We find Treasure in the Wrong Place
I never knew where to find one until I began to travel.
I remember the day: Sitting in between the Himalayan ranges, thinking about I don’t know what, all I knew was I was living the present like never before. The air was the same yet so different. So pure and so clear as if it made me a part of it asking me to flow wherever it flows. The winds were chilling and frosting but weren’t hurting me, they rather included me; they completed me. I wish I could touch the very moment, grab it’s quiet grace and take it along. I felt like I could not let it go after having it so close to me. Everything around was so magical as if I was a part of it since always. But wait, Amidst all this, I wasn’t finding myself; I rather started to lose myself, completely - some part because I could not help it - the other part was because I wanted to.
I wanted to lose the very identity I have made from my daily routine. I wanted to forget about everything I have gained since the day I had nothing. In other words, for some days, I wanted to travel, to the unknown, without an identity, a background or a history. That’s what travel does to you. It makes you find yourself but first by letting you forget who you have been.
From the spans of the mountains where the streams emanated to the depths of its destinations in the plains and from the stillness of the beaches to the sanctuaries where animals made most of the noises, the world has so many profound lessons to give. The most notable being the ‘feeling of the minority’. It teaches you how insignificant you and your desires are, outside your small, intimate world. And that our powers and claims make no difference to the world outside.
No matter where science reaches with all its technologies and capabilities, the world continues to be as magnificent and exorbitant as it was since the day when none of us existed.
Leaving behind home and travelling to the unknown where the Wi-Fi signal was not strong, I began understanding a lot in that nothingness which yet contained everything. I realised what entirely did matter to me, who and what exactly do I miss, what truly bothered me and what I just thought it did.
When I stood here, I also realised what Eternal means — not a long infinite time rather a present so significant that it stays with us for as long as we live.
Eternity isn’t some later time. Eternity isn’t even a long time. Eternity has nothing to do with time. Eternity is that dimension of here and now which thinking and time cuts out. This is it. And if you don’t get it here, you won’t get it elsewhere. And the experience of eternity right here and now is the function of life”- Joseph Campbell
Back there, my daily life and routine is something I have always been grateful for. But leaving home to travel — where every street is different, every culture is new, every cuisine tastes like never before, and every sight is unique, is something nobody could ever regret to.
With travelling, I found in whatever part of myself I lost while I was busy living the “real” life (as it appeared).
