we meet somebody or do something it could very well be for the last time, is very uncomfortable for most of us; it breaks the illusion of immortality and permanence, one of the pillars upon which we tend to build our lives. However, this same realization can be the doorway into presence: it has the potential to trigger a complete breakdown of the mind, which doesn’t know how to function without constantly projecting into the future. And where there is no mind, presence can make its appearance.
How Traveling can Lead to Presence
It is for this reason that I find traveling so instructive – it starts having an effect even before we’ve departed, by reminding us that everything will soon change. Spiritually speaking, it can be very useful to think of our life as a journey of which we do not control the stages nor the duration. Then, we need to make the most of every moment, knowing that it will never come back; in this peculiar condition of our existence hides one of the paths to presence and mindfulness.
Summing up, I think that one of the often overlooked benefits of traveling, is that it can throw us back to a condition of existential precariousness, reminding us that our structured life, with all its assets and commodities, could end at any time. With the right intention, we can transform this realization into an incredible motivation to live the present fully, wasting no time in speculating on the future or dwelling on the past. While this is especially true for long journey, even a simple weekend out can stimulate us to meditate on the continuous change to which we are subject.
It is only to our advantage if we are able to use these opportunities to shift our point of view, and realize that the feeling of stability that we sometimes try to ingrain in our existence is, after all, an illusion. But if we take the leap of faith to embrace the present moment, we will probably discover a new form of stability, rooted in our very essence, that is time independent and thus, in some sense, eternal.
Yes, but I find that the illusion of permanence (or of lasting for a few years) is helpful when you try to build something that takes more that 24 hours to provide any satisfaction…
Very good point Tomma ! Indeed, making plans about the future is an important feature of the human mind, and we need it in order to function at a practical level. However, I think that this can coexist with the deep realization that, ultimately, everything is subject to change… I agree with you, permanence can sometimes be a useful illusion, just as the fact that the sun moves across the sky while we are still. But this shouldn’t prevent us from knowing the underlying reality and disposing of the illusion as soon as it isn’t necessary anymore.
Travelling can easily become addictive for the reasons you have well explained, that set you naturally in a state of constant presence. Although, maybe just as a product of our mental limitations, sometimes routines and the illusion of permanence become necessities, like the fact we step on a bridge without verifiy with scientific tests if can substain our weight, so we can focus our attention on something else
Hi Claudio, thanks for the comment!
Very true indeed, and I have met myself a few people in my life for who traveling had become a real addiction. Not sure if they were “addicted” to being in the present though, or if they were just on the run, escaping from something. It is difficult to say, so I leave the question open… but I still believe that an addiction to being in the present moment is a good one 🙂 And yes, I agree with you; for most of us, the illusion of permanence is sometimes very useful… But I ask myself, could we live our daily lives without it? Or to take your example, could we still walk across bridges knowing that they could break up anytime? Can we deeply accept that we are impermanent and we could literally die at any moment, and yet enjoy life in all its plenitude – maybe even more so? Everyone has to find their own answers to these questions… but I’m willing to bet that yes, it is possible, and at some point in our lives we can get rid of the illusion of permanence and live life from a different perspective.