Friday, January 29, 2016

going home

It's hardly a new observation, but it popped up this morning in the form of one of the touchstones of my trained and tamed youth: "Comparisons are odious."

What occurred to me as a result was that, no matter how exciting the adventure may be, still, there is no reason to travel to the Hindu Kush or some other exotic clime -- wherever you are is an entirely adequate starting place on the journey home. The only requirement is that the spirit be willing to examine and examine and examine some more. "Comparisons are odious" -- where will that take you? Answer, anywhere -- but most notably home to a place where the palm is emptied of all it held, all it examined, all it learned from.

The emptiness is inevitable as the traveler moves from the wise or merely slick "comparisons are odious" to the experience that informed the words. No one can hold experience. Experience is no man's lap dog, however much palaver is brought to bear.

If you want to to home, then start anywhere ... literally. Don't imagine that there is or even could be any improvement. Just gather up your spiritual skirts and go ... home.

I gotta admit the idea of the "Hindu Kush" is pretty alluring.

Oh well.

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